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Chaos. Narodziny nowej nauki

Science & Nature

Narodziny nowej nauki Błyskotliwe i przystępnie napisane wprowadzenie do teorii chaosu, jednej z najbardziej znaczących koncepcji naukowych ostatnich dekad Współczesne badania chaosu zaczynają się w latach sześćdziesiątych XX wieku od odkrycia, że zupełnie proste równania matematyczne mogą modelować układy w każdym calu tak gwałtowne jak wodospady. Drobne różnice wyjściowe mogą szybko przekształcić się w potężne różnice końcowe. Zjawisko to otrzymało nazwę: wrażliwość na warunki początkowe. W pogodzie na przykład manifestuje się to w zjawisku żartobliwie nazwanym efektem motyla: motyl wywołujący dziś fale powietrza w Pekinie może być przyczyną huraganu w następnym miesiącu w Nowym Jorku. Kiedy badacze chaosu zaczęli myśleć o genealogii swej nowej nauki, znaleźli wiele intelektualnych śladów z przeszłości. Ale jedno było jasne: dla fizyków i matematyków prowadzących tę rewolucję w myśleniu punktem wyjścia był efekt motyla. Książka Jamesa Gleicka opisuje narodziny tej nowej nauki, która widzi porządek tam, gdzie dotychczas obserwowano tylko przypadek, nieład i nieprzewidywalność, czyli chaos. Jak mówi Douglas Hofstadter, "Okazuje się, że tajemniczy typ chaosu czai się tuż za fasadą porządku - i co więcej, głęboko wewnątrz chaosu czai się jeszcze bardziej tajemniczy typ porządku". „Fascynująca książka. . . Prawie każdy akapit zawiera wstrząsające odkrycie ". The New York Times „Ekscytujący wywód. . . Niezwykła ilustracja tego, jak zmienia się struktura nauki". The New York Times Book Review „Zaskakujące spojrzenie na nowo odkryte uniwersalne prawa". Chicago Tribune „Niezwykle inspirująca książka. Podczas lektury odniosłem takie wrażenie, jakby ktoś właśnie znalazł wyłącznik światła". Douglas Adams, autor Autostopem przez Galaktykę

La Singularité du vivant

Science & Nature

Depuis les domaines du digital et de la biologie moléculaire, on nous annonce que les différences entre le vivant et la machine, entre l’intelligence artificielle et l’intelligence animale, entre la vie artificielle et la vie tout court, seraient sur le point de s’effacer : tous les mécanismes biologiques pourraient enfin être révélés, modélisés, dépassés. De nouveaux démiurges nous font miroiter des existences libérées de toute limite, même de la mort. Le temps serait venu de se passer du monde réel et du vivant lui-même, désormais réductible à ses composants, à une mécanique. Derrière ces promesses de vie augmentée se cache en réalité toujours le même projet réactionnaire : celui de se débarrasser des corps pour accéder enfin à la "vraie" vie qui serait du côté des données et des algorithmes. Or, en assénant que « tout est information », le monde digital non seulement ignore mais écrase les singularités propres au monde du vivant et de la culture. Dans ce vaste processus d’artefactualisation du monde et de la vie, la carte prend possession du territoire. Et c'est nos possibilités mêmes d’agir, de penser, de désirer et d’aimer qui sont mises à mal. Contre cette menace, Miguel Benasayag invite à penser la singularité radicale du vivant, à envisager un mode d’hybridation entre la technique et les organismes qui ne soit pas une brutale assimilation. Cela passe par la production d’un nouvel imaginaire, d’un nouveau paradigme capable de nous aider à étudier rationnellement ce qui, dans la complexité propre au vivant et à la culture, n’est pas réductible au modèle informatique dominant.

Discovering Mars

Science & Nature

For millenia humans have considered Mars the most fascinating planet in our solar system. We’ve watched this Earth-like world first with the naked eye, then using telescopes, and, most recently, through robotic orbiters and landers and rovers on the surface.Historian William Sheehan and astronomer and planetary scientist Jim Bell combine their talents to tell a unique story of what we’ve learned by studying Mars through evolving technologies. What the eye sees as a mysterious red dot wandering through the sky becomes a blurry mirage of apparent seas, continents, and canals as viewed through Earth-based telescopes. Beginning with the Mariner and Viking missions of the 1960s and 1970s, space-based instruments and monitoring systems have flooded scientists with data on Mars’s meteorology and geology, and have even sought evidence of possible existence of life-forms on or beneath the surface. This knowledge has transformed our perception of the Red Planet and has provided clues for better understanding our own blue world.Discovering Mars vividly conveys the way our understanding of this other planet has grown from earliest times to the present. The story is epic in scope—an Iliad or Odyssey for our time, at least so far largely without the folly, greed, lust, and tragedy of those ancient stories. Instead, the narrative of our quest for the Red Planet has showcased some of our species’ most hopeful attributes: curiosity, cooperation, exploration, and the restless drive to understand our place in the larger universe. Sheehan and Bell have written an ambitious first draft of that narrative even as the latest chapters continue to be added both by researchers on Earth and our robotic emissaries on and around Mars, including the latest: the Perseverance rover and its Ingenuity helicopter drone, which set down in Mars’s Jezero Crater in February 2021.

