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The Flawed Genius of William Playfair: The Story of the Father of Statistical Graphics
by David R. BellhouseA product of the Scottish Enlightenment, William Playfair (1759–1823) worked as a statistician, economist, engineer, banker, land speculator, scam artist, and political propagandist. It has been claimed – erroneously – that Playfair was a spy for the British government and ran a forging operation to print the paper money of the French Revolution. The Flawed Genius of William Playfair offers a complete account of Playfair’s life, richly contextualized in the economic, political, and cultural history of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. The book explores the many peaks and troughs of Playfair’s career, ranging from moderate prosperity to bankruptcy and imprisonment. Through careful analysis, David R. Bellhouse shows that Playfair was neither a spy nor a forger, but perhaps briefly a one-time courier for a government minister. Bellhouse pieces together as complete a picture as possible of the forging operations supported by the British government and illuminates Playfair’s lasting contributions in economics and statistics, where he is known as the father of statistical graphics. Disputing the misinformation about the man, The Flawed Genius of William Playfair highlights that the truth about Playfair’s life is often more intriguing than the fictions that surround him.
The Flax Genome (Compendium of Plant Genomes)
by Frank M. You Bourlaye FofanaThe Flax Genome is a comprehensive compilation of most recent studies focused on reference genome, genetic resources and molecular diversity, breeding, QTL mapping, gene editing tools, functional genomics and metabolomics, molecular breeding via genomic selection, and genomic resources. The flax genome reference sequences and the new genome assemblies are presented. A list of flax QTL and candidate genes associated with more than 35 traits, including yield and agronomic, seed quality and fatty acid composition, fibre quality and yield, abiotic stress, and disease resistance traits, are summarized. A QTL- based genomic selection strategy and genome–editing tools are systematically introduced. In addition, huge amounts of flax genomic resources generated in the last decade are summarized. The book contains 13 chapters with about 390 pages authored by globally reputed researchers in the relevant fields to this crop The book is intended to be useful to students, teachers, and researchers interested in traditional and molecular breeding, pathology, molecular genetics and breeding, bioinformatics and computational biology, and functional genomics
The Flight of a Relativistic Charge in Matter: Insights, Calculations and Practical Applications of Classical Electromagnetism (Lecture Notes in Physics #1014)
by Wade AllisonThis book is about the energy loss and the coherent radiation emitted by a relativistic charge in matter. These phenomena – locally deposited energy, Cherenkov radiation and transition radiation – are the basis of any charged particle detector able to discriminate charges by their velocity. This book describes these phenomena and how they are related. The fundamental field equations and first principles are used to derive the spectrum of energy-loss signals and thence the velocity resolution that can be achieved. Two specific applications are then followed: the first shows that this resolution has been achieved in practice with a multi-particle detector in the course of an experiment at CERN, and the second shows how, by including scattering, the technique of ionisation cooling of accelerator beams may be reliably simulated. The book is based on a series of lectures given at the University of Oxford to graduate students in experimental particle physics. Some knowledge of mathematical physics at an undergraduate level is assumed, specifically Maxwell’s equations and classical optics.
The Flight of the Iguana: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature
by David QuammenAs he examines everything from species survival on islands to vegetarian piranhas, Quammen's funny and offbeat essays offer a unique glimpse of the natural world and, at the same time, clarify the larger biological issues and their effect on humankind.
The Flinkwater Factor
by Pete HautmanGinger must save her high-tech hometown from robots gone rogue in this hilariously quirky science fiction novel from National Book Award-winning author Pete Hautman.Welcome to Flinkwater, Iowa, home of the largest manufacturer of Articulated Computerized Peripheral Devices in the world. If you own a robot, it probably came from Flinkwater. Meet Ginger Crump, the plucky, precocious (and somewhat sarcastic) genius who finds herself in the middle of a national emergency when Flinkwater's computers start turning people into vegetables. Mental vegetables, that is. In Ginger's words, they've been "bonked." When Ginger's father is bonked, she recruits her self-declared future husband, boy genius Billy George, to help her find the source of the bonkings. Soon they're up against a talking dog, a sasquatch, and a zombie, while Flinkwater is invaded by an army of black SUVs led by the witless-but-dangerous Agent Ffelps from Homeland Security. Can Ginger get to the bottom of the bonkings, or will computer chaos reign forever?
The Fluid Earth: Physical Science and Technology of the Marine Environment (3rd edition)
by E. Barbara Klemm Francis M. Pottenger III Thomas W. Speitel S. Arthur Reed Ann E. CoopersmithThis book offers students the opportunity to learn the basic concepts of science by investigating the oceans. They explore the physics, chemistry, and geology of the oceans and learn of their practical applications in ocean engineering.
