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The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann
Par Herman H. Goldstine. 1972
In 1942, Lt. Herman H. Goldstine, a former mathematics professor, was stationed at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at…
the University of Pennsylvania. It was there that he assisted in the creation of the ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer. The ENIAC was operational in 1945, but plans for a new computer were already underway. The principal source of ideas for the new computer was John von Neumann, who became Goldstine's chief collaborator. Together they developed EDVAC, successor to ENIAC. After World War II, at the Institute for Advanced Study, they built what was to become the prototype of the present-day computer. Herman Goldstine writes as both historian and scientist in this first examination of the development of computing machinery, from the seventeenth century through the early 1950s. His personal involvement lends a special authenticity to his narrative, as he sprinkles anecdotes and stories liberally through his text.Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved (Princeton Science Library #43)
Par Frans De Waal. 2006
Can virtuous behavior be explained by nature, and not by human rational choice? "It's the animal in us," we often…
hear when we've been bad. But why not when we're good? Primates and Philosophers tackles this question by exploring the biological foundations of one of humanity's most valued traits: morality. In this provocative book, renowned primatologist Frans de Waal argues that modern-day evolutionary biology takes far too dim a view of the natural world, emphasizing our "selfish" genes and reinforcing our habit of labeling ethical behavior as humane and the less civilized as animalistic. Seeking the origin of human morality not in evolution but in human culture, science insists that we are moral by choice, not by nature. Citing remarkable evidence based on his extensive research of primate behavior, de Waal attacks "Veneer Theory," which posits morality as a thin overlay on an otherwise nasty nature. He explains how we evolved from a long line of animals that care for the weak and build cooperation with reciprocal transactions. Drawing on Darwin, recent scientific advances, and his extensive research of primate behavior, de Waal demonstrates a strong continuity between human and animal behavior. He probes issues such as anthropomorphism and human responsibilities toward animals. His compelling account of how human morality evolved out of mammalian society will fascinate anyone who has ever wondered about the origins and reach of human goodness. Based on the Tanner Lectures de Waal delivered at Princeton University's Center for Human Values in 2004, Primates and Philosophers includes responses by the philosophers Peter Singer, Christine M. Korsgaard, and Philip Kitcher and the science writer Robert Wright. They press de Waal to clarify the differences between humans and other animals, yielding a lively debate that will fascinate all those who wonder about the origins and reach of human goodness.Biomolecular Feedback Systems
Par Domitilla Del Vecchio, Richard Murray. 2015
This book provides an accessible introduction to the principles and tools for modeling, analyzing, and synthesizing biomolecular systems. It begins…
with modeling tools such as reaction-rate equations, reduced-order models, stochastic models, and specific models of important core processes. It then describes in detail the control and dynamical systems tools used to analyze these models. These include tools for analyzing stability of equilibria, limit cycles, robustness, and parameter uncertainty. Modeling and analysis techniques are then applied to design examples from both natural systems and synthetic biomolecular circuits. In addition, this comprehensive book addresses the problem of modular composition of synthetic circuits, the tools for analyzing the extent of modularity, and the design techniques for ensuring modular behavior. It also looks at design trade-offs, focusing on perturbations due to noise and competition for shared cellular resources.Featuring numerous exercises and illustrations throughout, Biomolecular Feedback Systems is the ideal textbook for advanced undergraduates and graduate students. For researchers, it can also serve as a self-contained reference on the feedback control techniques that can be applied to biomolecular systems.Provides a user-friendly introduction to essential concepts, tools, and applicationsCovers the most commonly used modeling methodsAddresses the modular design problem for biomolecular systemsUses design examples from both natural systems and synthetic circuitsSolutions manual (available only to professors at press.princeton.edu)An online illustration package is available to professors at press.princeton.eduComputational Modelling and Simulation of Aircraft and the Environment An in-depth discussion of aircraft dynamics modelling and simulation This book…