Richard Ned Lebow: Major Texts on Methods and Philosophy of Science

Science & Nature

This book about the philosophy of science is the second out of four volumes by Richard Ned Lebow in this book series. It not only provides a useful overview of this broad topic, but also provides deeper insight into specific topics like the philosophy of science causation, epistemology and methods, and especially on counter factual analysis.

L'Agriculture algérienne, conditions et perspectives d'un développement réel

Science & Nature

Cette étude est particulièrement intéressante par la qualité des sources et de l’expérience de l’auteur qui a eu à connaître les problèmes réels en liaison avec ses responsabilités administratives. Elle se propose, après une description et une tentative d’analyse globale de l’agriculture algérienne, de déterminer des voies de recherche et d’apporter un début de réponse à trois questions qui semblent essentielles : 1. Quelles sont les causes de la régression du secteur autogéré et comment surmonter les handicaps actuels pour augmenter son niveau de rentabilité et donner à sa production une destination plus conforme aux intérêts nationaux ? 2. Quelles sont les causes de la paupérisation du secteur traditionnel et par quels moyens l’améliorer et l’insérer dans l’économie nationale ? 3. Comment atténuer le chômage rural en évitant le gonflement des secteurs parasitaires et la multiplication des chantiers de chômage ? L’auteur souligne que l’agriculture algérienne est loin d’avoir actualisé ses potentialités, et même d’avoir utilisé ses possibilités immédiates et, en ce sens, beaucoup de mesures restent à prendre. Mais ces mesures sont-elles suffisantes à elles seules pour assurer le dynamisme interne d’un développement continu qui puisse garantir l’indépendance économique et renforcer par la même l’indépendance politique ? Pour sa part, l’auteur estime que, pour gagner le pari du développement, l’économie algérienne doit « avancer des deux jambes ». Pour atteindre son plein essor, l’agriculture doit prendre appui sur une industrialisation basée sur l’utilisation des ressources naturelles et répondant aux besoins nationaux.

Dios - La ciencia - Las pruebas

Science & Nature

En este libro se revelan, tras tres años de trabajo en colaboración con una veintena de científicos y especialistas de alto nivel, las pruebas modernas de la existencia de Dios. Durante cerca de cuatro siglos, de Copérnico a Freud, pasando por Galileo y Darwin, los descubrimientos científicos se fueron acumulando de manera espectacular, dando a entender que era posible explicar el Universo sin la necesidad de recurrir a un Dios creador. Fue así como a principios del siglo xx se asistió al triunfo intelectual del materialismo. De manera tan imprevista como sorprendente, el péndulo de la ciencia se puso en movimiento en sentido inverso, con una fuerza insólita. Los descubrimientos de la relatividad, de la mecánica cuántica, de la expansión del Universo y de la complejidad de la vida fueron llegando uno tras otro. Estos nuevos conocimientos lograron dinamitar las certezas ancladas en el imaginario colectivo del siglo xx, hasta tal punto que hoy puede decirse que el materialismo, que nunca fue más que una creencia como otra cualquiera, está en vías de convertirse en una creencia irracional. Con un lenguaje accesible a todos, los autores de este libro relatan, de manera apasionante, la historia de estos avances científicos y ofrecen un panorama riguroso de las nuevas pruebas de la existencia de Dios. A principios del siglo xx, creer en un Dios creador parecía oponerse a la ciencia. ¿No será hoy todo lo contrario?

