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Interactive Theorem Proving: 8th International Conference, ITP 2017, Brasília, Brazil, September 26–29, 2017, Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science #10499)
by Mauricio Ayala-Rincón César A. MuñozThis book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Interactive Theorem Proving, ITP 2017, held in Brasilia, Brazil, in September 2017. The 28 full papers, 2 rough diamond papers, and 3 invited talk papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 65 submissions. The topics range from theoretical foundations to implementation aspects and applications in program verification, security and formalization of mathematical theories.
Artificial Intelligence and Economic Theory: Skynet in the Market (Advanced Information and Knowledge Processing)
by Tshilidzi Marwala Evan HurwitzThis book theoretically and practically updates major economic ideas such as demand and supply, rational choice and expectations, bounded rationality, behavioral economics, information asymmetry, pricing, efficient market hypothesis, game theory, mechanism design, portfolio theory, causality and financial engineering in the age of significant advances in man-machine systems. The advent of artificial intelligence has changed many disciplines such as engineering, social science and economics. Artificial intelligence is a computational technique which is inspired by natural intelligence concepts such as the swarming of birds, the working of the brain and the pathfinding of the ants. Artificial Intelligence and Economic Theory: Skynet in the Market analyses the impact of artificial intelligence on economic theories, a subject that has not been studied. It also introduces new economic theories and these are rational counterfactuals and rational opportunity costs. These ideas are applied to diverse areas such as modelling of the stock market, credit scoring, HIV and interstate conflict. Artificial intelligence ideas used in this book include neural networks, particle swarm optimization, simulated annealing, fuzzy logic and genetic algorithms. It, furthermore, explores ideas in causality including Granger as well as the Pearl causality models.
Materiality and Managerial Techniques: New Perspectives on Organizations, Artefacts and Practices
by Nathalie Mitev Anna Morgan-Thomas Philippe Lorino Francois-Xavier de Vaujany Yesh NamaThis edited book examines the relationship between the materiality of artefacts and managerial techniques, combining the recent scholarly interest on socio-materiality with a focus on management. Exploring managerial techniques, the social and material tools used by actors to guide or facilitate collective activities, topics include their socio-materiality, performative dimension, role in managerial control, relationship to organisational space and relationship to organisational legitimacy. This volume particularly explores the valuation and legitimation practices or processes involving managerial techniques, their modalities, specificities and involvement in collective activity within organisations. The overall aim of the chapters is to explore in different ways and instances the way in which material artefacts are able to inscribe and enforce managerial action which affects daily work practices.
Materiality and Managerial Techniques: New Perspectives On Organizations, Artefacts And Practices (Technology, Work And Globalization Ser.)
by Nathalie Mitev Anna Morgan-Thomas Philippe Lorino Francois-Xavier de Vaujany Yesh NamaThis edited book examines the relationship between the materiality of artefacts and managerial techniques, combining the recent scholarly interest on socio-materiality with a focus on management. Exploring managerial techniques, the social and material tools used by actors to guide or facilitate collective activities, topics include their socio-materiality, performative dimension, role in managerial control, relationship to organisational space and relationship to organisational legitimacy. This volume particularly explores the valuation and legitimation practices or processes involving managerial techniques, their modalities, specificities and involvement in collective activity within organisations. The overall aim of the chapters is to explore in different ways and instances the way in which material artefacts are able to inscribe and enforce managerial action which affects daily work practices.
Public International Law and Human Rights Violations by Private Military and Security Companies
by Helena TorrojaThis book explores the human rights consequences of the new mercenarism, as channeled through so-called private military and security companies (PMSCs), and offers an overview of the evolution and status quo of both non-legal (soft law and self-regulation) and legal initiatives seeking to limit them. It addresses various topics, including the impact of the presence of non-state actors on human security using the cases of Afghanistan and Syria; research on PMSCs’ impact on human rights in specific cases; the insufficiency and ineffectiveness of existing direct and indirect legal prohibitions on the use of mercenaries; various aspects of international human rights law and international humanitarian law related to the conduct of PMSCs; soft-law and self-regulation mechanisms; and the international minimum standard in general international law regarding the privatization, export, import, and contracting of PMSCs.
