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From Alchemy to Chemistry (Dover Science Books)
by John ReadWritten for the layman, this accessible history takes a broad, humanistic perspective, eschewing chemical equations and formulae. Instead it concentrates on the great figures of chemistry and the ideas that revolutionized the science, from earliest history to the modern era.Much of the book is devoted to alchemy and such topics as the philosopher's stone, alchemical crypticism and symbolism, pseudo-alchemists, Paracelsus, and the "swan song" of alchemy as the scientific revolution took hold. In the final chapters, the author takes up the development of modern chemistry, including atomic theory, the nature of the elements, the beginning of organic chemistry, and more. Broad in scope, erudite yet readable, this rich and absorbing narrative will appeal to anyone interested in the long and colorful history of chemical science. Glossary. 50 illustrations.
From Animals to Animats 14
by Elio Tuci Alexandros Giagkos Myra Wilson John HallamThis book constitutes the proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, SAB 2016, held in Aberystwyth, UK, in August 2016. The 31 papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 45 submissions. They cover the main areas in animat research, including the animat approach and methodology, perception and motor control, learning and adaptation, evolution, and collective and social behavior.
From Apes to Cyborgs: New Perspectives on Human Evolution (Springer Praxis Books)
by Claudio Tuniz Patrizia Tiberi VipraioThis book offers fascinating insights into the lives of our ancestors and investigates the dynamic processes that led to the establishment of complex human societies. It provides a holistic view of human history and social evolution by drawing on the latest evidence from a wide range of disciplines and proposes new hypotheses on the origins of human behaviour. After exploration of the encounters of Homo sapiens with other human species, diverse aspects of life in emerging societies are examined, including clothing, work, leisure, learning, diet, disease, and the role of women. Attention is drawn to the key role of self-domestication – the process of reducing natural aggression and increasing playfulness – in enabling survival. Another focus is Homo oeconomicus. The significance of symbolic thought for the emergence of surpluses in goods and services is highlighted, with analysis of how this led to private accumulation of wealth and development of the first hierarchical societies. Finally, the discussion turns to humans of the future and the potential risks posed by artificial intelligence. The aim is to unveil the deep roots of our social behaviour and how it is going to intertwine with the development of digital technologies and social networks.
From Arabia to the Pacific: How Our Species Colonised Asia
by Robin DennellDrawing upon invasion biology and the latest archaeological, skeletal and environment evidence, From Arabia to the Pacific documents the migration of humans into Asia, and explains why we were so successful as a colonising species. The colonisation of Asia by our species was one of the most momentous events in human evolution. Starting around or before 100,000 years ago, humans began to disperse out of Africa and into the Arabian Peninsula, and then across southern Asia through India, Southeast Asia and south China. They learnt to build boats and sail to the islands of Southeast Asia, from which they reached Australia by 50,000 years ago. Around that time, humans also dispersed from the Levant through Iran, Central Asia, southern Siberia, Mongolia, the Tibetan Plateau, north China and the Japanese islands, and they also colonised Siberia as far north as the Arctic Ocean. By 30,000 years ago, humans had colonised the whole of Asia from Arabia to the Pacific, and from the Arctic to the Indian Ocean as well as the European Peninsula. In doing so, we replaced all other types of humans such as Neandertals and ended five million years of human diversity. Using interdisciplinary source material, From Arabia to the Pacific charts this process and draws conclusions as to the factors which made it possible. It will be invaluable to scholars of prehistory, and archaeologists and anthropologists interested in how the human species moved out of Africa and spread throughout Asia.
From Aristotle’s Teleology to Darwin’s Genealogy
by Marco SolinasStarting with Aristotle and moving on to Darwin, Marco Solinas outlines the basic steps from the birth, establishment and later rebirth of the traditional view of living beings, and its overturning by evolutionary revolution. The classic framework devised by Aristotle was still dominant in the 17th Century world of Galileo, Harvey and Ray, and remained hegemonic until the time of Lamarck and Cuvier in the 19th Century. Darwin's breakthrough thus takes on the dimensions of an abandonment ofthe traditional finalistic theory. It was a transition exemplified in the morphological analysis of useless parts, such as the sightless eyes of moles, already discussed by Aristotle, which Darwin used as a crowbar to unhinge the systematic recourse to final causes. With many excerpts, a chronological sequence and an analytical approach, this book follows the course of the two conceptions that have shaped the destiny of living beings in western culture.