provides a comprehensive guide to modelling and simulation from basic physical and mathematical principles, giving the reader sufficient information to be able to build computational models of aircraft for the purposes of simulation and evaluation. Highly relevant to practitioners, it takes into account the multi-disciplinary nature of aerospace products and the integrated nature of the models needed in order to represent them. Volume 1- Platform Kinematics and Synthetic Environment focused on the modelling of a synthetic environment in which aircraft operate and its spatial relationship with vehicles that are situated and moving within it. This volume focuses on the modelling of aircraft and the interpretation of their flight dynamics. Key features: Includes chapters on equations of motion, fixed-wing aerodynamics, longitudinal flight and gas turbines, as well as an opening chapter that presents an overview of flight modelling and a concluding chapter that presents a number of additional topics such as aircraft structures and embedded systems. Serves as both a student text and practitioner reference. Follows on from previous Aerospace Series titles, offering a complementary view of vehicles and systems from the perspectives of mathematics, physics and simulation. This book offers a comprehensive guide for senior, graduate and postgraduate students of aerospace engineering as well as professional engineers involved in the modelling and simulation of aircraft.The Unified Neutral Theory of Biodiversity and Biogeography (Monographs in Population Biology #32)
Par Stephen P. Hubbell. 2001
Despite its supreme importance and the threat of its global crash, biodiversity remains poorly understood both empirically and theoretically. This…
ambitious book presents a new, general neutral theory to explain the origin, maintenance, and loss of biodiversity in a biogeographic context. Until now biogeography (the study of the geographic distribution of species) and biodiversity (the study of species richness and relative species abundance) have had largely disjunct intellectual histories. In this book, Stephen Hubbell develops a formal mathematical theory that unifies these two fields. When a speciation process is incorporated into Robert H. MacArthur and Edward O. Wilson's now classical theory of island biogeography, the generalized theory predicts the existence of a universal, dimensionless biodiversity number. In the theory, this fundamental biodiversity number, together with the migration or dispersal rate, completely determines the steady-state distribution of species richness and relative species abundance on local to large geographic spatial scales and short-term to evolutionary time scales. Although neutral, Hubbell's theory is nevertheless able to generate many nonobvious, testable, and remarkably accurate quantitative predictions about biodiversity and biogeography. In many ways Hubbell's theory is the ecological analog to the neutral theory of genetic drift in genetics. The unified neutral theory of biogeography and biodiversity should stimulate research in new theoretical and empirical directions by ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and biogeographers.Beyond the Brain: How Body and Environment Shape Animal and Human Minds
Par Louise Barrett. 2011
A new approach to understanding animal and human cognitionWhen a chimpanzee stockpiles rocks as weapons or when a frog sends…
out mating calls, we might easily assume these animals know their own motivations--that they use the same psychological mechanisms that we do. But as Beyond the Brain indicates, this is a dangerous assumption because animals have different evolutionary trajectories, ecological niches, and physical attributes. How do these differences influence animal thinking and behavior? Removing our human-centered spectacles, Louise Barrett investigates the mind and brain and offers an alternative approach for understanding animal and human cognition. Drawing on examples from animal behavior, comparative psychology, robotics, artificial life, developmental psychology, and cognitive science, Barrett provides remarkable new insights into how animals and humans depend on their bodies and environment—not just their brains—to behave intelligently.Barrett begins with an overview of human cognitive adaptations and how these color our views of other species, brains, and minds. Considering when it is worth having a big brain—or indeed having a brain at all—she investigates exactly what brains are good at. Showing that the brain's evolutionary function guides action in the world, she looks at how physical structure contributes to cognitive processes, and she demonstrates how these processes employ materials and resources in specific environments.Arguing that thinking and behavior constitute a property of the whole organism, not just the brain, Beyond the Brain illustrates how the body, brain, and cognition are tied to the wider world.Albert Einstein, The Human Side: Glimpses from His Archives
Par Albert Einstein. 2014
Modesty, humor, compassion, and wisdom are the traits most evident in this illuminating selection of personal papers from the Albert…
