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Elsevier

North Holland

  • Philosophy of Technology and Engineering Sciences

    • 1st Edition
    • English
    The Handbook Philosophy of Technology and Engineering Sciences addresses numerous issues in the emerging field of the philosophy of those sciences that are involved in the technological process of designing, developing and making of new technical artifacts and systems. These issues include the nature of design, of technological knowledge, and of technical artifacts, as well as the toolbox of engineers. Most of these have thus far not been analyzed in general philosophy of science, which has traditionally but inadequately regarded technology as mere applied science and focused on physics, biology, mathematics and the social sciences.

  • Handbook of Algebra

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 6
    • M. Hazewinkel
    • English
    Algebra, as we know it today, consists of many different ideas, concepts and results. A reasonable estimate of the number of these different items would be somewhere between 50,000 and 200,000. Many of these have been named and many more could (and perhaps should) have a name or a convenient designation. Even the nonspecialist is likely to encounter most of these, either somewhere in the literature, disguised as a definition or a theorem or to hear about them and feel the need for more information. If this happens, one should be able to find enough information in this Handbook to judge if it is worthwhile to pursue the quest. In addition to the primary information given in the Handbook, there are references to relevant articles, books or lecture notes to help the reader. An excellent index has been included which is extensive and not limited to definitions, theorems etc. The Handbook of Algebra will publish articles as they are received and thus the reader will find in this third volume articles from twelve different sections. The advantages of this scheme are two-fold: accepted articles will be published quickly and the outline of the Handbook can be allowed to evolve as the various volumes are published. A particularly important function of the Handbook is to provide professional mathematicians working in an area other than their own with sufficient information on the topic in question if and when it is needed.

  • Knowledge and Language

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 39
    • I. Kurcz + 2 more
    • English
    How do people represent their knowledge about the world and use that knowledge for communication? This question is the central theme of this book. Among the aspects discussed in the first three sections are: the relationship between formal, logical descriptions of language, and psychological analyses of language use; how knowledge interacts with language use; and childrens' acquisition of language in different countries. In the last two sections, the topics discussed include the complex relationships between the development, transmission, and comprehension of intention and meaning, the growth of the representation of social knowledge, and the impact acquiring a language (or two languages) has on the development of the child's knowledge structures.

  • Mathematical Problems in Elasticity and Homogenization

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 2
    • O.A. Oleinik + 2 more
    • English
    This monograph is based on research undertaken by the authors during the last ten years. The main part of the work deals with homogenization problems in elasticity as well as some mathematical problems related to composite and perforated elastic materials. This study of processes in strongly non-homogeneous media brings forth a large number of purely mathematical problems which are very important for applications. Although the methods suggested deal with stationary problems, some of them can be extended to non-stationary equations. With the exception of some well-known facts from functional analysis and the theory of partial differential equations, all results in this book are given detailed mathematical proof.It is expected that the results and methods presented in this book will promote further investigation of mathematical models for processes in composite and perforated media, heat-transfer, energy transfer by radiation, processes of diffusion and filtration in porous media, and that they will stimulate research in other problems of mathematical physics and the theory of partial differential equations.

  • Philosophy of Mathematics

    • 1st Edition
    • English
    One of the most striking features of mathematics is the fact that we are much more certain about the mathematical knowledge we have than about what mathematical knowledge is knowledge of. Are numbers, sets, functions and groups physical entities of some kind? Are they objectively existing objects in some non-physical, mathematical realm? Are they ideas that are present only in the mind? Or do mathematical truths not involve referents of any kind? It is these kinds of questions that have encouraged philosophers and mathematicians alike to focus their attention on issues in the philosophy of mathematics. Over the centuries a number of reasonably well-defined positions about the nature of mathematics have been developed and it is these positions (both historical and current) that are surveyed in the current volume. Traditional theories (Platonism, Aristotelianism, Kantianism), as well as dominant modern theories (logicism, formalism, constructivism, fictionalism, etc.), are all analyzed and evaluated. Leading-edge research in related fields (set theory, computability theory, probability theory, paraconsistency) is also discussed. The result is a handbook that not only provides a comprehensive overview of recent developments but that also serves as an indispensable resource for anyone wanting to learn about current developments in the philosophy of mathematics.

  • Logic Colloquium '80

    • 1st Edition
    • D. van Dalen + 2 more
    • English
    The papers appearing in this volume are part of those originally intended for presentation at the conference: Logic Colloquium '80 - European Summer Meeting of the Association for Symbolic Logic (A.S.L.) which was to takeplace in Prague, August 24·30, 1980, principally under the auspices of the Czech Academy of Sciences. There were 36 invited speakers from Western and Eastern Europe, Israel, the U.S., and the U.S.S.R. The local organizingcommittee cabled participants on July 15, 1980 to inform them that the meeting was cancelled for technical reasons; a subsequent communication stated that the cancellation was due to unforeseen circumstances lying beyond the controlof the organizing committee. The unexpected cancellation of the Prague meeting was greatly regretted, since so much care, time, and energy had been given to its advance preparation by the local organizing committee as well as by representatives of the A.S.L.and its European Committee. The late date on which cancellation took place required drastic changes of plans by speakers and participants. Last-minute efforts to reschedule the meeting elsewhere in Europe could not be realized.

  • Language and Comprehension

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 9
    • English

  • Letter and Word Perception

    Orthographic Structure and Visual Processing in Reading
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 4
    • English

  • Logic from Russell to Church

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 5
    • Dov M. Gabbay + 1 more
    • English
    This volume is number five in the 11-volume Handbook of the History of Logic. It covers the first 50 years of the development of mathematical logic in the 20th century, and concentrates on the achievements of the great names of the period--Russell, Post, Gödel, Tarski, Church, and the like. This was the period in which mathematical logic gave mature expression to its four main parts: set theory, model theory, proof theory and recursion theory. Collectively, this work ranks as one of the greatest achievements of our intellectual history. Written by leading researchers in the field, both this volume and the Handbook as a whole are definitive reference tools for senior undergraduates, graduate students and researchers in the history of logic, the history of philosophy, and any discipline, such as mathematics, computer science, and artificial intelligence, for whom the historical background of his or her work is a salient consideration.

  • Handbook of Differential Equations: Evolutionary Equations

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 5
    • C.M. Dafermos + 1 more
    • English
    Handbook of Differential Equations: Evolutionary Equations is the last text of a five-volume reference in mathematics and methodology. This volume follows the format set by the preceding volumes, presenting numerous contributions that reflect the nature of the area of evolutionary partial differential equations. The book is comprised of five chapters that feature the following: A thorough discussion of the shallow-equations theory, which is used as a model for water waves in rivers, lakes and oceans. It covers the issues of modeling, analysis and applications • Evaluation of the singular limits of reaction-diffusion systems, where the reaction is fast compared to the other processes; and applications that range from the theory of the evolution of certain biological processes to the phenomena of Turing and cross-diffusion instability Detailed discussion of numerous problems arising from nonlinear optics, at the high-frequency and high-intensity regime • Geometric and diffractive optics, including wave interactions Presentation of the issues of existence, blow-up and asymptotic stability of solutions, from the equations of solutions to the equations of linear and non-linear thermoelasticity Answers to questions about unique space, such as continuation and backward uniqueness for linear second-order parabolic equations. Research mathematicians, mathematics lecturers and instructors, and academic students will find this book invaluable

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