From Arsenic to Zirconium: Poems and Surprising Facts about the Elements
by Peter Davern93 short poems that teach about the elements of the periodic table. Indulge your love of the periodic table with this collection of poems and fun facts about the chemical elements that make up our world. From arsenic to zirconium, this book describes the characteristics, history, and quirks of each element. The poems are a launching point for a guided tour of the elements filled with fascinating scientific trivia. For instance: • Antimony, used to treat constipation in the Middle Ages, may have killed Mozart. • There's arsenic in your prawns! (But don't worry, it won't harm you.) • Erbium is used to "dope" optical fiber amplifiers that make your YouTube videos download faster. • Iridium was key to the meteor theory of why dinosaurs went extinct. • You'll find potassium in both bananas and gunpowder. • Sulfur plays a role in whether your hair is curly or straight.Expand your library of scientific literature with this playful and poetic romp through the periodic table.
From Artificial Intelligence to Brain Intelligence: AI Compute Symposium 218
by Arvind Kumar Eduard Alarcon Rajiv Joshi Matthew ZieglerResearch in Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not new, it has been around since 1950’s. AI resurfaced at that time while Moore’s law was on an aggressive path of scaling, with the transformation of NMOS and later bipolar technology to CMOS for high performance, low power as well as low cost applications.Several breakthroughs in the electronics industry helped to push Moore’s law in chip miniaturization along with increased computing power (parallel and distributed processing) and memory bandwidth. Once this paradigm shift occurred it naturally opened doors for AI as it required big data manipulations, and thus AI could thrive again. AI has already shown success in industries such as finance, marketing, health care, transportation, gaming, education and the defence and space, to name but a few.The human brain amazingly has a memory in the order of millions of digital bits, however it cannot compete with machines for data crunching and speed. Thus tomorrow’s world will be a World of Wonders of Artificial Intelligence (WOW- AI), to compensate the computational limitations of human beings. In short, AI research and applications will continue to grow with the development of software, algorithms and hardware accelerators.To continue the development of AI, an advanced AI Compute Symposium was launched with the sponsorship of IBM, IEEE CAS and EDS, from which this book came. Overall, the book covers two broad topics: general AI advances, and applications to neuromorphic computing.
From Assessing to Conserving Biodiversity: Conceptual and Practical Challenges (History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences #24)
by Elena Casetta Jorge Marques da Silva Davide VecchiThis open access book features essays written by philosophers, biologists, ecologists and conservation scientists facing the current biodiversity crisis. Despite increasing communication, accelerating policy and management responses, and notwithstanding improving ecosystem assessment and endangered species knowledge, conserving biodiversity continues to be more a concern than an accomplished task. Why is it so?The overexploitation of natural resources by our species is a frequently recognised factor, while the short-term economic interests of governments and stakeholders typically clash with the burdens that implementing conservation actions imply. But this is not the whole story. This book develops a different perspective on the problem by exploring the conceptual challenges and practical defiance posed by conserving biodiversity, namely: on the one hand, the difficulties in defining what biodiversity is and characterizing that “thing” to which the word ‘biodiversity’ refers to; on the other hand, the reasons why assessing biodiversity and putting in place effective conservation actions is arduous.
From Astrophysics to Unconventional Computation: Essays Presented to Susan Stepney on the Occasion of her 60th Birthday (Emergence, Complexity and Computation #35)
by Andrew Adamatzky Vivien KendonThis Festschrift is a tribute to Susan Stepney’s ideas and achievements in the areas of computer science, formal specifications and proofs, complex systems, unconventional computing, artificial chemistry, and artificial life. All chapters were written by internationally recognised leaders in computer science, physics, mathematics, and engineering. The book shares fascinating ideas, algorithms and implementations related to the formal specification of programming languages and applications, behavioural inheritance, modelling and analysis of complex systems, parallel computing and non-universality, growing cities, artificial life, evolving artificial neural networks, and unconventional computing. Accordingly, it offers an insightful and enjoyable work for readers from all walks of life, from undergraduate students to university professors, from mathematicians, computers scientists and engineers to physicists, chemists and biologists.
From Atom Optics to Quantum Simulation
by Sebastian WillThis thesis explores ultracold quantum gases of bosonic and fermionic atoms in optical lattices. The highly controllable experimental setting discussed in this work, has opened the door to new insights into static and dynamical properties of ultracold quantum matter. One of the highlights reported here is the development and application of a novel time-resolved spectroscopy technique for quantum many-body systems. By following the dynamical evolution of a many-body system after a quantum quench, the author shows how the important energy scales of the underlying Hamiltonian can be measured with high precision. This achievement, its application, and many other exciting results make this thesis of interest to a broad audience ranging from quantum optics to condensed matter physics. A lucid style of writing accompanied by a series of excellent figures make the work accessible to readers outside the rapidly growing research field of ultracold atoms.
