Books in Arts and humanities

Elsevier's Arts and Humanities titles encompass a rich spectrum of scholarship that explores human culture, history, philosophy, and creative expression. These works offer deep insights into language, literature, visual arts, and critical theory, supporting the academic community in understanding diverse perspectives and cultural legacies. Designed for scholars, educators, and students, this collection bridges classic studies with contemporary issues, fostering a deeper appreciation and knowledge of the human experience.

Books Journals

Semiconductors and the Information Revolution

1st Edition
June 17, 2009
John W. Orton
English
Paperback
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eBook
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Semiconductors and the Information Revolution sets out to explain the development of modern electronic systems and devices from the viewpoint of the semiconductor materials (germanium, silicon, gallium arsenide and many others) which made them possible. It covers the scientific understanding of these materials and its intimate relationship with their technology and many applications. It began with Michael Faraday, took off in a big way with the invention of the transistor at Bell Labs in 1947 and is still burgeoning today. It is a story to match any artistic or engineering achievement of man and this is the first time it has been presented in a style suited to the non-specialist. It is written in a lively, non-mathematical style which brings out the excitement of discovery and the fascinating interplay between the demands of system pull and technological push. It also looks at the nature of some of the personal interactions which helped to shape the modern technological world. An introductory chapter illustrates just how dependent we are on modern electronic systems and explains the significance of semiconductors in their development. It also provides, in as painless a way as possible, a necessary understanding of semiconductor properties in relation to these applications. The second chapter takes up the historical account and ends with some important results emerging from the Second World War – including its effect on the organisation of scientific research. Chapter three describes the world-shaking discovery of the transistor and some of the early struggles to make it commercially viable, including the marketing of the first transistor radio. In chapter four we meet the integrated circuit which gave shape to much of our modern life in the form of the personal computer (and which gave rise to a famously long-running patent war!). Later chapters cover the application of compound semiconductors to light-emitting devices, such as LEDs and lasers, and light detecting devices such as photocells. We learn how these developments led to the invention of the CD player and DVD recorder, how other materials were applied to the development of sophisticated night vision equipment, fibre optical communications systems, solar photovoltaic panels and flat panel displays. Similarly, microwave techniques essential to our modern day love of mobile phoning are seen to depend on clever materials scientists who, not for the first time, "invented" new semiconductors with just the right properties. Altogether, it is an amazing story and one which deserves to be more widely known. Read this book and you will be rewarded with a much deeper understanding and appreciation of the technological revolution which shapes so many aspects of our lives.

Comparison Theorems in Riemannian Geometry

1st Edition
Volume 9
January 15, 2009
Jeff Cheeger + 1 more
English
eBook
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Philosophy of Information

1st Edition
November 10, 2008
Dov M. Gabbay + 4 more
English
Hardback
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eBook
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Information is a recognized fundamental notion across the sciences and humanities, which is crucial to understanding physical computation, communication, and human cognition. The Philosophy of Information brings together the most important perspectives on information. It includes major technical approaches, while also setting out the historical backgrounds of information as well as its contemporary role in many academic fields. Also, special unifying topics are high-lighted that play across many fields, while we also aim at identifying relevant themes for philosophical reflection. There is no established area yet of Philosophy of Information, and this Handbook can help shape one, making sure it is well grounded in scientific expertise. As a side benefit, a book like this can facilitate contacts and collaboration among diverse academic milieus sharing a common interest in information.

Erasmi Opera Omnia, V-6

1st Edition
Volume 6
July 16, 2008
A.G. Weiler + 1 more
English
eBook
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A volume of the Opera Omnia of Erasmus series, this title is comprised of two separate treatise translated into one volume. First, The Institution of Christian Matrimony (Basel, 1526) which was dedicated to Catherine of Aragon. In this work, Erasmus deals with the religious, moral and physical aspects of marriage, also discussing Canon law. Conservative theologians challenged in particular his liberal views on divorce. The second treatise, On the Christian Widow, was published in 1529, and in it Erasmus discusses not only Christian widowhood, but also virginity and marriage, dealing also with the education of women.

The Bioarchaeology of Metabolic Bone Disease

1st Edition
April 28, 2008
Megan B. Brickley + 1 more
English
eBook
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The Bioarchaeology of Metabolic Bone Disease provides a comprehensive and invaluable source of information on this important group of diseases. It is an essential guide for those engaged in either basic recording or in-depth research on human remains from archaeological sites. The range of potential tools for investigating metabolic diseases of bone are far greater than for many other conditions, and building on clinical investigations, this book will consider gross, surface features visible using microscopic examination, histological and radiological features of bone, that can be used to help investigate metabolic bone diseases.