Peptides and Peptide-based Biomaterials and their Biomedical Applications (Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology #1030)
by Anwar Sunna Andrew Care Peter L. BergquistSolid-binding peptides have been used increasingly as molecular building blocks in nanobiotechnology as they can direct the assembly and functionalisation of a diverse range of materials and have the ability to regulate the synthesis of nanoparticles and complex nanostructures. Nanostructured materials such as β-sheet fibril-forming peptides and α-helical coiled coil systems have displayed many useful properties including stimulus-responsiveness, modularity and multi-functionality, providing potential technological applications in tissue engineering, antimicrobials, drug delivery and nanoscale electronics. The current situation with respect to self-assembling peptides and bioactive matrices for regenerative medicine are reviewed, as well as peptide-target modeling and an examination of future prospects for peptides in these areas.
Geoinformatics and Atmospheric Science (Pageoph Topical Volumes)
by Tomasz Niedzielski Krzysztof MigałaThis volume presents recent developments in atmospheric sciences driven by numerical modeling which makes use of geospatial technologies and increasing computational power. It gathers examples of how geoinformatics supports meteorological, climatological and water-related studies. One of the most important features of geospatial technologies is that they provide methods and tools which may be utilized in real time or near real time in order to monitor and predict atmospheric processes. This is particularly crucial in areas where dynamics of atmospheric phenomena is considerable and causes difficulties in accurate forecasting. One of such areas is the transitional zone between oceanic and continental features of the mid-latitude climate. Good examples of investigations into the transitional zone come from Poland and its neighboring countries. The topical volume provides the reader with a selection of papers on physically-based and data-based modelling of weather-related phenomena over Poland. This main theme of the topical volume is extended to cover case studies on the use of geoinformatics in atmospheric studies in other regions at a range of spatial scales.
The Protection of Foreign Investments in Mongolia: Treaties, Domestic Law, and Contracts on Investments in International Comparison and Arbitral Practice (European Yearbook of International Economic Law #2)
by Bajar ScharawThis book analyses the adequacy of Mongolia’s legal system for foreign investment protection by conducting a multi-level assessment of international investment treaties, domestic legislation of the host State, and investor-State contracts from an international comparative perspective. The investigation distinguishes between three legal dimensions, each of which offers both substantive legal guarantees for the protection of investments in the host State and provisions for the settlement of investment disputes by arbitration. In the first dimension of Public International Law (PIL), Mongolia is bound by international investment treaties, which offer investors an international law setting. In the second dimension, a special domestic investment law defines the domestic framework for the establishment, promotion and protection of investments, but also for the conclusion of investor-State contracts. These contracts in turn open a third legal dimension, which represents a cross-section through the PIL and domestic-law dimensions of investment protection. Following the development of a multi-level system with legal dimensions that are not isolated but rather interrelated and mutually reinforcing, the book examines whether Mongolia’s international investment treaties and domestic investment law reflect globally shared international and domestic standards of treatment and protection of foreign investments. Lastly, the author inquires whether the domestic laws applicable to investor-State contracts in Mongolia allow investors and the Mongolian Government to agree on protective terms according to the (not uncontroversial) standards of international contract practice.