From Atoms to Galaxies: A Conceptual Physics Approach to Scientific Awareness
by Sadri HassaniCollege students in the United States are becoming increasingly incapable of differentiating between proven facts delivered by scientific inquiry and the speculations of pseudoscience. In an effort to help stem this disturbing trend, From Atoms to Galaxies: A Conceptual Physics Approach to Scientific Awareness teaches heightened scientific acuity a
From Automated to Autonomous Driving: A Transnational Research History on Pioneers, Artifacts and Technological Change (1950-2000) (Archimedes #70)
by Fabian KrögerThis book presents the most important milestones of the research on automated and autonomous driving in the United States, Japan and Europe throughout five decades (1950-2000). Drawing on sources from the automotive industry, electrical engineering, the robotics and AI-domain and military institutions, it retraces the transition from the guidance-cable approach to vehicle-based sensor and vision systems. Giving a detailed overview of the technical concepts, artefacts, research vehicles and robots, the book presents the transnational engineering efforts that started long before Silicon Valley entered the field. In addition, the book also uniquely details the role of the military in the domain of vehicle automation. This all ensures the book is of great interest to historians of technology, practitioners in engineering disciplines, scholars working in mobility studies, journalists, and political decision makers.
From Axons to Identity: Neurological Explorations of the Nature of the Self (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology)
by Todd E. FeinbergA leading neuroscientist offers an intriguing scientific journey to understanding the neurobiology of the self. What can dementia, delusions, and other neurological disorders teach us about how the brain creates personal identity and a unified sense of self? Here, a leading neurobiologist offers an intriguing scientific approach to understanding the neurobiology of the self. Drawing on both the latest neuroscientific research, as well as the author's decades of experience with neurological patients, From Axons to Identity examines the link between brain and identity in fascinating new ways. Dr. Feinberg presents case studies of individuals with brain pathologies and unusual psychiatric syndromes that cause them to deny parts of their bodies or believe in the presence of mysterious imposters or imaginary friends, and then presents a groundbreaking new theory of these conditions that relates them to the normal course of psychological development. By examining what goes wrong in individuals with these conditions, Dr. Feinberg presents an engaging new theory with far-reaching implications for the link between brain and identity. From Axons to Identity proposes a new view of the processes of the brain and the self that is unique and revelatory.
From Bacteria To Plants
by Michael J. PadillaA science textbook by Michael J. Padilla. Part of the series: "The Nature of Science and Technology" The Nature of Science and Technology, introduces students to the sciences, scientific methods, skills, and technology and design concepts they'll need to succeed in middle grades science.
From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds
by Daniel C. DennettOne of America’s foremost philosophers offers a major new account of the origins of the conscious mind. How did we come to have minds? For centuries, this question has intrigued psychologists, physicists, poets, and philosophers, who have wondered how the human mind developed its unrivaled ability to create, imagine, and explain. Disciples of Darwin have long aspired to explain how consciousness, language, and culture could have appeared through natural selection, blazing promising trails that tend, however, to end in confusion and controversy. Even though our understanding of the inner workings of proteins, neurons, and DNA is deeper than ever before, the matter of how our minds came to be has largely remained a mystery. That is now changing, says Daniel C. Dennett. In From Bacteria to Bach and Back, his most comprehensive exploration of evolutionary thinking yet, he builds on ideas from computer science and biology to show how a comprehending mind could in fact have arisen from a mindless process of natural selection. Part philosophical whodunit, part bold scientific conjecture, this landmark work enlarges themes that have sustained Dennett’s legendary career at the forefront of philosophical thought. In his inimitable style—laced with wit and arresting thought experiments—Dennett explains that a crucial shift occurred when humans developed the ability to share memes, or ways of doing things not based in genetic instinct. Language, itself composed of memes, turbocharged this interplay. Competition among memes—a form of natural selection—produced thinking tools so well-designed that they gave us the power to design our own memes. The result, a mind that not only perceives and controls but can create and comprehend, was thus largely shaped by the process of cultural evolution. An agenda-setting book for a new generation of philosophers, scientists, and thinkers, From Bacteria to Bach and Back will delight and entertain anyone eager to make sense of how the mind works and how it came about.
