Pwa90

Pwa90
Author: Piers E. T. Al COLEMAN
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2015-12-21
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9814733636

"In a remarkable career spanning more than six decades, Philip W. Anderson has made many fundamental contributions to physics. As codified in his oft-quoted phrase "More is Different", Anderson has been the most forceful and persuasive proponent of the radical, but now ubiquitous, viewpoint of emergent phenomena: truly fundamental concepts that can and do emerge from studies of Nature at each layer of complexity or energy scale. Anderson's ideas have also extended deeply into other areas of physics, including the Anderson-Higgs mechanism and the dynamics of pulsars. PWA90: A Lifetime of Emergence is a volume of original scientific essays and personal reminiscences of Philip W Anderson by experts in the field, that were presented as part of "PWA90: Emergent Frontiers of Condensed Matter" meeting held at Princeton in December 2013 to highlight Anderson's contributions to physics"--

Molecular Genetics of Plant-Microbe Interactions

Molecular Genetics of Plant-Microbe Interactions
Author: Desh Pal S. Verma
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 362
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9400944829

Increased interest in the basic biology of plants and microorganisms stems from the fact that crop productivity is directly affected by plant-microbe interactions. In spite of the fact that plants exist in the environment amongst diverse species of microorganisms, only a few ever establish a direct relationship. Emerging awareness concerning the indirect effect of microbial association on plant growth and the possibility of using one microbe against another for controlling pathogenic interactions is at the genesis of new fields of studies. The primary reason for a microbe to associate with· photoautotrophic organisms (plants) is to tap its nutritional requirements, fixed carbon, as a source of energy. By hook or by crook, a microbe must survive. Some have evolved mechanisms to exploit plants to develop a niche for their biotropic demands. When in contact with a living plant, microorganisms may live in a passive association using exudates from the plant, invade it pathogenically or coexist with it in symbiosis. The plant responds to the interloper, either reacting in a hypersensitive manner to contain the invasion of pathogens, or by inducing a set of genes that leads toward symbiosis, or by simply succumbing to the invader. Thus, prior to contact wi th the plant, mic roorganism is able to sense the presence of the host and activate accordingly a set of genes required for the forthcoming interaction, whether symbiotic or pathogenic.

Excursions in Ill-Condensed Quantum Matter

Excursions in Ill-Condensed Quantum Matter
Author: Adhip Agarwala
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2019-06-13
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3030215113

Impurities, disorder or amorphous systems – ill-condensed matter – are mostly considered inconveniences in the study of materials, which is otherwise heavily based on idealized perfect crystals. The Kondo effect and the scaling theory of localization are among the fundamental and early discoveries which revealed the novelty hidden in impure or disordered systems. Recent advances in condensed matter physics have emphasized the role of topology, spin-orbit coupling, and certain discrete symmetries such as time reversal in many physical phenomena. These have irreversibly transformed the essential ideas and purview of condensed matter physics, both in theoretical and experimental directions. However, many of these recent developments and their implications are limited to, or by, ideas that pertain to clean systems. This thesis deals with various aspects of these new developments, but in the case of unclean systems. The author introduces new ideas such as amorphous topological insulators, fractalized metals and fractionalized spins.

Humanities, Science, Scimat: From Two Cultures To Bettering Humanity

Humanities, Science, Scimat: From Two Cultures To Bettering Humanity
Author: Lui Lam
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 536
Release: 2024-04-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9811284415

The humanities (and social science) are the disciplines that study human, which are essential in helping us to understand ourselves and others and the world around us. Since science is the study of everything in the universe and human is a material system consisting of the same atoms that make up other nonhuman systems, humanities are part of science. Thus, understanding correctly what science is about will be helpful in making progress in the humanities. To patch up the gap between the 'two cultures' derived from these two branches of knowledge, the best way is to recognize their common root in science and work through humanities-science synthesis, as advocated by Scimat, the new multidiscipline proposed by the author in 2007. Furthermore, raising the scientific level of the humanities, which include decision making, will help to make the world better.Humanities, Science, Scimat details these issues, consisting of three parts. Part I is about Scimat and the new humanities (history, philosophy, art). Part II is on the origin and nature of science, new insights on the life and works of selected scientists, some thoughts on science communication/popularization, and case examples of science innovation — all from the Scimat perspective. While Parts I and II are short essays with no references (with rare exceptions), Part III are longer articles with full references that supplement Parts I and II. Each essay/article starts with a color picture. They are all easy to read — nothing technical.In short, this book contains the basic knowledge about the humanities and science that everyone should know. The aimed readership is anyone, from high school students and laypeople to the professors, who are interested in what the humanities and science are about, and how we can work together to achieve a better humanity.