The Fluid Envelope of our Planet
by Eric L. MillsOceans have had a mysterious allure for centuries, inspiring fears, myths, and poetic imaginations. By the early twentieth century, however, scientists began to see oceans as physical phenomena that could be understood through mathematical geophysics. The Fluid Envelope of Our Planet explores the scientific developments from the early middle ages to the twentieth century that illuminated the once murky depths of oceanography.Tracing the transition from descriptive to mathematical analyses of the oceans, Eric Mills examines sailors' and explorers' observations of the oceans, the influence of Scandinavian techniques on German-speaking geographers, and the eventual development of shared quantitative practices and ideas. A detailed and beautifully written account of the history of oceanography, The Fluid Envelope of Our Planet is also an engaging account of the emergence of a scientific discipline.
The Fluorescent Protein Revolution
by Vijay K. Vaishnavi William KuechlerAdvances in fluorescent proteins, live-cell imaging, and superresolution instrumentation have ushered in a new era of investigations in cell biology, medicine, and physiology. From the identification of the green fluorescent protein in the jellyfish Aequorea victoria to the engineering of novel fluorescent proteins, The Fluorescent Protein Revoluti
The Fluoride Deception
by Theo Colborn Christopher BrysonWith the narrative punch of Jonathan Harr's A Civil Action and the commitment to environmental truth-telling of Erin Brockovich, The Fluoride Deception documents a powerful connection between big corporations, the U.S. military, and the historic reassurances of fluoride safety provided by the nation's public health establishment. The Fluoride Deception reads like a thriller, but one supported by two hundred pages of source notes, years of investigative reporting, scores of scientist interviews, and archival research in places such as the newly opened files of the Manhattan Project and the Atomic Energy Commission. The book is nothing less than an exhumation of one of the great secret narratives of the industrial era: how a grim workplace poison and the most damaging environmental pollutant of the cold war was added to our drinking water and toothpaste.
The Fly Who Flew to Space
by Lauren SánchezFlynn is a little fly with big dreams. School isn’t easy for Flynn, and they daydream of becoming an astronaut. One day while exploring a nearby rocket company they stumble onto a rocket ship and into the biggest adventure of their life. <P><P> Young readers will be introduced to early space concepts such as atmosphere and G-Force while being introduced to Earth’s amazing natural wonders, all while being reminded that big dreams and a curious mind can lead to the most astonishing discoveries. <P><P> Emmy-award winning journalist, pilot and philanthropist Lauren Sanchez takes readers on a high-flying space adventure with Flynn the Fly in her picture book debut. Inspired by her childhood battle with dyslexia and a lifelong love of flying, The Fly Who Flew to Space will have little readers learning about early STEM concepts and reaching for the stars. <P><P><i>Advisory: Bookshare has learned that this book offers only partial accessibility. We have kept it in the collection because it is useful for some of our members. Benetech is actively working on projects to improve accessibility issues such as these.</i> <p> <b>New York Times Bestseller</b>
The Fly in the Cathedral
by Brian CathcartThis book describes how a group of Cambridge scientists won the international race to split the atom.
The Flying Machine Book: Build and Launch 35 Rockets, Gliders, Helicopters, Boomerangs, and More (Science in Motion)
by Bobby MercerCalling all future Amelia Earharts and Chuck Yeagers--there's more than one way to get off the ground. Author and physics teacher Bobby Mercer will show readers 35 easy-to-build and fun-to-fly contraptions that can be used indoors or out. Better still, each of these rockets, gliders, boomerangs, launchers, and helicopters are constructed for little or no cost using recycled materials. The Flying Machine Book will show readers how to turn rubber bands, paper clips, straws, plastic bottles, and index cards into amazing, gravity-defying flyers. Learn how to turn a drinking straw, rubber band, and index card into a Straw Rocket, or convert a paper towel tube into a Grape Bazooka. Empty water bottles can be transformed into Plastic Zippers and Bottle Rockets, and ordinary paper can be cut and folded to make a Fingerrangs--a small boomerang--or a Maple Key Helicopter. Each project contains a material list and detailed step-by-step instructions with photos. Mercer also includes explanations of the science behind each flyer, including concepts such as lift, thrust, and drag, the Bernoulli effect, and more. Readers can use this information to modify and improve their flyers, or explain to their teachers why throwing a paper airplane is a mini science lesson. Bobby Mercer has been sharing the fun of free flight for over two decades as a high school physics teacher. He is the author of several books and lives with his family outside of Asheville, North Carolina.
