Posts Tagged Theory
Handbook of Automated Reasoning (2 Volume Set)
Automated reasoning has matured into one of the most advanced areas of computer science. It is used in many areas of the field, including software and hardware verification, logic and functional programming, formal methods, knowledge representation, deductive databases, and artificial intelligence. This handbook presents an overview of the fundamental ideas, techniques, and methods in automated reasoning and its applications. The material covers both theory and implementation. In addition to traditional topics, the book covers material that bridges the gap between automated reasoning and related areas. Examples include model checking, nonmonotonic reasoning, numerical constraints, description logics, and implementation of declarative programming languages. The book consists of eight parts. After an overview of the early history of automated deduction, the areas covered are reasoning methods in first-order logic; equality and other built-in theories; methods of automated reasoning using induction; higher-order logic, which is used in a number of automatic and interactive proof-development systems; automated reasoning in nonclassical logics; decidable classes and model building; and implementation-related questions.
Tags: Instruction, Program, Quality, quality management, Science, TheoryRelated posts
A Devil’s Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love
One of the most renowned evolutionary biologists at work today, Richard Dawkins has written passionately for years on subjects that matter deeply to him – and matter urgently to all of us. A Devil’s Chaplain brings together the best and most provocative of his essays, on subjects ranging from evolution to ethics, from travel to literature, from education to religion. The result is an intriguing portrait of one of the finest minds in science.
With eloquence and vigor, these essays put forward Dawkins’s most fundamental axiom: seek truth. He speaks out against pseudoscience and deftly dissects religion and mysticism. In a powerful letter to his ten-year-old daughter, he argues for the necessity of basing any belief on solid evidence. And he doesn’t shy away from skewering the loftiest institutions, whether judicial or educational. “To hell with . . . your fact-stuffed syllabuses and your endless roster of exams,” he proclaims with refreshing directness. He writes infectiously of his awe at the marvelous complexity of the universe, pays moving tribute to dear friends and worthy colleagues, and tenderly recalls his boyhood in Africa. Uncompromising, even ruthless as Dawkins famously is when defending scientific truth and reason, this collection also shows a gentler, more contemplative side which may surprise his many readers.
Here we meet the essential Richard Dawkins: inspirational in both his unswerving attention to rationalism and his abiding passions.Richard Dawkins has an opinion on everything biological, it seems, and in A Devil’s Chaplain, everything is biological. Dawkins weighs in on topics as diverse as ape rights, jury trials, religion, and education, all examined through the lens of natural selection and evolution. Although many of these essays have been published elsewhere, this book is something of a greatest-hits compilation, reprinting many of Dawkins’ most famous recent compositions. They are well worth re-reading. His 1998 review of Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont’s Fashionable Nonsense is as bracing an indictment of academic obscurantism as the book it covered, although the review reveals some of Dawkins’ personal biases as well. Several essays are devoted to skillfully debunking religion and mysticism, and these are likely to raise the hackles of even casual believers. Science, and more specifically evolutionary science, underlies each essay, giving readers a glimpse into the last several years’ debates about the minutiae of natural selection. In one moving piece, Dawkins reflects on his late rival Stephen Jay Gould’s magnum opus, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, and clarifies what it was the two Darwinist heavyweights actually disagreed about. While the collection showcases Dawkins’ brilliance and intellectual sparkle, it brings up as many questions as it answers. As an ever-ardent champion of science, honest discourse, and rational debate, Dawkins will obviously relish the challenge of answering them. –Therese Littleton
Related posts
Day the Universe Changed
In The Day the Universe Changed, James Burke examines eight periods in history when our view of the world shifted dramatically: in the eleventh century, when extraordinary discoveries were made by Spanish crusaders; in fourteenth-century Florence, where perspective in painting emerged; in the fifteenth century, when the advent of the printing press shook the foundations of an oral society; in the sixteenth century, when gunnery developments triggered the birth of modern science; in the early eighteenth century, when hot English summers brought on the Industrial Revolution; in the battlefield surgery stations of the French revolutionary armies, where people first became statistics; in the nineteenth century, when the discovery of dinosaur fossils led to the theory of evolution; and in the 1820s, when electrical experiments heralded the end of scientific certainty. Based on the popular television documentary series, The Day the Universe Changed is a bestselling history that challenges the reader to decide whether there is absolute knowledge to discover – or whether the universe is “ultimately what we say it is”.
Tags: 1820s, absolute knowledge, advent, crusaders, dinosaur fossils, discoveries, eighteenth century, electrical experiments, eleventh century, fifteenth century, Foundations, fourteenth century, industrial revolution, james burke, modern science, nineteenth century, print, printing, printing press, Science, sixteenth century, television documentary series, Theory, theory of evolutionRelated posts
Diskretnaia Matematika
Publishes original papers in discrete mathematics including combinatorial analysis, graph theory, functional system theory, control system theory, coding theory, probability problems of discrete mathematics, computational & combinatorial problems of number theory & algebra.
Tags: TheoryRelated posts
Advanced Robotics & Intelligent Machines (I E E Control Engineering Series)
‘Advanced robotics’ describes the use of sensor-based robotic devices which exploit powerful computers to achieve the high levels of functionality that begin to mimic intelligent human behaviour. The object of this book is to summarise developments in the base technologies, survey recent applications and highlight new advanced concepts which will influence future progress.
I. Technologies (Recent developments in advanced robotics and intelligent systems; Machine intelligence – architectures, controllers and applications; Advanced control systems for robotic arms; Intelligent gripping systems; Force feedback control in robots applied to decommissioning; Tele-presence control of robots; Sensing and sensor management for planning); II Applications (Robotics in the nuclear industry; Robots in surgery; Intelligent autonomous systems for cars; Walking machine technology; Handling of flexible materials in automation; Robotics in food manufacturing; Robotic milking; Error-free semiconductor wafer handling); III Advanced concepts and procedures (The concept of robot society and its utilisation; Miniature and microrobotics; Characteristics of robot behavior; A behaviour synthesis architecture for co-operant mobile robots; Co-operant behaviour in multiple manipulators; Neural networks in automation procedures; Parallel processing, neural networks and genetic algorithms for real-time robot control); Index. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Journal, journals, Levels, Program, Programs, Special, Student, Student's, TheoryRelated posts