Shortest Path Solvers. From Software to Wetware

Science & Nature

This book offers advanced parallel and distributed algorithms and experimental laboratory prototypes of unconventional shortest path solvers. In addition, it presents novel and unique algorithms of solving shortest problems in massively parallel cellular automaton machines. The shortest path problem is a fundamental and classical problem in graph theory and computer science and is frequently applied in the contexts of transport and logistics, telecommunication networks, virtual reality and gaming, geometry, and social networks analysis. Software implementations include distance-vector algorithms for distributed path computation in dynamics networks, parallel solutions of the constrained shortest path problem, and application of the shortest path solutions in gathering robotic swarms. Massively parallel algorithms utilise cellular automata, where a shortest path is computed either via matrix multiplication in automaton arrays, or via the representation of data graphs in automaton lattices and using the propagation of wave-like patterns. Unconventional shortest path solvers are presented in computer models of foraging behaviour and protoplasmic network optimisation by the slime mould Physarum polycephalum and fluidic devices, while experimental laboratory prototypes of path solvers using chemical media, flows and droplets, and electrical current are also highlighted. The book will be a pleasure to explore for readers from all walks of life, from undergraduate students to university professors, from mathematicians, computers scientists and engineers to chemists and biologists.

Critiques and Addresses

Science & Nature

The "Critiques and Addresses" gathered together in this volume, like the "Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews", published three years ago, deal chiefly with educational, scientific, and philosophical subjects; and, in fact, indicate the high-water mark of the various tides of occupation by which I have been carried along since the beginning of the year 1870.

Sustainable Biological Systems for Agriculture

Science & Nature

Sustainable Biological Systems for Agriculture: Emerging Issues in Nanotechnology, Biofertilizers, Wastewater, and Farm Machines explores and introduces the use of nanotechnology, biofertilizers, and design of farm machines in agriculture. The contributions are from India, Africa and the USA; the chapters emphasize sustainable solutions for the enhancement of agriculture processes. The volume provides a wealth of information on new and emerging issues in this interdisciplinary field. The book is divided into several sections:Potential Applications of Nanotechnology in Biological Systems Emerging Issues, Challenges and Specific Examples of Nanotechnology for Sustainable Biological Systems Potential of Nano- and Bio- fertilizers in Sustainable Agriculture Emerging Focus Areas in Biological Systems Performance of Farm Machines for Sustainable Agriculture The information provided here will be valuable to government agricultural professionals, scientists, researchers, farmers, and faculty and students all over the world.

Conscious

Science & Nature

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER"If you’ve ever wondered how you have the capacity to wonder, some fascinating insights await you in these pages.” --Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of OriginalsAs concise and enlightening as Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, this mind-expanding dive into the mystery of consciousness is an illuminating meditation on the self, free will, and felt experience.What is consciousness? How does it arise? And why does it exist? We take our experience of being in the world for granted. But the very existence of consciousness raises profound questions: Why would any collection of matter in the universe be conscious? How are we able to think about this? And why should we?In this wonderfully accessible book, Annaka Harris guides us through the evolving definitions, philosophies, and scientific findings that probe our limited understanding of consciousness. Where does it reside, and what gives rise to it? Could it be an illusion, or a universal property of all matter? As we try to understand consciousness, we must grapple with how to define it and, in the age of artificial intelligence, who or what might possess it. Conscious offers lively and challenging arguments that alter our ideas about consciousness—allowing us to think freely about it for ourselves, if indeed we can.

Carnot et la machine à vapeur

Science & Nature

Il est rare qu’un ingénieur contribue de façon décisive à l’élaboration d’une théorie physique. Il est encore plus rare qu’il le fasse sous la forme d’un livre, et d’un livre destiné à tout le monde. C’est pourtant le cas des Réflexions sur la puissance motrice du feu, publiées en 1824 par Sadi Carnot. Étudiant pour la première fois la rentabilité des machines « sous un point de vue assez général », il parvient, en une trentaine de pages, à définir réversibilité et cycle, et à énoncer le « Second principe » de la thermodynamique, vingt ans avant que Joule établisse le « Premier » ! De la rencontre entre les machines de la révolution industrielle anglaise et le milieu scientifique issu de notre Révolution, une science nouvelle est née : c’est à cette naissance que nous assistons ici.

Computers, Pattern, Chaos and Beauty

Science & Nature

Combining fractal theory with computer art, this book introduces a creative use of computers. It describes graphic methods for detecting patterns in complicated data and illustrates simple techniques for visualizing chaotic behavior. "Beautiful." — Martin Gardner, Scientific American. Over 275 illustrations, 29 in color.