The Flying Man: Otto Lilienthal, the World's First Pilot
by Mike DownsHere is the little-known history of Otto Lilienthal, a daring man whose more than 2,000 successful flights inspired the Wright Brothers and other aviation pioneers.In 1862, balloons were the only way to reach the sky. But 14-year-old Otto Lilienthal didn&’t want to fly in balloons. He wanted to soar like a bird. Scientists, teachers, and news reporters everywhere said flying was impossible. Otto and his brother Gustav desperately wanted to prove them wrong, so they made their own wings and tried to take flight. The brothers quickly crashed, but this was just the beginning for Otto, who would spend the next 30 years of his life sketching, re-sketching, and building gliders. Over time, Otto&’s flights got longer. His control got better. He learned the tricks and twists of the wind. His flights even began to draw crowds. By the time of his death at age 48, Otto had made more than 2,000 successful glider flights. He was the first person in history to spend this much time in the air, earning the title of the world&’s first pilot and paving the way for future aviation pioneers.
The Flying Stingaree (Rick Brant, # #18)
by John BlaineRick Brant and buddy Scotty are back for another science mystery. This time they are in a small houseboat on the Chesapeake Bay of Maryland, set to figure out flying stingrays. Published in 1963, there are references to now obsolete items.
The Folly of Fools: The Logic of Deceit and Self-Deception in Human Life
by Robert TriversWhy did intellect and language evolve to include lies and self- deception? Trivers (anthropology and biological sciences, Rutgers U. ) presents a general theory based on evolutionary logic to answer this intriguing question. He argues that deception, which occurs even between our brain hemispheres, is closely tied to group conflict, courtship, neurophysiology and immunology, but can be overridden by awareness of it and its consequences. The accessible book is based on extensive reference material, and bears an endorsement by Richard Dawkins (The Selfish Gene). Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
The Food Commons Approach in the EU Agri-food Law: Reframing the Common Agricultural Policy for More Ecological Food Systems in Europe (LITES - Legal Issues in Transdisciplinary Environmental Studies #3)
by Antonio ManzoniThis book presents a thorough analysis of the innovative food commons approach in relation to the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The debates surrounding this pivotal European policy have always been robust, and with the ambitious targets outlined by the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the European Green Deal, they are poised to become even more prominent. To effectively realize these objectives, it is imperative to systematically reassess the fundamental structures of our food systems and enact substantive reforms within EU agri-food law and policymaking. The food commons approach represents not only a novel theoretical framework, but also, and foremost, a dynamic socio-political movement that has garnered attention from both researchers and policymakers due to its pioneering nature. Rejecting the prevailing paradigm of absolute commodification of food, this approach endeavours to reconceptualize our food systems through the prisms of ecology, social inclusion, collective governance, and resilience. The overarching objective of this book is to scrutinize the potential of this novel approach to fundamentally reshape the theoretical underpinnings of EU agri-food law, ultimately facilitating the realization of more sustainable and just food systems. The target audience of this book mainly consists of academic researchers, but also practitioners and policymakers working on agricultural and environmental studies, due to its interdisciplinary approach and the originality of its content. Along the same lines, the book will appeal to NGOs, indigenous peoples, and food sovereignty movements around the world.
The Food Programme: How Our Hunger has Changed the Past, Present and Future
by Alex RentonVital stories for hungry minds.In the first official book from BBC Radio 4's hit series The Food Programme, award-winning writer Alex Renton tells the stories of 13 key staples such as spice, oil, cocoa, bread and tomatoes, exploring their history, evolution and how our ever-growing hunger for them continues to alter our world. Look at food in a new light - as a weapon, an art form, a tool of revolution, but also a bringer of pure happiness.Discover a kaleidoscope of fascinating facts and curiosities, including the forgotten joys of lard, the secret to perfect chips and how our love of pepper led to piracy.
The Food Security, Biodiversity, and Climate Nexus
by Mohamed Behnassi Himangana Gupta Mirza Barjees Baig Ijaz Rasool NoorkaThis volume is the outcome of an international cooperation between 73 scientists, experts, and practitioners from many countries, disciplines, and professional areas. As a part of a series of CERES publications, the volume attempts to contribute to the scientific debate about the food–biodiversity–climate nexus by developing a comprehensive region-specific and broader global understanding of the linkages between these areas, especially in the context of Global South. Instead of providing only modern science-based solutions for the nexus related challenges, the volume covers case studies that present mixed solutions, offering the use of traditional ecological knowledge in combination with modern science for both resilience and sustainability. This is increasingly instrumental in shaping the needed response options regarding the economic, social, and environmental future of the world. Based on a multi-regional and cross-sectoral analysis, the approach consists of: assessing the different natural and anthropogenic factors currently affecting ecosystems and their services, especially the impacts of climate change; highlighting the different linkages between the state of biodiversity and food systems in many contexts and scales; and exploring the various response mechanisms to effectively manage the implications of such linkages. Most chapters provide inputs for future relevant research and policy agendas.