Einstein Archives. The illustrious physicist wrote as thoughtfully to an Ohio fifth-grader, distressed by her discovery that scientists classify humans as animals, as to a Colorado banker who asked whether Einstein believed in a personal God. Witty rhymes, an exchange with Queen Elizabeth of Belgium about fine music, and expressions of his devotion to Zionism are but some of the highlights found in this warm and enriching book.Why Sex Matters: A Darwinian Look at Human Behavior - Revised Edition
Par Bobbi S. Low. 2015
Why are men, like other primate males, usually the aggressors and risk takers? Why do women typically have fewer sexual…
partners? In Why Sex Matters, Bobbi Low ranges from ancient Rome to modern America, from the Amazon to the Arctic, and from single-celled organisms to international politics, to show that these and many other questions about human behavior largely come down to evolution and sex. More precisely, as she shows in this uniquely comprehensive and accessible survey of behavioral and evolutionary ecology, they come down to the basic principle that all organisms evolved to maximize their reproductive success and seek resources to do so, but that sometimes cooperation and collaboration are the most effective ways to succeed.This newly revised edition has been thoroughly updated to include the latest research and reflect exciting changes in the field, including how our evolutionary past continues to affect our ecological present.The White Planet: The Evolution and Future of Our Frozen World
Par Jean Jouzel, Claude Lorius, Dominique Raynaud. 2013
A gripping journey through the icy regions of our changing planetFrom the Arctic Ocean and ice sheets of Greenland, to…
the glaciers of the Andes and Himalayas, to the great frozen desert of Antarctica, The White Planet takes readers on a spellbinding scientific journey through the shrinking world of ice and snow to tell the story of the expeditions and discoveries that have transformed our understanding of global climate. Written by three internationally renowned scientists at the center of many breakthroughs in ice core and climate science, this book provides an unparalleled firsthand account of how the "white planet" affects global climate—and how, in turn, global warming is changing the frozen world.Jean Jouzel, Claude Lorius, and Dominique Raynaud chronicle the daunting scientific, technical, and human hurdles that they and other scientists have had to overcome in order to unravel the mysteries of past and present climate change, as revealed by the cryosphere--the dynamic frozen regions of our planet. Scientifically impeccable, up-to-date, and accessible, The White Planet brings cutting-edge climate research to general readers through a vivid narrative. This is an essential book for anyone who wants to understand the inextricable link between climate and our planet's icy regions.Mathematical Tools for Understanding Infectious Disease Dynamics (Princeton Series in Theoretical and Computational Biology #7)
Par Odo Diekmann, Hans Heesterbeek, Tom Britton. 2013
Mathematical modeling is critical to our understanding of how infectious diseases spread at the individual and population levels. This book…
gives readers the necessary skills to correctly formulate and analyze mathematical models in infectious disease epidemiology, and is the first treatment of the subject to integrate deterministic and stochastic models and methods.Mathematical Tools for Understanding Infectious Disease Dynamics fully explains how to translate biological assumptions into mathematics to construct useful and consistent models, and how to use the biological interpretation and mathematical reasoning to analyze these models. It shows how to relate models to data through statistical inference, and how to gain important insights into infectious disease dynamics by translating mathematical results back to biology. This comprehensive and accessible book also features numerous detailed exercises throughout; full elaborations to all exercises are provided.Covers the latest research in mathematical modeling of infectious disease epidemiologyIntegrates deterministic and stochastic approachesTeaches skills in model construction, analysis, inference, and interpretationFeatures numerous exercises and their detailed elaborationsMotivated by real-world applications throughoutRandomness in Evolution
Par John Tyler Bonner. 2013
The important role that randomness plays in evolutionary changeJohn Tyler Bonner, one of our most distinguished and insightful biologists, here…
challenges a central tenet of evolutionary biology. In this concise, elegantly written book, he makes the bold and provocative claim that some biological diversity may be explained by something other than natural selection.With his customary wit and accessible style, Bonner makes an argument for the underappreciated role that randomness—or chance—plays in evolution. Due to the tremendous and enduring influence of Darwin's natural selection, the importance of randomness has been to some extent overshadowed. Bonner shows how the effects of randomness differ for organisms of different sizes, and how the smaller an organism is, the more likely it is that morphological differences will be random and selection may not be involved to any degree. He traces the increase in size and complexity of organisms over geological time, and looks at the varying significance of randomness at different size levels, from microorganisms to large mammals. Bonner also discusses how sexual cycles vary depending on size and complexity, and how the trend away from randomness in higher forms has even been reversed in some social organisms.Certain to provoke lively discussion, Randomness in Evolution is a book that may fundamentally change our understanding of evolution and the history of life.Mathematics for the Life Sciences
