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North Holland

Statistical Models for the Fracture of Disordered Media
1st Edition
H.J. Herrmann + 1 more
English
Since the beginning of the century the technological desire to master the fracture of metals, concrete or polymers has boosted research and has left behind an overwhelming amount of literature. In a field where it seems difficult to say anything simple and new, the editors and authors of this book have managed to do just that.The approach to fracture taken here was not conceived by mechanical engineers or material scientists. It is essentially the by-product of exciting developments that have occurred in the last ten to fifteen years within a branch of theoretical physics, called statistical physics. Concepts such as ``percolation'' and ``fractals'', as models for the properties of fracture are not often considered by engineers. A particular aim of this volume is to emphasize the fundamental role disorder plays in the breaking process.The main scope of the volume is pedagogical and is at the same time an overview of fracture mechanics for physicists and an introduction to new concepts of statistical physics for mechanics and engineers. To this end the first half of the book consists of introductory chapters and the second half contains the results that have emerged from this new approach.
Ordinary Differential Equations
Introduction to the Theory of Ordinary Differential Equations in the Real Domain
1st Edition
Volume 13
J. Kurzweil
English
The author, Professor Kurzweil, is one of the world's top experts in the area of ordinary differential equations - a fact fully reflected in this book. Unlike many classical texts which concentrate primarily on methods of integration of differential equations, this book pursues a modern approach: the topic is discussed in full generality which, at the same time, permits us to gain a deep insight into the theory and to develop a fruitful intuition. The basic framework of the theory is expanded by considering further important topics like stability, dependence of a solution on a parameter, Carathéodory's theory and differential relations.The book is very well written, and the prerequisites needed are minimal - some basics of analysis and linear algebra. As such, it is accessible to a wide circle of readers, in particular to non-mathematicians.
Readings in Econometric Theory and Practice
A Volume in Honor of George Judge
1st Edition
Volume 209
W.E. Griffiths + 2 more
English
This volume honors George Judge and his many, varied and outstanding contributions to econometrics, statistics, mathematical programming and spatial equilibrium modeling. The papers are grouped into four parts, each part representing an area in which Professor Judge has made a significant contribution. The authors have all benefited in some way, directly or indirectly, through an association with George Judge and his work.The three papers in Part I are concerned with various aspects of pre-test and Stein-rule estimation. Part II contains applications of Bayesian methodology, new developments in Bayesian methodology, and an overview of Bayesian econometrics. The papers in Part III comprise new developments in time-series analysis, improved estimation and Markov chain analysis. The final part on spatial equilibrium modeling contains papers that had their origins from Professor Judge's pioneering work in the 60's.
Changing Trade Patterns in Manufactured Goods: An Econometric Investigation
1st Edition
Volume 176
B. Balassa + 1 more
English
This volume examines the changing pattern of trade in manufactured goods by the use of econometric techniques. The method of investigation employed is cross-section analysis of data for thirty-eight developed and developing countries, for each of which manufactured goods accounted for at least 18 percent of total exports and surpassed $300 million in 1979. The results may further be interpreted in terms of the changes that occur in the pattern of specialization in the process of economic development.
Artificial Neural Networks
1st Edition
K. Mäkisara + 3 more
English
This two-volume proceedings compiles a selection of research papers presented at the ICANN-91. The scope of the volumes is interdisciplinary, ranging from mathematics and engineering to cognitive sciences and biology. European research is well represented. Volume 1 contains all the orally presented papers, including both invited talks and submitted papers. Volume 2 contains the plenary talks and the poster presentations.