Sustainability in Energy and Buildings

Science & Nature

This volume represents the proceedings of the Second International Conference on Sustainability in Energy and Buildings, SEB’10, held in the City of Brighton and Hove in the United Kingdom, and organised by KES International.Organised by the KES International organisation, SEB'10 formed a welcome opportunity for researchers in subjects related to sustainability, renewable energy technology, and applications in the built environment to mix with other scientists, industrialists and stakeholders in the field. SEB'10 attracted papers on a range of renewable energy and sustainability related topics and in addition the conference explored two innovative themes:- · The application of intelligent sensing, control, optimisation and modelling techniques to sustainabilityand · The technology of sustainable buildings. These techniques could ultimately be applied to the intelligent buildingSEB’10 attracted about 100 submissions from around the world. These were subjected to a two-stage blind peer-review process. With the objective of producing a high quality conference, the best 30% of these were selected for presentation at the conference and publication in this volume of proceedings. The papers in this volume are grouped into the five themes under which they were presented: Building Sustainability, Sustainable Power Generation, Sustainable Energy Policy and Strategy, Energy Monitoring and Management and Solar Energy Technology. These proceedings form an interesting and informative collection of papers, useful as a resource for further research, and a valuable source of information for those interested in the subject.

Feyerabend

Science & Nature

This book is the first comprehensive critical study of the work of Paul Feyerabend, one of the foremost twentieth-century philosophers of science. The book traces the evolution of Feyerabend's thought, beginning with his early attempt to graft insights from Wittgenstein's conception of meaning onto Popper's falsificationist philosophy. The key elements of Feyerabend's model of the acquisition of knowledge are identified and critically evaluated. Feyerabend's early work emerges as a continuation of Popper's philosophy of science, rather than as a contribution to the historical approach to science with which he is usually associated. In his more notorious later work, Feyerabend claimed that there was, and should be, no such thing as the scientific method. The roots of Feyerabend's 'epistemological anarchism' are exposed and the weaknesses of his cultural relativism are brought out. Throughout the book, Preston discusses the influence of Feyerabend's thought on contemporary philosophers and traces his stimulating but divided legacy. The book will be of interest to students of philosophy, methodology, and the social sciences.

Corporate Social Responsibility in Management and Engineering

Science & Nature

Referring to an organizations responsibility for their impact on society, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is greatly relevant for the competitiveness, sustainability and innovation in the management and engineering arena of organizations, and the economy worldwide. Taking in account its these concerns, Corporate Social Responsibility in Management and Engineering covers the issues related to corporate social responsibility in management and engineering in a context where organizations are facing, day after day, high challenges for what concerns issues related to their social responsibility. The book looks to contribute to the exchange of experiences and perspectives about the state of the research related to CSR, as well as the future direction of this field of research. It looks to provide a support to academics and researchers, as well as those that operating in the management field need to deal with policies and strategies related to CSR.

Adaptation to Climate Change: A Spatial Challenge

Science & Nature

As it becomes clear that climate change is not easily within the boundaries of the 1990’s, society needs to be prepared and needs to anticipate future changes due to the uncertain changes in climate. So far, extensive research has been carried out on several issues including the coastal defence or shifting ecozones. However, the role spatial design and planning can play in adapting to climate change has not yet been focussed on. This book illuminates the way adaptation to climate change is tackled in water management, ecology, coastal defence, the urban environment and energy. The question posed is how each sector can anticipate climate change by creating spatial designs and plans. The main message of this book is that spatial design and planning are a very useful tool in adapting to climate change. It offers an integral view on the issue, it is capable in dealing with uncertainties and it opens the way to creative and anticipative solutions. Dealing with adaptation to climate change requires a shift in mindset; from a technical rational way of thinking towards an integral proactive one. A new era in spatial design and planning looms on the horizon. "Mounting evidence suggests climate change is going to be much worse much sooner than most people expect with little chance remaining of capping the rise in global temperatures at just two degrees and no better than a 50-50 chance of stabilising at a four degree increase. So a book like this is absolutely vital as a guide to what we can do and how we can cope". Ken Livingstone, former mayor of London "We must urgently phase out coal emissions and move to the post fossil fuel era, if we wish to preserve a tolerable planet for our children and grandchildren. Yet even so, society must prepare for some effects of climate change that have become inevitable. This book shows how." James E. Hansen, Director NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Adjunct Professor Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, New York "Climate change is one of the biggest global problems mankind faces in the next centuries. People all over the world will need to save energy and use sustainable resources only. Meanwhile, they need to adapt to the effects of climate change urgently. In this book a very important contribution is made on the possibilities of spatial planning and design to enhance a high-qualitative adaptation, which can be applied over the entire globe." Prof. Dr. Victor Sergeev, MGIMO University - Center for the Studies of Global Problems, Moscow, Russia "The necessity to adapt to climate change offers us also a chance: this enhances us to improve the spatial quality of regions and to create valuable, liveable and worthwhile landscapes and urban environments. This book illuminates the way adaptation to climate change can be tackled in a spatial way. The many examples from Groningen province illustrate our frontrunner position in this field." Marc Calon, Regional Minister of Spatial Affairs, Finance, Area Development and Estate Development Corporation Policy, Province of Groningen

