inspire spiritual wonder? Confrontation between science and religion has defined much public debate about religion in recent years, most lately in bestsellers portraying a clash between scientists and religious believers, such as Richard Dawkins’ ‘The God Delusion ‘and Sam Harris’s ‘The End of Faith ‘or ‘Letter to a Christian Nation.’ But what does this ‘us versus them’ divide mean for society? This collection of essays gives voice to social scientists, natural scientists and theologians whose experience holds direct relevance on these major issues, and clarifies the position of science in the modern debate. Includes contributions by Mary Midgley (University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK), Denis Alexander (Cambridge University, UK), Richard Roberts (Lancaster University, UK), Bob Layton (Durham University, UK), Simon Coleman (Sussex University, UK), Michael Shermer (Executive Director of the Sceptics Society and monthly columnist for ‘Scientific American’), Lewis Wolpert (University College London, UK), Andrew Newberg (University of Pennsylvania), Timothy Taylor (University of Bradford, UK), Steven Mithen (University of Reading, UK), David Sloan Wilson (Binghamton University), Herbert Maschner (Idaho State University), Ian Reader (University of Manchester, UK), Hiroko Kawanami (Lancaster University, UK), Andrian Kreye (Suddeutsche Zeitung), John Hedley Brooke (Oxford University, UK), Gordy Slack (Author of ‘The Battle Over The Meaning Of Everything’), Seth Shostak (Seti Institute), William Calvin (University Of Washington), and David Wilkinson (Durham University, UK).
Thứ Hai, 6 tháng 4, 2015
Thứ Hai, 2 tháng 3, 2015
Multi-Objective Optimization in Physical Synthesis of Integrated Circuits
This book introduces techniques that advance the capabilities and strength of modern software tools for physical synthesis, with the ultimate goal to improve the quality of leading-edge semiconductor products. It provides a comprehensive introduction to physical synthesis and takes the reader methodically from first principles through state-of-the-art optimizations used in cutting edge industrial tools. It explains how to integrate chip optimizations in novel ways to create powerful circuit transformations that help satisfy performance requirements. Broadens the scope of physical synthesis optimization to include accurate transformations operating between the global and local scales; Integrates groups of related transformations to break circular dependencies and increase the number of circuit elements that can be jointly optimized to escape local minima; Derives several multi-objective optimizations from first observations through complete algorithms and experiments;Describes integrated optimization techniques that ensure a graceful timing closure process and impact nearly every aspect of a typical physical synthesis flow.
Thứ Hai, 23 tháng 2, 2015
The Edge of the Precipice
Can a case be made for reading literature in the digital age? Does literature still matter in this era of instant information? Is it even possible to advocate for serious, sustained reading with all manner of social media distracting us, fragmenting our concentration, and demanding short, rapid communication? In The Edge of the Precipice, Paul Socken brings together a thoughtful group of writers, editors, philosophers, librarians, archivists, and literary critics from Canada, the US, France, England, South Africa, and Australia to contemplate the state of literature in the twenty-first century. Including essays by outstanding contributors such as Alberto Manguel, Mark Kingwell, Lori Saint-Martin, Sven Birkerts, Katia Grubisic, Drew Nelles, and J. Hillis Miller, this collection presents a range of perspectives about the importance of reading literature today. The Edge of the Precipice is a passionate, articulate, and entertaining collection that reflects on the role of literature in our society and asks if it is now under siege. Contributors include Michael Austin (Newman University), Sven Birkerts (author), Stephen Brockmann (Carnegie-Mellon University), Vincent Giroud (University of Franche-Comt), Katia Grubisic (poet), Mark Kingwell (University of Toronto), Alberto Manguel (author), J. Hillis Miller (University of California, Irvine), Drew Nelles (editor-in-chief, Maisonneuve), Keith Oatley (University of Toronto), Ekaterina Rogatchevskaia (British Library), Leonard Rosmarin (Brock University), Lori Saint-Martin (translator), Paul Socken (University of Waterloo), and Gerhard van der Linde (University of South Africa).