Par Erin N. Bodine, Suzanne Lenhart, Louis J. Gross. 2014
An accessible undergraduate textbook on the essential math concepts used in the life sciencesThe life sciences deal with a vast…
array of problems at different spatial, temporal, and organizational scales. The mathematics necessary to describe, model, and analyze these problems is similarly diverse, incorporating quantitative techniques that are rarely taught in standard undergraduate courses. This textbook provides an accessible introduction to these critical mathematical concepts, linking them to biological observation and theory while also presenting the computational tools needed to address problems not readily investigated using mathematics alone.Proven in the classroom and requiring only a background in high school math, Mathematics for the Life Sciences doesn't just focus on calculus as do most other textbooks on the subject. It covers deterministic methods and those that incorporate uncertainty, problems in discrete and continuous time, probability, graphing and data analysis, matrix modeling, difference equations, differential equations, and much more. The book uses MATLAB throughout, explaining how to use it, write code, and connect models to data in examples chosen from across the life sciences.Provides undergraduate life science students with a succinct overview of major mathematical concepts that are essential for modern biologyCovers all the major quantitative concepts that national reports have identified as the ideal components of an entry-level course for life science studentsProvides good background for the MCAT, which now includes data-based and statistical reasoningExplicitly links data and math modelingIncludes end-of-chapter homework problems, end-of-unit student projects, and select answers to homework problemsUses MATLAB throughout, and MATLAB m-files with an R supplement are available onlinePrepares students to read with comprehension the growing quantitative literature across the life sciencesA solutions manual for professors and an illustration package is availableThe Last of Its Kind: The Search for the Great Auk and the Discovery of Extinction
Par Gísli Pálsson. 2024
How an iconic bird&’s final days exposed the reality of human-caused extinctionThe great auk is one of the most tragic…
and documented examples of extinction. A flightless bird that bred primarily on the remote islands of the North Atlantic, the last of its kind were killed in Iceland in 1844. Gísli Pálsson draws on firsthand accounts from the Icelanders who hunted the last great auks to bring to life a bygone age of Victorian scientific exploration while offering vital insights into the extinction of species.Pálsson vividly recounts how British ornithologists John Wolley and Alfred Newton set out for Iceland to collect specimens only to discover that the great auks were already gone. At the time, the Victorian world viewed extinction as an impossibility or trivialized it as a natural phenomenon. Pálsson chronicles how Wolley and Newton documented the fate of the last birds through interviews with the men who killed them, and how the naturalists&’ Icelandic journey opened their eyes to the disappearance of species as a subject of scientific concern—and as something that could be caused by humans.Blending a richly evocative narrative with rare, unpublished material as well as insights from ornithology, anthropology, and Pálsson&’s own North Atlantic travels, The Last of Its Kind reveals how the saga of the great auk opens a window onto the human causes of mass extinction.Since its original publication in 2000, Game Theory Evolving has been considered the best textbook on evolutionary game theory. This…
completely revised and updated second edition of Game Theory Evolving contains new material and shows students how to apply game theory to model human behavior in ways that reflect the special nature of sociality and individuality. The textbook continues its in-depth look at cooperation in teams, agent-based simulations, experimental economics, the evolution and diffusion of preferences, and the connection between biology and economics. Recognizing that students learn by doing, the textbook introduces principles through practice. Herbert Gintis exposes students to the techniques and applications of game theory through a wealth of sophisticated and surprisingly fun-to-solve problems involving human and animal behavior. The second edition includes solutions to the problems presented and information related to agent-based modeling. In addition, the textbook incorporates instruction in using mathematical software to solve complex problems. Game Theory Evolving is perfect for graduate and upper-level undergraduate economics students, and is a terrific introduction for ambitious do-it-yourselfers throughout the behavioral sciences. Revised and updated edition relevant for courses across disciplines Perfect for graduate and upper-level undergraduate economics courses Solutions to problems presented throughout Incorporates instruction in using computational software for complex problem solving Includes in-depth discussions of agent-based modelingClimate Change Justice