Thinking about Contradictions: The Imaginary Logic of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Vasil’ev (Synthese Library #386)
by Venanzio RaspaThis volume examines the entire logical and philosophical production of Nicolai A. Vasil’ev, studying his life and activities as a historian and man of letters. Readers will gain a comprehensive understanding of this influential Russian logician, philosopher, psychologist, and poet. The author frames Vasil’ev’s work within its historical and cultural context. He takes into consideration both the situation of logic in Russia and the state of logic in Western Europe, from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th. Following this, the book considers the attempts to develop non-Aristotelian logics or ideas that present affinities with imaginary logic. It then looks at the contribution of traditional logic in elaborating non-classical ideas. This logic allows the author to deal with incomplete objects just as imaginary logic does with contradictory ones. Both logics are objects of interesting analysis by modern researchers. This volume will appeal to graduate students and scholars interested not only in Vasil’ev’s work, but also in the history of non-classical logics.
A Systems Biology Approach to Advancing Adverse Outcome Pathways for Risk Assessment
by Natàlia Garcia-Reyero Cheryl A. MurphySocial pressure to minimize the use of animal testing, the ever-increasing concern on animal welfare, and the need for more human-relevant and more predictive toxicity tests are some of the drivers for new approaches to chemical screening. This book focuses on The Adverse Outcome Pathway, an analytical construct that describes a sequential chain of causally linked events at different levels of biological organization that lead to an adverse health or ecotoxicological effect. While past efforts have focused on toxicological pathway-based vision for human and ecological health assessment relying on in vitro systems and predictive models, The Adverse Outcome Pathway framework provides a simplified and structured way to organize toxicological information. Within the book, a systems biology approach supplies the tools to infer, link, and quantify the molecular initiating events and the key events and key event relationships leading to adverse outcomes. The advancement of these tools is crucial for the successful implementation of AOPs for regulatory purposes.
Introduction to the Study of Natural History: Edited and Annotated by Christoph Irmscher (Classic Texts in the Sciences)
by Louis Agassiz Christoph IrmscherThis book features Louis Agassiz’s seminal lecture course in which the Swiss-American scientist, a self-styled “American Humboldt,” summarized the state of zoological knowledge in his time. Though Darwin’s theory of evolution would soon dismantle his idealist science, Agassiz’s lectures are nonetheless modern in their insistence on the social and cultural importance of the scientific enterprise.An extensive, well-illustrated introduction by Agassiz’s biographer, Christoph Irmscher, situates Agassiz’s lectures in the context of his life and nineteenth-century science, while also confronting the deeply problematic aspects of his legacy. Profusely annotated, this edition offers fascinating insights into the history of science and appeals to anyone with an interest in zoology and natural history. “Christoph Irmscher provides a scholarly and insightful analysis of the intentions and beliefs of Louis Agassiz, a larger-than-life scientist of the mid-19th century and fierce opponent of Charles Darwin. One of the foremost naturalists of his time, Agassiz’s encyclopedic knowledge and brash confidence sustained bold and often controversial theories, which contributed to extreme intellectual ferment at the dawn of contemporary evolutionary biology.” James Hanken, Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology, Harvard University, USA
Toxic Geek Masculinity in Media: Sexism, Trolling, and Identity Policing
by Anastasia Salter Bridget BlodgettThis book examines changing representations of masculinity in geek media, during a time of transition in which “geek” has not only gone mainstream but also become a more contested space than ever, with continual clashes such as Gamergate, the Rabid and Sad Puppies’ attacks on the Hugo Awards, and battles at conventions over “fake geek girls.” Anastasia Salter and Bridget Blodgett critique both gendered depictions of geeks, including shows like Chuck and The Big Bang Theory, and aspirational geek heroes, ranging from the Winchester brothers of Supernatural to BBC’s Sherlock and the varied superheroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Through this analysis, the authors argue that toxic masculinity is deeply embedded in geek culture, and that the identity of geek as victimized other must be redefined before geek culture and media can ever become an inclusive space.