Introductory Bioelectronics

Science & Nature

Bioelectronics is a rich field of research involving the application of electronics engineering principles to biology, medicine, and the health sciences. With its interdisciplinary nature, bioelectronics spans state-of-the-art research at the interface between the life sciences, engineering and physical sciences.Introductory Bioelectronics offers a concise overview of the field and teaches the fundamentals of biochemical, biophysical, electrical, and physiological concepts relevant to bioelectronics. It is the first book to bring together these various topics, and to explain the basic theory and practical applications at an introductory level.The authors describe and contextualise the science by examining recent research and commercial applications. They also cover the design methods and forms of instrumentation that are required in the application of bioelectronics technology. The result is a unique book with the following key features: an interdisciplinary approach, which develops theory through practical examples and clinical applications, and delivers the necessary biological knowledge from an electronic engineer’s perspective a problem section in each chapter that readers can use for self-assessment, with model answers given at the end of the book along with references to key scientific publications discussions of new developments in the bioelectronics and biosensors fields, such as microfluidic devices and nanotechnology Supplying the tools to succeed, this text is the best resource for engineering and physical sciences students in bioelectronics, biomedical engineering and micro/nano-engineering. Not only that, it is also a resource for researchers without formal training in biology, who are entering PhD programmes or working on industrial projects in these areas.

The Meaning of It All

Science & Nature

Many appreciate Richard P. Feynman's contributions to twentieth-century physics, but few realize how engaged he was with the world around him -- how deeply and thoughtfully he considered the religious, political, and social issues of his day. Now, a wonderful book -- based on a previously unpublished, three-part public lecture he gave at the University of Washington in 1963 -- shows us this other side of Feynman, as he expounds on the inherent conflict between science and religion, people's distrust of politicians, and our universal fascination with flying saucers, faith healing, and mental telepathy. Here we see Feynman in top form: nearly bursting into a Navajo war chant, then pressing for an overhaul of the English language (if you want to know why Johnny can't read, just look at the spelling of "friend"); and, finally, ruminating on the death of his first wife from tuberculosis. This is quintessential Feynman -- reflective, amusing, and ever enlightening.

Cosmology

Science & Nature

Cosmology: The Science of the Universe is an introduction to past and present cosmological theory. For much of the world's history, cosmological thought was formulated in religious or philosophical language and was thus theological or metaphysical in nature. However, cosmological speculation and theory has now become a science in which the empirical discoveries of the astronomer, theoretical physicist, and biologist are woven into intricate models that attempt to account for the universe as a whole. Professor Harrison draws on the discoveries and speculations of these scientists to provide a comprehensive survey of man's current understanding of the universe and its history. Tracing the rise of the scientific method, the major aim of this book is to provide an elementary understanding of the physical universe of modern times. Thoroughly revised and up-dated, this second edition extends the much acclaimed first edition taking into account the many developments that have occurred.

Emerging Nanomaterials for Advanced Technologies

Science & Nature

Over the past decade the world has seen the rise of the fascinating and diverse field currently recognized as nanotechnology. This book covers a broad spectrum of topics within nanotechnology, including synthesis techniques, various innovative characterization techniques, growth mechanisms of nanomaterials, the physics and chemistry of nanomaterials, diverse functionalization methods, and the various applications of nanomaterials in biology, therapeutics, energy, food science, and environmental science. It also discusses applications of nanostructured materials, integrative applications such as nano- and micro-electronic sensor devices, as well as agricultural and environmental remediation applications. The book also includes a discussion of advances in functionalized nanomaterials (0D, 1D, 2D and 3D) and covers the early stages of the development of functionalized nanostructures, considering the future for 2D nanomaterials and 3D objects. Additionally, it includes a chapter on nanomaterial research development that highlights work on the life-cycle analysis of nanostructured materials and toxicity aspects.This book proves useful for researchers and professionals working in the field of nanomaterials and green technology, as well as in the field of nanotechnology. It should be useful to students and specialized researchers in a number of disciplines ranging from biology, chemistry, and materials science to engineering and manufacturing in both academia and industry.

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