Mediaeval and Renaissance Logic

1st Edition
Volume 2
February 12, 2008
Dov M. Gabbay + 1 more
English
eBook
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Starting at the very beginning with Aristotle's founding contributions, logic has been graced by several periods in which the subject has flourished, attaining standards of rigour and conceptual sophistication underpinning a large and deserved reputation as a leading expression of human intellectual effort. It is widely recognized that the period from the mid-19th century until the three-quarter mark of the century just past marked one of these golden ages, a period of explosive creativity and transforming insights. It has been said that ignorance of our history is a kind of amnesia, concerning which it is wise to note that amnesia is an illness. It would be a matter for regret, if we lost contact with another of logic's golden ages, one that greatly exceeds in reach that enjoyed by mathematical symbolic logic. This is the period between the 11th and 16th centuries, loosely conceived of as the Middle Ages. The logic of this period does not have the expressive virtues afforded by the symbolic resources of uninterpreted calculi, but mediaeval logic rivals in range, originality and intellectual robustness a good deal of the modern record. The range of logic in this period is striking, extending from investigation of quantifiers and logic consequence to inquiries into logical truth; from theories of reference to accounts of identity; from work on the modalities to the stirrings of the logic of relations, from theories of meaning to analyses of the paradoxes, and more. While the scope of mediaeval logic is impressive, of greater importance is that nearly all of it can be read by the modern logician with at least some prospect of profit. The last thing that mediaeval logic is, is a museum piece. Mediaeval and Renaissance Logic is an indispensable research tool for anyone interested in the development of logic, including researchers, graduate and senior undergraduate students in logic, history of logic, mathematics, history of mathematics, computer science and AI, linguistics, cognitive science, argumentation theory, philosophy, and the history of ideas.

The Analysis of Burned Human Remains

1st Edition
January 29, 2008
Christopher W. Schmidt + 1 more
English
eBook
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This unique reference provides a primary source for osteologists and the medical/legal community for the understanding of burned bone remains in forensic or archaeological contexts. It describes in detail the changes in human bone and soft tissues as a body burns at both the chemical and gross levels and provides an overview of the current procedures in burned bone study. Case studies in forensic and archaeological settings aid those interested in the analysis of burned human bodies, from death scene investigators, to biological anthropologists looking at the recent or ancient dead.

Physics in the Arts

1st Edition
January 22, 2008
Pupa U.P.A. Gilbert + 1 more
English
eBook
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Physics in the Arts is a concise, 288-page four-color entry in the Complementary Science Series, designed for science enthusiasts and liberal arts students requiring or desiring a well-developed discussion of physical phenomena, particularly with regard to sound and light. Topics discussed include the nature of sound and sound perception, and the fundamentals of harmony, musical photography, color perception, and color mixing. The materials are covered at a level appropriate for self-study or as a complementary textbook. A companion website for Instructors is available in Spring 2008.

Interpersonal Relations Across the Life Course

1st Edition
Volume 12
September 5, 2007
Timothy J Owens + 1 more
English
eBook
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This volume (number 12) is subtitled Interpersonal Relations across the Life Course. It is inspired by the increased awareness in recent years of the way in which structural and psychosocial dimensions of the life course shape interpersonal relations. Interest in this issue has included both the maintenance of long-term relationships that may span many phases of the life course and the development of relationships that are specific to particular phases. The volume is a combination of invited and author initiated papers--all anonymously peer reviewed--that seeks to present a cohesive source of information on the multiform nature and influences of interpersonal relations from a variety of perspectives, theoretical frames, and substantive areas. Contributions reflect:Macro-micro linkages and interpersonal relations, (i.e., age structures, social institutions, and race/ethnicity) Parenting across the life course Parent-adult child relations and transitionsTransitio... in non-kin relationshipsSocial relationships and well-being

General Philosophy of Science: Focal Issues

1st Edition
July 18, 2007
Theo A.F. Kuipers + 3 more
English
eBook
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Scientists use concepts and principles that are partly specific for their subject matter, but they also share part of them with colleagues working in different fields. Compare the biological notion of a 'natural kind' with the general notion of 'confirmation' of a hypothesis by certain evidence. Or compare the physical principle of the 'conservation of energy' and the general principle of 'the unity of science'. Scientists agree that all such notions and principles aren't as crystal clear as one might wish. An important task of the philosophy of the special sciences, such as philosophy of physics, of biology and of economics, to mention only a few of the many flourishing examples, is the clarification of such subject specific concepts and principles. Similarly, an important task of 'general' philosophy of science is the clarification of concepts like 'confirmation' and principles like 'the unity of science'. It is evident that clarfication of concepts and principles only makes sense if one tries to do justice, as much as possible, to the actual use of these notions by scientists, without however following this use slavishly. That is, occasionally a philosopher may have good reasons for suggesting to scientists that they should deviate from a standard use. Frequently, this amounts to a plea for differentiation in order to stop debates at cross-purposes due to the conflation of different meanings. While the special volumes of the series of Handbooks of the Philosophy of Science address topics relative to a specific discipline, this general volume deals with focal issues of a general nature. After an editorial introduction about the dominant method of clarifying concepts and principles in philosophy of science, called explication, the first five chapters deal with the following subjects. Laws, theories, and research programs as units of empirical knowledge (Theo Kuipers), various past and contemporary perspectives on explanation (Stathis Psillos), the evaluation of theories in terms of their virtues (Ilkka Niiniluto), and the role of experiments in the natural sciences, notably physics and biology (Allan Franklin), and their role in the social sciences, notably economics (Wenceslao Gonzalez). In the subsequent three chapters there is even more attention to various positions and methods that philosophers of science and scientists may favor: ontological, epistemological, and methodological positions (James Ladyman), reduction, integration, and the unity of science as aims in the sciences and the humanities (William Bechtel and Andrew Hamilton), and logical, historical and computational approaches to the philosophy of science (Atocha Aliseda and Donald Gillies).The volume concludes with the much debated question of demarcating science from nonscience (Martin Mahner) and the rich European-American history of the philosophy of science in the 20th century (Friedrich Stadler).

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