Monoethylene Glycol as Hydrate Inhibitor in Offshore Natural Gas Processing: From Fundamentals to Exergy Analysis (SpringerBriefs in Petroleum Geoscience & Engineering)
by Alexandre Mendonça Teixeira Lara de Oliveira Arinelli José Luiz de Medeiros Ofélia de Queiroz Fernandes AraújoThis book addresses several issues related to hydrate inhibition and monoethylene glycol (MEG) recovery units (MRUs) in offshore natural gas fields, from fundamentals to engineering aspects and from energy consumption assessment to advanced topics such as exergy analysis. The assessment of energy degradation in MRUs is critical in offshore rigs, and the topic of exergy theory has by no means been completely explored; it is still being developed. The book presents a comprehensive, yet concise, formulation for exergy flow and examines different approaches for the reference state of MEG and definition of the reference environment so as to obtain an effective exergy analysis with consistent results.It also provides new and useful information that has a great potential in the field of exergy analysis application by assessing energy degradation for three well-known MRU technologies on offshore rigs: the Traditional Atmospheric Distillation Process; the Full-Stream Process; and the Slip-Stream Process. The book then elucidates how the main design parameters impact the efficiency of MEG recovery units and offers insights into thermodynamic efficiency based on case studies of general distillation-based processes with sharp or not too sharp cut, providing ranges for expected values of efficiencies and enhancing a global comprehension of this subject. Since MEG recovery is an energy consuming process that invariably has to be conducted in a limited space and with limited power supply, the book is a valuable resource for those involved in design, engineering, economic evaluation and environmental evaluation of topside processing on offshore platforms for natural gas production.
Molecular Symmetry, Super-Rotation, and Semiclassical Motion: New Ideas for Solving Old Problems (Springer Series on Atomic, Optical, and Plasma Physics #97)
by Hanno SchmiedtThis book presents a range of fundamentally new approaches to solving problems involving traditional molecular models. Fundamental molecular symmetry is shown to open new avenues for describing molecular dynamics beyond standard perturbation techniques. Traditional concepts used to describe molecular dynamics are based on a few fundamental assumptions, the ball-and-stick picture of molecular structure and the respective perturbative treatment of different kinds of couplings between otherwise separate motions. The book points out the conceptual limits of these models and, by focusing on the most essential idea of theoretical physics, namely symmetry, shows how to overcome those limits by introducing fundamentally new concepts. The book begins with an introduction to molecular symmetry in general, followed by a discussion of nuclear spin symmetry. Here, a new correlation between identical particle exchange and spin angular momentum symmetry of nuclei is exhibited. The central part of the book is the discussion of extremely floppy molecules, which are not describable in the framework of traditional theories. The book introduces a fundamentally new approach to describing the molecular dynamics of these molecules - the super-rotor model, which is based on a five-dimensional symmetry that has never been observed in molecules before. By applying the super-rotor theory to the prototype of floppy molecules, protonated methane, this model can consistently predict the symmetry and energy of low-energy states, which were characterized experimentally only a few years ago. The theoretical predictions agree with the experimental results, which makes the prospect of further developing the super-rotor theory and applying it to other molecules a promising one. In the final section, the book also covers the topic of ultrafast rotations, where usual quantum calculations reach their natural limits. A semi-classical method for determining rotational energies, developed in the early 1990s, is shown to be attachable to quantum calculations of the vibrational states. This new combined method is suitable for efficiently calculating ro-vibrational energies, even for molecular states with large angular momentum.
A Puerto Rican Decolonial Theology: Prophesy Freedom
by Teresa DelgadoThis book explores the themes of identity, suffering, and hope in the stories of Puerto Rican people to surface the anthropology, soteriology, and eschatology of a Puerto Rican decolonial theology. Using an interdisciplinary methodology of dialogue between literature and theology, this study reveals the oppression, resistance, and theological vision of the Puerto Rican community. It demonstrates how Puerto Rican literature and Puerto Rican theology are prophetic voices calling out for the liberation of a suffering people, on the island and in the Puerto Rican Diaspora, while employing personal Puerto Rican family/community stories as an authoritative contextual reference point. This work stands within the continuum of contextual theology and diasporic studies of religion in the United States, as well as research in the interdisciplinary field of decolonial and post-colonial studies.