From Bacteria to Plants
by Glencoe Mcgraw-HillDiscover the Flexibility to Teach Science Your Way!. "Glencoe Science: From Bacteria to Plants," a module in the Glencoe Science 15 book series, provides students with accurate and comprehensive coverage of middle school National Science Education Standards. Concepts are explained in a clear, concise manner, and are integrated with a wide range of hands-on experiences, critical thinking opportunities, real-world applications, and connections to other sciences and to non-science areas of the curriculum. Co-authored by National Geographic, unparalleled graphics reinforce key concepts. A broad array of print and technology resources help differentiate and accommodate all learners. The modular approach allows you to mix and match books to meet your specific curriculum needs.
From Bacteria to Plants (Prentice Hall Science Explorer)
by Jan JennerScience Textbook for 6th through 8th grade
From Basic Cardiac Imaging to Image Fusion
by Giuliano Mariani Paolo MarzulloThe recent development of three-dimensional imaging techniques has provided an enormous amount of information relevant to the clinical management of patients at low and high risk for coronary artery disease. However, while progress in each individual technique has been rapid, the correlation of findings obtained with radiology, nuclear medicine, and magnetic resonance imaging is still relatively neglected. In this book, qualified experts in cardiac imaging present the basic concepts of cardiac pathology and imaging and compare the findings obtained in particular subspecialties with those acquired using other techniques. In this way the reader will learn how images and techniques can be integrated in clinical practice to the benefit of the patient. In addition, it is explained how appropriate multimodality integration can reduce the patient's exposure to ionizing radiation. Physicians ranging from cardiac surgeons to internal medicine specialists and even public health administrators will find this book invaluable in understanding the role of hybrid cardiac imaging.
From Bauhaus to Ecohouse: A History of Ecological Design
by Peder AnkerGlobal warming and concerns about sustainability recently have pushed ecological design to the forefront of architectural study and debate. As Peder Anker explains in From Bauhaus to Ecohouse, despite claims of novelty, debates about environmentally sensitive architecture have been ongoing for nearly a century. By exploring key moments of inspiration between designers and ecologists from the Bauhaus projects of the interwar period to the eco-arks of the 1980s, Anker traces the historical intersection of architecture and ecological science and assesses how both remain intertwined philosophically and pragmatically within the still-evolving field of ecological design.The idea that science could improve human life attracted architects and designers who looked to the science of ecology to better their methodologies. Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus school, taught that designed form should follow the laws of nature in order to function effectively. With the Bauhaus movement, ecology and design merged and laid the foundation of modernist architecture. Anker discusses in detail how the former faculty members of the Bauhaus school -- including László Maholy-Nagy and Herbert Bayer -- left Nazi Germany in the mid-1930s and engaged with ecologists during their "London period" and in the U.S. A subsequent generation of students and admirers of Bauhaus, such as Richard Buckminster Fuller and Ian McHarg, picked up their program, and -- under the general banner of merging art and science in the design process -- Bauhaus-minded architects began to think ecologically while some ecologists lent their ideas to design. Anker charts complicated currents of ecological design thought spanning pre-- and post--World War II and through the cold war, including pivotal changes such as the emergence of space exploration and new theories on closed-system living in space capsules, space stations, and planetary colonies. Space ecology, Anker explains, inspired leading landscape designers of the 1970s, who used the imagined life of astronauts as a model for how humans should live in harmony with nature. Theories of how to design for extraterrestrial living impacted design and ecological thinking for earth-based living as well, as evidenced in Disney's Spaceship Earth attraction as well as in the Biosphere 2 experiments in Arizona in the early 1990s. Illuminating important connections between theories about the relationship between humans and the built environment, Anker's provocative study provides new insight into a critical period in the evolution of environmental awareness.
From Bench to Boardroom
by Clifford L. Spiro William BanholzerThis must-read guide offers a practical and engaging introduction to the ins and outs of R&D leadership. Innovation is a two-trillion-dollar industry, and, on top of the baseline complexity faced by any manager, the R&D or Innovation leader confronts an additional set of challenges.Armed with years of experience in roles ranging from scientist to Vice President of R&D to founder of his own company to innovation career coach, Dr. Clifford L. Spiro shares his insights on a carefully curated selection of topics. This indispensable playbook covers:Building, managing, and motivating a teamSetting schedules and goalsAssessing and rewarding project successWorking with other departmentsLegal and intellectual property considerationsDr. Spiro’s distinctive blend of big-picture strategic thinking and day-to-day, nitty-gritty tips (e.g., Five Great Questions For R&D Managers to Ask Every Time) is essential reading for current and aspiring R&D leaders through seasoned managers as well as anyone at an organization that has an R&D, innovation, or technology transfer component. Providing a prescriptive, in-the-trenches assessment of how to lead innovation more effectively, this book ably equips the reader to anticipate potential problems and to succeed both within the R&D department and across his or her company.