Thứ Ba, 10 tháng 2, 2015
Advances in Autonomous Mini Robots
Autonomous robots must carry out useful tasks all by themselves relying entirely on their own perceptions of their environment. The cognitive abilities required for autonomous action are largely independent of robot size, which makes mini robots attractive as artefacts for research, education and entertainment. Autonomous mini robots must be small enough for experimentation on a desktop or a small laboratory. They must be easy to carry and safe for interaction with humans. They must not be expensive. Mini robot designers have to work at the leading edge of technology so that their creations can carry out purposeful autonomic action under these constraints. Since 2001 researchers have met every two years for an international symposium to report on the advances achieved in Autonomous Mini Robots for Research and Edutainment (AMiRE). The AMiRE Symposium is a single track conference that offers ample opportunities for discussion and exchange of ideas. This volume contains the contributed papers of the 2011 AMiRE Symposium held from 23 to 25 May 2011 at Bielefeld University, Germany. The contributions in this volume represent the state-of-the-art of autonomous mini robots; they demonstrate what is currently technically feasible and show some of the applications for autonomous mini robots.
Chủ Nhật, 8 tháng 2, 2015
Razors Edge
A Taste for Corpora
The eleven contributions to this volume, written by expert corpus linguists, tackle corpora from a wide range of perspectives and aim to shed light on the numerous linguistic and pedagogical uses to which corpora can be put. They present cutting-edge research in the authors respective domain of expertise and suggest directions for future research. The main focus of the book is on learner corpora, but it also includes reflections on the role of other types of corpora, such as native corpora, expert users corpora, parallel corpora or corpora of New Englishes. For readers who are already familiar with corpora, this volume offers an informed account of the key role that corpus data play in applied linguistics today. As for readers who are new to corpus linguistics, the overview of approaches, methods and domains of applications presented will undoubtedly help them develop their own taste for corpora. This volume has been edited in honour of Sylviane Granger, who has been one of the pioneers of learner corpus research.
Methods for Multilevel Analysis and Visualisation of Geographical Networks
This leading-edge study focuses on the latest techniques in analysing and representing the complex, multi-layered data now available to geographers studying urban zones and their populations. The volume tracks the successful results of the SPANGEO Project, which was set up in 2005 to standardize, and share, the syncretic, multinational mapping techniques already developed by geographers and computer scientists. SPANGEO sought new and responsive ways of visualising urban geographical and social data that reflected the fine-grained detail of the inputs. It allowed for visual representation of the large and complex networks and flows which are such an integral feature of the dynamism of urban geography. SPANGEO developed through the ‘visual analytics loop’ in which geographers collaborated with computer scientists by feeding data into the design of visualisations that in turn spawned the urge to incorporate more varied data into the visualisation. This volume covers all the relevant aspects, from conceptual principles to the tools of network analysis and the actual results flowing from their deployment. Detailed case studies set out in this volume include spatial multi-level analyses of flows in airports and sea ports, as well as the fascinating scientific networks in European cities. The volume shows how the primary concern of geographythe interaction of society with physical spacehas been revivified by the complexities of new cartographical and statistical methodologies, which allow for highly detailed mapping and far more powerful computer analysis of spatial relationships.
Thứ Năm, 5 tháng 2, 2015
Schaums Outline of Theory and Problems of Financial Management
Master financial management with Schaum’s–the high-performance study guide. It will help you cut study time, hone problem-solving skills, and achieve your personal best on exams! Students love Schaum’s Outlines because they produce results. Each year, hundreds of thousands of students raise their test scores and final grades with these indispensable study guides. Get the edge on your classmates. Use Schaum’s!
Thứ Tư, 4 tháng 2, 2015
The Mahalanobis-Taguchi Strategy
Thứ Hai, 2 tháng 2, 2015
A History of Race in Muslim West Africa, 1600-1960
The mobilization of local ideas about racial difference has been important in generating, and intensifying, civil wars that have occurred since the end of colonial rule in all of the countries that straddle the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. From Sudan to Mauritania, the racial categories deployed in contemporary conflicts often hearken back to an older history in which blackness could be equated with slavery and non-blackness with predatory and uncivilized banditry. This book traces the development of arguments about race over a period of more than 350 years in one important place along the southern edge of the Sahara Desert: the Niger Bend in northern Mali. Using Arabic documents held in Timbuktu, as well as local colonial sources in French and oral interviews, Bruce S. Hall reconstructs an African intellectual history of race that long predated colonial conquest, and which has continued to orient inter-African relations ever since.