A Primer for Undergraduate Research: From Groups and Tiles to Frames and Vaccines (Foundations for Undergraduate Research in Mathematics)
by Aaron Wootton Valerie Peterson Christopher LeeThis highly readable book aims to ease the many challenges of starting undergraduate research. It accomplishes this by presenting a diverse series of self-contained, accessible articles which include specific open problems and prepare the reader to tackle them with ample background material and references. Each article also contains a carefully selected bibliography for further reading.The content spans the breadth of mathematics, including many topics that are not normally addressed by the undergraduate curriculum (such as matroid theory, mathematical biology, and operations research), yet have few enough prerequisites that the interested student can start exploring them under the guidance of a faculty member. Whether trying to start an undergraduate thesis, embarking on a summer REU, or preparing for graduate school, this book is appropriate for a variety of students and the faculty who guide them.
A Survey on Coordinated Power Management in Multi-Tenant Data Centers
by Thant Zin Oo Nguyen H. Tran Shaolei Ren Choong Seon HongThis book investigates the coordinated power management of multi-tenant data centers that account for a large portion of the data center industry. The authors include discussion of their quick growth and their electricity consumption, which has huge economic and environmental impacts. This book covers the various coordinated management solutions in the existing literature focusing on efficiency, sustainability, and demand response aspects. First, the authors provide a background on the multi-tenant data center covering the stake holders, components, power infrastructure, and energy usage. Then, each power management mechanism is described in terms of motivation, problem formulation, challenges and solution.
Culture, Cognition, and Emotion in China's Religious Ethnic Minorities: Voices of Suffering among the Yi
by Louise Sundararajan Rachel Sing-Kiat TingThis study examines the suffering narratives of two religious communities—Bimo and Christian—of the Yi minority who reside in the remote mountains of Sichuan and Yunnan, China, respectively. It is informed by the theoretical framework of ecological rationality, which posits that emotions influence, and are influenced, by cognitive styles that have co-evolved with the ecological niche of a culture. It was predicted and found that in times of adversity, traditional religious communities may differ in emotion expression, causal attribution, and help seeking behavior, with far-reaching ramifications in how they are uniquely vulnerable to the pitfalls of modernization. The authors hope that the voices of the study participants, heard through their harrowing narratives, may inspire a deepened sensitivity to the plight of rural Chinese communities as China races to become superpower in the global economy.
Culture, Cognition, and Emotion in China's Religious Ethnic Minorities: Voices of Suffering among the Yi
by Rachel Sing-Kiat Ting Louise SundararajanThis study examines the suffering narratives of two religious communities—Bimo and Christian—of the Yi minority who reside in the remote mountains of Sichuan and Yunnan, China, respectively. It is informed by the theoretical framework of ecological rationality, which posits that emotions influence, and are influenced, by cognitive styles that have co-evolved with the ecological niche of a culture. It was predicted and found that in times of adversity, traditional religious communities may differ in emotion expression, causal attribution, and help seeking behavior, with far-reaching ramifications in how they are uniquely vulnerable to the pitfalls of modernization. The authors hope that the voices of the study participants, heard through their harrowing narratives, may inspire a deepened sensitivity to the plight of rural Chinese communities as China races to become superpower in the global economy.
Feelings and Emotion-Based Learning: A New Theory
by Jennifer A. HawkinsThis book explores academic learning theories in relation to modern cognitive research. It suggests that developing a feelings and emotion-based learning theory could improve our understanding of human learning behavior. Jennifer A. Hawkins argues that feelings are rational in individuals' own terms and should be considered—whether or not we agree with them. She examines learners' experiences and posits that feelings and emotions are logical to individuals according to their current beliefs, memories, and knowledge. This volume provides rich case studies and empirical data, and shows that acknowledging feelings during and after learning experiences helps to solve cognitive difficulties and aids motivation and self-reflection. It also demonstrates various ways to record and analyze feelings to provide useful research evidence.