Par Eric A. Posner, David Weisbach. 2010
A provocative contribution to the climate justice debateClimate change and justice are so closely associated that many people take it…
for granted that a global climate treaty should—indeed, must—directly address both issues together. But, in fact, this would be a serious mistake, one that, by dooming effective international limits on greenhouse gases, would actually make the world's poor and developing nations far worse off. This is the provocative and original argument of Climate Change Justice. Eric Posner and David Weisbach strongly favor both a climate change agreement and efforts to improve economic justice. But they make a powerful case that the best—and possibly only—way to get an effective climate treaty is to exclude measures designed to redistribute wealth or address historical wrongs against underdeveloped countries.In clear language, Climate Change Justice proposes four basic principles for designing the only kind of climate treaty that will work—a forward-looking agreement that requires every country to make greenhouse-gas reductions but still makes every country better off in its own view. This kind of treaty has the best chance of actually controlling climate change and improving the welfare of people around the world.How Round Is Your Circle?: Where Engineering and Mathematics Meet
Par John Bryant, Chris Sangwin. 2008
How do you draw a straight line? How do you determine if a circle is really round? These may sound…
like simple or even trivial mathematical problems, but to an engineer the answers can mean the difference between success and failure. How Round Is Your Circle? invites readers to explore many of the same fundamental questions that working engineers deal with every day--it's challenging, hands-on, and fun. John Bryant and Chris Sangwin illustrate how physical models are created from abstract mathematical ones. Using elementary geometry and trigonometry, they guide readers through paper-and-pencil reconstructions of mathematical problems and show them how to construct actual physical models themselves--directions included. It's an effective and entertaining way to explain how applied mathematics and engineering work together to solve problems, everything from keeping a piston aligned in its cylinder to ensuring that automotive driveshafts rotate smoothly. Intriguingly, checking the roundness of a manufactured object is trickier than one might think. When does the width of a saw blade affect an engineer's calculations--or, for that matter, the width of a physical line? When does a measurement need to be exact and when will an approximation suffice? Bryant and Sangwin tackle questions like these and enliven their discussions with many fascinating highlights from engineering history. Generously illustrated, How Round Is Your Circle? reveals some of the hidden complexities in everyday things.How to Build a Habitable Planet: The Story of Earth from the Big Bang to Humankind - Revised and Expanded Edition
Par Charles H. Langmuir, Wallace Broecker. 2012
A classic introduction to the story of Earth's origin and evolution—revised and expanded for the twenty-first centurySince its first publication…
more than twenty-five years ago, How to Build a Habitable Planet has established a legendary reputation as an accessible yet scientifically impeccable introduction to the origin and evolution of Earth, from the Big Bang through the rise of human civilization. This classic account of how our habitable planet was assembled from the stuff of stars introduced readers to planetary, Earth, and climate science by way of a fascinating narrative. Now this great book has been made even better. Harvard geochemist Charles Langmuir has worked closely with the original author, Wally Broecker, one of the world's leading Earth scientists, to revise and expand the book for a new generation of readers for whom active planetary stewardship is becoming imperative.Interweaving physics, astronomy, chemistry, geology, and biology, this sweeping account tells Earth’s complete story, from the synthesis of chemical elements in stars, to the formation of the Solar System, to the evolution of a habitable climate on Earth, to the origin of life and humankind. The book also addresses the search for other habitable worlds in the Milky Way and contemplates whether Earth will remain habitable as our influence on global climate grows. It concludes by considering the ways in which humankind can sustain Earth’s habitability and perhaps even participate in further planetary evolution.Like no other book, How to Build a Habitable Planet provides an understanding of Earth in its broadest context, as well as a greater