Human Factors Testing and Evaluation
1st Edition
Volume 5
D. Meister
English
Human factors measurement has characteristics that set it apart from psychological or engineering measurement and for that reason, human factors testing and evaluation deserves special treatment. The many excellent texts available in the behavioral area do not give an adequate picture of this topic, and this is particularly unfortunate because testing and evaluation (T&E) is an integral part of human-machine system design and operation. The emphasis in this book is on why and how to conduct such testing. One of its outstanding features is its pragmatism; based on his past experience in system testing, the author recognizes the difficulties that occur in testing and indicates how these may be overcome or minimized. Special attention has been paid to the context in which T&E is conducted. Although the book contains detailed procedures for performing T&E, the logic and the conceptual foundation of testing have not been overlooked. Comparisons are made with laboratory-centered experimentation. For those with research interests, the author points out the many research questions that can be answered by system testing. An illustrative case history of a T&E program for a fictional system has been included to provide ``real life'' context. Special problem areas in T&E are emphasized, in particular human error data collection, the evaluation of computerized systems and software, the measurement of maintenance technician and team performance; workload and training effectiveness testing. Special attention is also paid to environmental testing (e.g. temperature, lighting, noise, vibration, etc.). One chapter reviews all the relevant T&E literature including government documents that may not be readily available to the general reader. As part of the preparation for writing this text a survey was made of 45 distinguished T&E specialists in order to determine their characteristic T&E practices.The book will be useful not only to the human factors professional who specializes in T&E, but to all students and practitioners interested in human factors and work measurement.
Artificial Neural Networks and Statistical Pattern Recognition
Old and New Connections
1st Edition
Volume 11
I.K. Sethi + 1 more
English
With the growing complexity of pattern recognition related problems being solved using Artificial Neural Networks, many ANN researchers are grappling with design issues such as the size of the network, the number of training patterns, and performance assessment and bounds. These researchers are continually rediscovering that many learning procedures lack the scaling property; the procedures simply fail, or yield unsatisfactory results when applied to problems of bigger size. Phenomena like these are very familiar to researchers in statistical pattern recognition (SPR), where the curse of dimensionality is a well-known dilemma. Issues related to the training and test sample sizes, feature space dimensionality, and the discriminatory power of different classifier types have all been extensively studied in the SPR literature. It appears however that many ANN researchers looking at pattern recognition problems are not aware of the ties between their field and SPR, and are therefore unable to successfully exploit work that has already been done in SPR. Similarly, many pattern recognition and computer vision researchers do not realize the potential of the ANN approach to solve problems such as feature extraction, segmentation, and object recognition. The present volume is designed as a contribution to the greater interaction between the ANN and SPR research communities.
Pattern Recognition and Artificial Intelligence, Towards an Integration
Proceedings of an International Workshop held in Amsterdam, May 18-20, 1988
1st Edition
Volume 7
L.N. Kanal + 1 more
English
This volume brings together the results of research into the methodology and applications of pattern recognition, with particular emphasis given to the incorporation of artificial intelligence methodologies into pattern recognition systems.The first part of this volume covers image analysis and processing software, systems and algorithms. Pattern analysis and classifier design are dealt with in part two, while the last part deals with model based and expert systems, including uncertainty calculus methods in pattern analysis and object recognition. A number of specific application areas are considered, including such diverse topics as fingerprinting, astronomy, molecular biology and pathology.
The Perception of Poverty
1st Edition
Volume 156
A.J.M. Hagenaars
English
An attempt to define, measure and explain poverty is presented in this volume by means of a newly developed theoretical model. A combination of theory and empirical application is achieved by using the theoretical model on a sizeable data set derived from an extensive survey conducted in eight European countries. The nature of poverty is thereby empirically defined (and not a priori) as being the income level at which households feel that their income is just between sufficient and insufficient.An aggregate poverty index, associated with this poverty line definition, is calculated for each country and for subgroups within each country.Conclusions for social policy are drawn, describing which groups are at especially high risk of entering poverty, and who therefore need more specific policies. It is also discussed to what extent economic growth will eliminate poverty and which alternative measures are available.
Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence 2
1st Edition
Volume 5
L.N. Kanal + 1 more
English
This second volume is arranged in four sections: Analysis contains papers which compare the attributes of various approaches to uncertainty. Tools provides sufficient information for the reader to implement uncertainty calculations. Papers in the Theory section explain various approaches to uncertainty. The Applications section describes the difficulties involved in, and the results produced by, incorporating uncertainty into actual systems.

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