The Routledge Handbook of Emergence

The Routledge Handbook of Emergence
Author: Sophie Gibb
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 588
Release: 2019-03-13
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1317381491

Emergence is often described as the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts: interactions among the components of a system lead to distinctive novel properties. It has been invoked to describe the flocking of birds, the phases of matter and human consciousness, along with many other phenomena. Since the nineteenth century, the notion of emergence has been widely applied in philosophy, particularly in contemporary philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and metaphysics. It has more recently become central to scientists’ understanding of phenomena across physics, chemistry, complexity and systems theory, biology and the social sciences. The Routledge Handbook of Emergence is an outstanding reference source and exploration of the concept of emergence, and is the first collection of its kind. Thirty-two chapters by an international team of contributors are organised into four parts: Foundations of emergence Emergence and mind Emergence and physics Emergence and the special sciences Within these sections important topics and problems in emergence are explained, including the British Emergentists; weak vs. strong emergence; emergence and downward causation; dependence, complexity and mechanisms; mental causation, consciousness and dualism; quantum mechanics, soft matter and chemistry; and evolution, cognitive science and social sciences. Essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and metaphysics, The Routledge Handbook of Emergence will also be of interest to those studying foundational issues in biology, chemistry, physics and psychology.

Agent-Based Strategizing

Agent-Based Strategizing
Author: Duncan A. Robertson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 93
Release: 2019-10-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1108772935

Strategic management is a system of continual disequilibrium, with firms in a continual struggle for competitive advantage and relative fitness. Models that are dynamic in nature are required if we are to really understand the complex notion of sustainable competitive advantage. New tools are required to tackle challenges of how firms should compete in environments characterized by both exogeneous shocks and intense endogenous competition. Agent-based modelling of firms' strategies offers an alternative analytical approach, where individual firm or component parts of a firm are modelled, each with their own strategy. Where traditional models can assume homogeneity of actors, agent-based models simulate each firm individually. This allows experimentation of strategic moves, which is particularly important where reactions to strategic moves are non-trivial. This Element introduces agent-based models and their use within management, reviews the influential NK suite of models, and offers an agenda for the development of agent-based models in strategic management.

Loonshots

Loonshots
Author: Safi Bahcall
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2019-03-19
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1250185971

* Instant WSJ bestseller * Translated into 18 languages * #1 Most Recommended Book of the year (Bloomberg annual survey of CEOs and entrepreneurs) * An Amazon, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Forbes, Inc., Newsweek, Strategy + Business, Tech Crunch, Washington Post Best Business Book of the year * Recommended by Bill Gates, Daniel Kahneman, Malcolm Gladwell, Dan Pink, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, Sid Mukherjee, Tim Ferriss Why do good teams kill great ideas? Loonshots reveals a surprising new way of thinking about the mysteries of group behavior that challenges everything we thought we knew about nurturing radical breakthroughs. Bahcall, a physicist and entrepreneur, shows why teams, companies, or any group with a mission will suddenly change from embracing new ideas to rejecting them, just as flowing water will suddenly change into brittle ice. Mountains of print have been written about culture. Loonshots identifies the small shifts in structure that control this transition, the same way that temperature controls the change from water to ice. Using examples that range from the spread of fires in forests to the hunt for terrorists online, and stories of thieves and geniuses and kings, Bahcall shows how a new kind of science can help us become the initiators, rather than the victims, of innovative surprise. Over the past decade, researchers have been applying the tools and techniques of this new science—the science of phase transitions—to understand how birds flock, fish swim, brains work, people vote, diseases erupt, and ecosystems collapse. Loonshots is the first to apply this science to the spread of breakthrough ideas. Bahcall distills these insights into practical lessons creatives, entrepreneurs, and visionaries can use to change our world. Along the way, readers will learn how chickens saved millions of lives, what James Bond and Lipitor have in common, what the movie Imitation Game got wrong about WWII, and what really killed Pan Am, Polaroid, and the Qing Dynasty. “If The Da Vinci Code and Freakonomics had a child together, it would be called Loonshots.” —Senator Bob Kerrey