appreciation of its possibly rare ability to sustain life over geologic time.Leading schools that have ordered, recommended for reading, or adopted this book for course use:Arizona State UniversityBrooklyn College CUNYColumbia UniversityCornell UniversityETH ZurichGeorgia Institute of TechnologyHarvard UniversityJohns Hopkins UniversityLuther CollegeNorthwestern UniversityOhio State UniversityOxford Brookes UniversityPan American UniversityRutgers UniversityState University of New York at BinghamtonTexas A&M UniversityTrinity College DublinUniversity of BristolUniversity of California-Los AngelesUniversity of CambridgeUniversity Of ChicagoUniversity of Colorado at BoulderUniversity of GlasgowUniversity of LeicesterUniversity of Maine, FarmingtonUniversity of MichiganUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillUniversity of North GeorgiaUniversity of NottinghamUniversity of OregonUniversity of OxfordUniversity of PortsmouthUniversity of SouthamptonUniversity of UlsterUniversity of VictoriaUniversity of WyomingWestern Kentucky UniversityYale UniversityEcohydrological Interfaces
Par Stefan Krause, David M. Hannah, Nancy B. Grimm. 2024
Ecohydrological Interfaces Comprehensive overview of the process dynamics and interactions governing ecohydrological interfaces Summarizing the interdisciplinary investigation of ecohydrological interface…
functioning, Ecohydrological Interfaces advances the understanding of their dynamics across traditional subject boundaries. It offers a detailed explanation of the underlying mechanisms and process interactions governing ecohydrological interface functioning from the micro scale to the ecosystem and regional scale. The multidisciplinary team of authors integrates and synthesises the current understanding of process dynamics at different ecohydrological interfaces to develop a unifying concept of their ecosystem functions. The work introduces novel experimental and model-based methods for characterizing and quantifying ecohydrological interface processes, taking account of innovative sensing and tracing technologies as well as microbial and molecular biology approaches. Key questions addressed in the book include: Which conditions stimulate the transformative nature of ecohydrological interfaces? How are ecohydrological interfaces organized in space and time? How does interface activity propagate from small to large scales? How do ecohydrological interfaces react to environmental change and what is their role in processes of significant societal value? As a research level text on the functionality and performance of ecohydrological interfaces, Ecohydrological Interfaces is primarily aimed at academics and postgraduate researchers. It is also appropriate for university libraries as further reading on a range of geographical, environmental, biological, and engineering topics.How Does Wi-Fi Work? (High Tech Science at Home)
Par Mark Weakland. 2021
You probably use Wi-Fi all the time to connect to the internet through your laptop, tablet, or phone. It's easy.…
Wi-Fi hotspots surround you as you go through your day - from school to a pizza place or coffee shop and then back home. Not so long ago, the internet wasn't as accessible. Find out how Wi-Fi works, how it became commonplace, and what it might do for you in the future.Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto
Par Kohei Saito. 2020
"[A] well-reasoned and eye-opening treatise . . . [Kohei Saito makes] a provocative and visionary proposal." —Publishers Weekly, (starred review)"Saito&’s clarity…
of thought, plethora of evidence, and conversational, gentle, yet urgent tone . . . are sure to win over open-minded readers who understand the dire nature of our global. . . . A cogently structured anti-capitalist approach to the climate crisis." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)Why, in our affluent society, do so many people live in poverty, without access to health care, working multiple jobs and are nevertheless unable to make ends meet, with no future prospects, while the planet is burning?In his international bestseller, Kohei Saito argues that while unfettered capitalism is often blamed for inequality and climate change, subsequent calls for &“sustainable growth&” and a &“Green New Deal&” are a dangerous compromise. Capitalism creates artificial scarcity by pursuing profit based on the value of products rather than their usefulness and by putting perpetual growth above all else. It is therefore impossible to reverse climate change in a capitalist society—more: the system that caused the problem in the first place cannot be an integral part of the solution. Instead, Saito advocates for degrowth and deceleration, which he conceives as the slowing of economic activity through the democratic reform of labor and production. In practical terms, he argues for:the end of mass production and mass consumptiondecarbonization through shorter working hours the prioritization of essential labor over corporate profitsBy returning to a system of social ownership, he argues, we can restore abundance and focus on those activities that are essential for human life, effectively reversing climate change and saving the planet.