The Food-Energy-Water Nexus (AESS Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies and Sciences Series)
by Peter Saundry Benjamin L. RuddellThis will be the first textbook on the integration of food, energy and water systems (FEWS). In recent years, the world has seen a dramatic rise in interdisciplinary energy and environmental courses and degrees at the undergraduate and graduate levels. In the US for instance, the number and variety of such programs has increased significantly over the past decade, Simultaneously, national and international initiatives that integrate food, energy and water systems have been launched. This textbook provides a substantive introduction to the food-energy-water nexus suitable for use in higher level undergraduate and graduate level courses and for scholars moving into the field of nexus studies without a strong background in all three areas and the many aspects of nexus studies.
The Fool and the Heretic: How Two Scientists Moved beyond Labels to a Christian Dialogue about Creation and Evolution
by Todd Charles Wood Darrel R. Falk Rob BarrettThe Fool and the Heretic is a deeply personal story told by two respected scientists who hold opposing views on the topic of origins, share a common faith in Jesus Christ, and began a sometimes-painful journey to explore how they can remain in Christian fellowship when each thinks the other is harming the church. To some in the church, anyone who accepts the theory of evolution has rejected biblical teaching and is therefore thought of as a heretic. To many outside the church as well as a growing number of evangelicals, anyone who accepts the view that God created the earth in six days a few thousand years ago must be poorly educated and ignorant--a fool. Todd Wood and Darrel Falk know what it's like to be thought of, respectively, as a fool and a heretic. This book shares their pain in wearing those labels, but more important, provides a model for how faithful Christians can hold opposing views on deeply divisive issues yet grow deeper in their relationship to each other and to God.
The Foraging Spectrum: Diversity in Hunter-gatherer Lifeways
by Robert L. KellyKelly (Anthropology, U. of Wyoming) describes the remarkably complex structures and practices of foraging cultures, such as those in which members store up good will to tide them over the times they cannot hunt or gather. After a solid introduction to the place of foraging societies in anthropology and anthropological theories about environment and evolution from an point of view, Kelly considers a range of aspects of foraging societies, describing studies on mobility, sharing and exchange, land tenure, group size and reproduction, the roles of men and women, egalitarian and non-egalitarian hunter-gatherers, and of the probable systems of foraging in prehistory. Percheron Press is the reprint imprint of Eliot Werner Publications. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
The Forbidden Garden: The Botanists of Besieged Leningrad and Their Impossible Choice
by Simon ParkinFrom the award-winning author of The Island of Extraordinary Captives, the riveting, untold true story of the botanists at the world&’s first seed bank who faced an impossible choice during the Siege of Leningrad: eat the collection to prevent starvation, or protect their life&’s work to help end world hunger?In the summer of 1941, German troops surrounded the Russian city of Leningrad—now St. Petersburg—and began the longest blockade in recorded history, one that would ultimately claim the lives of nearly three-quarters of a million people. At the center of the besieged city stood a converted palace that housed the world&’s largest collection of seeds—more than 250,000 samples hand-collected over two decades from all over the globe by world-famous explorer, geneticist, and dissident Nikolai Vavilov, who had recently been disappeared by the Soviet government. After attempts to evacuate the priceless collection failed and supplies dwindled amongst the three million starving citizens, the employes at the Plant Institute were left with a terrible choice. Should they save the collection? Or themselves? These were not just any seeds. The botanists believed they could be bred into heartier, disease-resistant, and more productive varieties suited for harsh climates, therefore changing the future of food production and preventing famines like those that had plagued their countrymen before. But protecting the seeds was no idle business. The scientists rescued potato samples under enemy fire, extinguished bombs landing on the seed bank&’s roof, and guarded the collection from scavengers, the bitter cold, and their own hunger. Then in the war&’s eleventh hour, Nazi plunderers presented a new threat to the collection…Drawing from previously unseen sources, award-winning journalist Simon Parkin—who has &“an inimitable capacity to find the human pulse in the underbelly of war&” (The Spectator)—tells the incredible true story of the botanists who held their posts at the Plant Institute during the 872-day siege and the remarkable sacrifices they made in the name of science.