Thứ Tư, 21 tháng 1, 2015
Thứ Ba, 20 tháng 1, 2015
Asian Style Hotels
With more than 500 ravishing full-color photographs, Asian Style Hotels brings you to the best hotels in Southeast Asia. The super-deluxe establishments included here are all at the cutting-edge of hotel design and management. Each property has been hand-picked according to a set of criteria that includes a strong design aesthetic, architectural integrity, and a sense of individuality a million miles away from the cookie-cutter approach of chain hotels. Asian Style Hotels is the definitive guide to Southeast Asia’s finest places to stay.
Thứ Sáu, 16 tháng 1, 2015
iPhone SDK Application Development
This practical book offers the knowledge and code you need to create cutting-edge mobile applications and games for the iPhone and iPod Touch, using Apple’s iPhone SDK. iPhone SDK Application Development introduces you to this development paradigm and the Objective-C language it uses with numerous examples, and also walks you through the many SDK frameworks necessary for designing full-featured applications.
Laser Refractography
This book describes the basic principles of laser refractography, a flexible new diagnostic tool for measuring optically inhomogeneous media and flows. Laser refractography is based on digital imaging and computer processing of structured laser beam refraction (SLR) in inhomogeneous transparent media. Laser refractograms provide both qualitative and quantitative measurements and can be used for the study of fast and transient processes. In this book, the theoretical basis of refractography is explored in some detail, and experimental setups are described for measurement of transparent media using either 2D (passed radiation) or 3D (scattered radiation) refractograms. Specific examples and applications are discussed, including visualization of the boundary layer near a hot or cold metallic ball in water, and observation of edge effects and micro layers in liquids and gases. As the first book to describe this new and exciting technique, this monograph has broad cross-disciplinary appeal and will be of interest to students and researchers who need to characterize complex fluid behavior.
Thứ Tư, 14 tháng 1, 2015
Pro HTML5 Programming
HTML5 is here, and with it, web applications take on a power, ease, scalability, and responsiveness like never before. In this book, developers will learn how to use the latest cutting-edge HTML5 web technologyavailable in the most recent versions of modern browsersto build web applications with unparalleled functionality, speed, and responsiveness.
Thứ Năm, 8 tháng 1, 2015
Wall of Spears
It is time to decide who will rule the lands and control the magic. Will it be Forland, with its lust for bloody conquest? Will it be Dokuzen, with its dreams of a slave empire, or will it be Vales, armed only with Rhiannon and her magic – and the truth about why the rulers of Dokuzen claim to be elves? Into this mix comes Sendatsu. Rejected by his true love, hated by his father, hunted by his former best friend, he now burns with the desire to build a better world for his children. Betrayal follows lies which follows more betrayal as the true power behind the vicious struggle is revealed. The fate of all the lands rests on a sword’s edge …
Romantic Escapes in the Caribbean
The Caribbean is a land of marriages performed at the water’s edge, and honeymoons celebrated in luxurious resorts. This guide offers lovers information on staying in the Caribbean. For each location, it provides a description of the island, how to gain entry, the resorts, where to dine and the nightlife. Every type of area is covered, from the sleepy inns in Nevis and tiny Tobago, to pulsating resorts in Jamaica and Puerto Rico. For those considering a wedding or vow-renewal on an island, the guide also covers marriage regulations and the best places for an island ceremony.
Thứ Ba, 6 tháng 1, 2015
Supersymmetric Solitons
This book summarizes major advances in critical solitons in supersymmetric theories, and their implications for understanding basic dynamical regularities of nonsupersymmetric theories. After an extended introduction on the theory of critical solitons, including a historical introduction, the authors focus on three topics: non-Abelian strings and confined monopoles; reducing the level of supersymmetry; and domain walls as D brane prototypes. They also provide a thorough review of issues at the cutting edge, such as non-Abelian flux tubes. The book presents an extensive summary of the current literature so researchers in this field can understand the background and related issues.
Thứ Hai, 5 tháng 1, 2015
The Complete Strain Trilogy
High-concept thrillers with a supernatural edge from world-famous director, whose films include Pans Labyrinth and Hellboy.