Feelings and Emotion-Based Learning: A New Theory
by Jennifer A. HawkinsThis book explores academic learning theories in relation to modern cognitive research. It suggests that developing a feelings and emotion-based learning theory could improve our understanding of human learning behavior. Jennifer A. Hawkins argues that feelings are rational in individuals' own terms and should be considered—whether or not we agree with them. She examines learners' experiences and posits that feelings and emotions are logical to individuals according to their current beliefs, memories, and knowledge. This volume provides rich case studies and empirical data, and shows that acknowledging feelings during and after learning experiences helps to solve cognitive difficulties and aids motivation and self-reflection. It also demonstrates various ways to record and analyze feelings to provide useful research evidence.
Feelings and Emotion-Based Learning: A New Theory
by Jennifer A. HawkinsThis book explores academic learning theories in relation to modern cognitive research. It suggests that developing a feelings and emotion-based learning theory could improve our understanding of human learning behavior. Jennifer A. Hawkins argues that feelings are rational in individuals' own terms and should be considered—whether or not we agree with them. She examines learners' experiences and posits that feelings and emotions are logical to individuals according to their current beliefs, memories, and knowledge. This volume provides rich case studies and empirical data, and shows that acknowledging feelings during and after learning experiences helps to solve cognitive difficulties and aids motivation and self-reflection. It also demonstrates various ways to record and analyze feelings to provide useful research evidence.
Constructivist Education in an Age of Accountability
by David W. KrittThis book contrasts authentic approaches to education with classroom practices based primarily on standards external to the individuals who are supposed to learn. While other books tend to promote either a desperate scramble for meeting standards or determined resistance to neoliberal reforms, this book fills that gap in ways that will inspire practitioners, prospective teachers, and teacher educators. Mandates pay only lip service to constructivist and social constructivist principles while thwarting the value of both students and teachers actively creating understandings. Authors in this book assert the central importance of a range of constructivist approaches to teaching, learning, and thinking, inviting careful reflection on the goals and values of education.
Constructivist Education in an Age of Accountability
by David W. KrittThis book contrasts authentic approaches to education with classroom practices based primarily on standards external to the individuals who are supposed to learn. While other books tend to promote either a desperate scramble for meeting standards or determined resistance to neoliberal reforms, this book fills that gap in ways that will inspire practitioners, prospective teachers, and teacher educators. Mandates pay only lip service to constructivist and social constructivist principles while thwarting the value of both students and teachers actively creating understandings. Authors in this book assert the central importance of a range of constructivist approaches to teaching, learning, and thinking, inviting careful reflection on the goals and values of education.
A Step by Step Approach to the Modeling of Chemical Engineering Processes: Using Excel for simulation
by Liliane Maria Ferrareso LonaThis book treats modeling and simulation in a simple way, that builds on the existing knowledge and intuition of students. They will learn how to build a model and solve it using Excel.Most chemical engineering students feel a shiver down the spine when they see a set of complex mathematical equations generated from the modeling of a chemical engineering system. This is because they usually do not understand how to achieve this mathematical model, or they do not know how to solve the equations system without spending a lot of time and effort.Trying to understand how to generate a set of mathematical equations to represent a physical system (to model) and solve these equations (to simulate) is not a simple task. A model, most of the time, takes into account all phenomena studied during a Chemical Engineering course. In the same way, there is a multitude of numerical methods that can be used to solve the same set of equations generated from the modeling, and many different computational languages can be adopted to implement the numerical methods. As a consequence of this comprehensiveness and combinatorial explosion of possibilities, most books that deal with this subject are very extensive and embracing, making need for a lot of time and effort to go through this subject. It is expected that with this book the chemical engineering student and the future chemical engineer feel motivated to solve different practical problems involving chemical processes, knowing they can do that in an easy and fast way, with no need of expensive software.