The Forbidden Universe: The Occult Origins Of Science And The Search For The Mind Of God
by Lynn Picknett Clive PrinceWere the first scientists hermetic philosophers? What do these occult origins of modern science tell us about the universe today? The Forbidden Universe reveals the secret brotherhood that defined the world, and perhaps discovered the mind of God.All the pioneers of science, from Copernicus to Newton via Galileo, were inspired by Hermeticism. Men such as Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Leibniz, Bacon, Kepler, Tycho Brahe - even Shakespeare - owed much of their achievements to basically occult beliefs - the hermetica. In this fascinating study, Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince go in search of the Hermetic origins of modern science and prove that not everything is as it seems and that over the past 400 years there has been a secret agenda behind our search for truth. From the age of Leonardo da Vinci, the influence of hermetic thinking upon the greatest minds in history has been hidden, a secret held by a forbidden brotherhood in search of the mind of God. Yet this search does not end in history but can be found in the present day - in the contemporary debates of leading evolutionists and thinkers. The significance of this hidden school can hardly be over-emphasised. Not only did it provide a spiritual and philosophical background to the rise of modern science, but its worldview is also relevant to those hungry for all sorts of knowledge even in the twenty-first century. And it may even show the way to reconciling the apparently irreconcilable divide between the scientific and the spiritual. Picknett and Prince go in search of this true foundation of modern rational thought and reveal a story that overturns 400 years of received wisdom.
The Forbidden Universe: The Occult Origins of Science and the Search for the Mind of God
by Lynn Picknett Clive PrinceWere the first scientists hermetic philosophers? What do these occult origins of modern science tell us about the universe today? The Forbidden Universe reveals the secret brotherhood that defined the world, and perhaps discovered the mind of God.All the pioneers of science, from Copernicus to Newton via Galileo, were inspired by Hermeticism. Men such as Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Leibniz, Bacon, Kepler, Tycho Brahe - even Shakespeare - owed much of their achievements to basically occult beliefs - the hermetica. In this fascinating study, Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince go in search of the Hermetic origins of modern science and prove that not everything is as it seems and that over the past 400 years there has been a secret agenda behind our search for truth. From the age of Leonardo da Vinci, the influence of hermetic thinking upon the greatest minds in history has been hidden, a secret held by a forbidden brotherhood in search of the mind of God. Yet this search does not end in history but can be found in the present day - in the contemporary debates of leading evolutionists and thinkers. The significance of this hidden school can hardly be over-emphasised. Not only did it provide a spiritual and philosophical background to the rise of modern science, but its worldview is also relevant to those hungry for all sorts of knowledge even in the twenty-first century. And it may even show the way to reconciling the apparently irreconcilable divide between the scientific and the spiritual. Picknett and Prince go in search of this true foundation of modern rational thought and reveal a story that overturns 400 years of received wisdom.
The Force of an Idea: New Essays on Christian Wolff's Psychology (Studies in History and Philosophy of Science #50)
by Thomas Sturm Saulo de Freitas Araujo Thiago Constâncio Ribeiro PereiraThis book presents, for the first time in English, a comprehensive anthology of essays on Christian Wolff's psychology written by leading international scholars. Christian Wolff is one of the towering figures in 18th-century Western thought. In the last decades, the publication of Wolff's Gesammelte Werke by Jean École and collaborators has aroused new interest in his ideas, but the meaning, scope, and impact of his psychological program have remained open to close and comprehensive analysis and discussion. That is what this volume aims to do. This is the first volume in English completely devoted to Wolff's efforts to systematize empirical and rational psychology, against the background of his understanding of scientific method in metaphysics. Wolff thereby paved the way to the very idea of a scientific psychology. The book is divided into two parts. The first one covers the theoretical and historical meaning and scope of Wolff's psychology, both in its internal structure and in its relation to other parts of his philosophical system, such as logic, cosmology, aesthetics, or practical philosophy. The second part deals with the reception and impact of Wolff's psychology, starting with early reactions from his disciples and opponents, and moving on to Kant, Hegel, and Wundt. The Force of an Idea: New Essays on Christian Wolff's Psychology shows not only that Wolff's psychological ideas have been misinterpreted, but also that they are historically more significant than traditional wisdom has it. The book, therefore, will be of interest to historians and philosophers of science, historians of philosophy and psychology, as well as to philosophers and psychologists interested in understanding the roots of scientific psychology in 18th and 19th century German philosophy.