From Biological Practice to Scientific Metaphysics (Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science #23)
by Oliver M. LeanHow analyzing scientific practices can alter debates on the relationship between science and reality Numerous scholarly works focus solely on scientific metaphysics or biological practice, but few attempt to bridge the two subjects. This volume, the latest in the Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science series, explores what a scientific metaphysics grounded in biological practices could look like and how it might impact the way we investigate the world around us. From Biological Practice to Scientific Metaphysics examines how to reconcile the methods of biological practice with the methods of metaphysical cosmology, notably regarding the origins of life. The contributors take up a wide range of traditional metaphysics and philosophy of science topics, including natural kinds, medicine, ecology, genetics, scientific pluralism, reductionism, operationalism, mechanisms, the nature of information, and more. Many of the chapters represent the first philosophical treatments of significant biological practices. From causality and complexity to niche constructions and inference, the contributors review and discuss long-held objections to metaphysics by natural scientists. They illuminate how, in order to learn about the world as it truly is, we must look not only at what scientists say but also what they do: for ontology cannot be read directly from scientific claims. Contributors: Richard Creath, Arizona State U; Marc Ereshefsky, U of Calgary; Marie I. Kaiser, Bielefeld U; Thomas A. C. Reydon, Leibniz U Hannover and Michigan State U; Lauren N. Ross, U of California, Irvine; Rose Trappes, U of Exeter; Marcel Weber, U of Geneva; William C. Wimsatt, U of Chicago. Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly with images accompanied by short alt text and/or extended descriptions.
From Biological to Artificial Consciousness: Neuroscientific Insights and Progress (The Frontiers Collection)
by Masataka WatanabeHow does consciousness emerge from a brain that consists only of physical matter and electrical / chemical reactions? The deep mysteries of consciousness have plagued philosophers and scientists for thousands of years. This book approaches the problem through scientific studies that shed light on the neural mechanism of consciousness, and furthermore, delves into the possibility of artificial consciousness, a phenomenon that may ultimately solve the mystery. Finally, two key suggestions made in the book, namely, a method to test machine consciousness and a theory hypothesizing that consciousness emerges from a neural algorithm, reveal a novel and credible pathway to mind-uploading.The original Japanese version of this book has become a best-seller in popular neuroscience and has even led to a neurotech startup for mind-uploading.
From Biosynthesis to Total Synthesis: Strategies and Tactics for Natural Products
by Alexandros L. ZografosFocusing on biosynthesis, this book provides readers with approaches and methodologies for modern organic synthesis. By discussing major biosynthetic pathways and their chemical reactions, transformations, and natural products applications; it links biosynthetic mechanisms and more efficient total synthesis. * Describes four major biosynthetic pathways (acetate, mevalonate, shikimic acid, and mixed pathways and alkaloids) and their related mechanisms* Covers reactions, tactics, and strategies for chemical transformations, linking biosynthetic processes and total synthesis* Includes strategies for optimal synthetic plans and introduces a modern molecular approach to natural product synthesis and applications* Acts as a key reference for industry and academic readers looking to advance knowledge in classical total synthesis, organic synthesis, and future directions in the field
From Body to Community: Venereal Disease and Society in Baroque Spain
by Cristian BercoKnown in early modern Europe by many names - the French Disease, the Bubas, and, eventually, syphilis - the Great Pox was a chronic disease that carried the stigma of sexuality and produced a slow and painful death. The main institution which treated it, the pox hospital, has come down to us as a stench-filled and overcrowded place that sought to treat the body and reform the soul.Using the sole surviving admissions book for Toledo, Spain's Hospital de Santiago, Cristian Berco reconstructs the lives of men and women afflicted with the pox by tracing their experiences before, during, and after their hospitalization. Through an innovative combination of medical, institutional, and notarial sources, he explores the physical and social lives of the patients. What were the social repercussions of living with a shameful disease? What did living with this chronic illness mean for careers and networks, love and families, and everyday relationships? From Body to Community is a textured analysis at once touched by the illness but not solely defined by it.