Bücher veröffentlicht von MIT Press Ltd

A case study that explains the present location pattern of the synthetic-fiber industry, forecasts the regional distribution of future growth in terms of employment and capital investment, and evaluates the advantages of Puerto Rico as a site for fiber production.

The first systematic study of approximation methods in queueing network modeling and how these methods are developed.

It is generally known that the United States, a large country, has spawned business corporations that transcend international boundaries--multinationals. What is not generally known is that many smaller countries are rapidly following suit--they too are opening and expanding international operations for their own local firms. This book is the first organized effort by scholars to deal with non-American international corporations as a general phenomenon. Initially presented at a colloquium devoted to the subject held at MIT in January 1976, these seven essays bring to light the relatively unpublicized international activities of firms originating in a number of geographically and economically diverse smaller countries.

Elihu Thomson (1853-1937) was one of the most inventive scientists of his time and one of the few truly scientific inventors. Because he saw no reason for making sharp separations between the pure and the applied, between science and technology, he was able to illuminate each aspect of his work with the light of his experience in the other. The result, as his correspondence confirms, was a progressive reaching out into numerous areas, some far removed from the electrical studies on which his fame has chiefly rested.This collection of letters on scientific topics, both to and from Thomson, displays his interest in and knowledge of astronomy, telescope making, physical chemistry, x-ray studies, the history of science, industrial research and production, scientific education, military and naval armament, acoustics, air pollution, noise abatement, and other matters. His electrical and electromechanical interests are of course well represented in this selection. These areas the reader will in large part be able to match against the well-known scientists and inventors among those included in the book who shared concerns and exchanged letters with Thomson: Sir William H. Bragg, William D. Coolidge, R. E. B. Crompton, Thomas A. Edison, George E. Hale, Irving Langmuir, Robert A. Millikan, Michael I. Pupin, George W. Ritchey, George A. Sarton, Harlow Shapley, Samuel W. Stratton, and Willis R. Whitney.Thomson is credited with almost 800 electrical inventions. The process by which some of these were made are revealed in his letters in discussing generators, arc lights, measuring instruments, transformers, and other implements. Other letters reflect the rise of his company, which merged with Edison's to become the General Electric Company. It is of interest that Thomson chose to remain at General Electric all his life, as a consultant, even though he could have had almost any academic post he desired, including the M.I.T. presidency. Thomson was in fact an early advocate of the value of in-house industrial support of scientific activity of a sort transcending narrow and obvious self-interest; such support he felt would mutually benefit both science and industry. Some of the most interesting of the letters deal with his advice to Hale and others on the making of the great 100- and 200-inch telescope mirrors. Others describe how, as a young Philadelphia high school teacher, he was able to produce electromagnetic waves and detect them at a distance some twelve years before the experiments of Hertz. At that time, he realized their utility as a medium of communication twenty years before Marconi's successful transmissions.Thomson's letters to and from each correspondent are grouped together in order to show with greater continuity the development of Thomson's warm personal relationships and the unfolding of ideas and results in the various fields. The editors have provided an introduction, biographical accounts, and annotations. The latter are extensive and varied in nature, comprising explanations, anecdotes, commentaries, and identifications of now-obscure references.

A personal story of the ways in which persistence, chance, and creativity interact in biomedical research.

This classic guide teaches the art of programming to first time programmers.

An essential guide to the field, with papers drawn from disciplines as varied as neuroscience, psychology, cognitive science, engineering, and physics.

A comprehensive survey of the theory and applications of meta-programming, covering problems of representation and of soundness and correctness of interpreters, analysis and evaluation of meta-logic programs, and applications to sophisticated knowledge-based systems.

The evolution of Robert McNamara's poverty-oriented redirections at the World Bank from 1968 to 1981.

A comprehensive anthology of real-life cases, integrating diverse perspectives on moral problems in medicine.

Aronoff integrates an account of morphological structure into a general theory of generative grammar.

A comprehensive exposition of mathematics, tracing the history and cultural significance of mathematical ideas from antiquity to the present day.

A guide to first purchases in science and engineering undergraduate libraries.

In Minimal Rationality, Christopher Cherniak boldly challenges the myth of Man the the Rational Animal and the central role that the "perfectly rational agent" has had in philosophy, psychology, and other cognitive sciences, as well as in economics.

The contentious history of the computer programmers who developed the software that made the computer revolution possible.

An engaging introduction to the science of vision that offers a coherent account of vision based on general information processing principlesIn this accessible and engaging introduction to modern vision science, James Stone uses visual illusions to explore how the brain sees the world. Understanding vision, Stone argues, is not simply a question of knowing which neurons respond to particular visual features, but also requires a computational theory of vision. Stone draws together results from David Marr's computational framework, Barlow's efficient coding hypothesis, Bayesian inference, Shannon's information theory, and signal processing to construct a coherent account of vision that explains not only how the brain is fooled by particular visual illusions, but also why any biological or computer vision system should also be fooled by these illusions.This short text includes chapters on the eye and its evolution, how and why visual neurons from different species encode the retinal image in the same way, how information theory explains color aftereffects, how different visual cues provide depth information, how the imperfect visual information received by the eye and brain can be rescued by Bayesian inference, how different brain regions process visual information, and the bizarre perceptual consequences that result from damage to these brain regions. The tutorial style emphasizes key conceptual insights, rather than mathematical details, making the book accessible to the nonscientist and suitable for undergraduate or postgraduate study.

An exploration of the dialogue that emerged after 1776 between different visions of what it meant to use new technologies to transform the land.

How the history of technology emerged as a coherent intellectual discipline.

Words, Thoughts, and Theories articulates and defends the "theory theory" of cognitive and semantic development--the idea that infants and young children, like scientists, learn about the world by forming and revising theories, a view of the origins of knowledge and meaning that has broad implications for cognitive science.

An attempt to integrate two theories about how the mind works, one that says that the mind is a computer-like manipulator of symbols, and another that says that the mind is a large network of neurons working together in parallel.

An exploration of Cope's experimentation in artificial musical creativity; includes a CD containing performances of music discussed in the text.

A new, social epistemology of science that addresses practical as well as theoretical concerns.

The contributors represent the complete spectrum of positions between a relativism that challenges the very concept of a single world and the idea that there are ascertainable, objective universals.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the computational material that forms the underpinnings of the currently evolving set of brain models.

'For an inventory of insights on the application of recent realist ideas, these are the best selections from the best journal in the field. This collection offers a particularly well-organized array of arguments about the relation of theory to policy, and the benefits and costs of the realist approach.'-Richard K. Betts, Professor of Political Science, Columbia University

Volume 1: Econometric General Equilibrium Modeling presents an econometric approach to general equilibrium modeling of the impact of economic policies. Earlier approaches were based on the "calibration" of general equilibrium models to a single data point. The obvious disadvantage of calibration is that it requires highly restrictive assumptions about technology and preferences, such as fixed input-output coefficients. These assumptions are contradicted by the massive evidence of energy conservation in response to higher world energy prices, beginning in 1973. The econometric approach to general equilibrium modeling successfully freed economic policy analysis from the straitjacket imposed by calibration.As a consequence of changes in energy prices and new environmental policies, a wealth of historical experience has accumulated over the past two decades. Interpreted within the framework of the neoclassical theory of economic growth, this experience provides essential guidelines for future policy formation. Volume 2: Energy, the Environment, and Economic Growth presents a new econometric general equilibrium model of the United States that captures the dynamic mechanisms underlying growth trends and responses to energy and environmental policies. Jorgenson uses the model to analyze the impacts of environmental regulations on US economic growth and tax policies for controlling US emissions of carbon dioxide.