Book Description

This handbook of valuable information extracted from laboratory manuals published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press is presented in an easy-to-use format.It contains invaluable reference data, never before assembled in one handy package.It has been assembled from extensively field-tested manuals, ensuring accuracy and reliability, by two scientists with extensive and diverse experience of laboratory practice. ... Read more

Book Description

Most scientists live in a "publish or perish" environment, but few would describe themselves as brilliant (or enthusiastic) writers. Coming to the aid of all those wishing to improve the quality of their scientific writing -- established researchers and aspiring students alike -- three experienced authors/scientists from differing backgrounds and cultures have compiled this classic guide.
This new edition has been completely revised to reflect dramatic changes in communication over the past 15 years. The primary emphasis is on writing techniques, accurate expression, adherence to accepted standards, and above all clarity, but the authors also venture into communication technology and organizational as well as ethical aspects of science. Numerous appendices and a particularly comprehensive index complete this highly useful book.

"The authors have a passion, not only for clarity and economy of style, but also for precision and consistency."
(Nature)

"A wealth of information contained in a single book of manageable proportions. Students reporting on a simple laboratory experiment and their teachers preparing a paper or lecture will both find this book a constant companion."
(European Science Editing)

"The book under reviewclaims, 'we know of no book as broad in its coverage, as critical in its analysis of existing trends, and as international in its scope'. This claim is immodest but accurate."
(Trends in Pharmacological Sciences)
... Read more

Reviews (1)

The Art of Scientific Writing
The newest edition of The Art of Scientific Writing is a terrific resource for scientific and other writers alike. It offers information on preparing scientific works, ie books, dissertations, journal articles and reports, in addition to providing writing techniques, offering layout and design suggestions. The authors thoroughly cover several topics to help readers develop a sense of scientific writing, including figures and tables to clarify text selections. The chapters are divided by subcategory, which makes it easy to navigate through the book to find a topic. Because there are significant new scientific developments almost daily, a chapter on collecting and citing literature is included. The authors make suggestions throughout the book, such as how to build one's own literature collection, why abstracts are pertinent to articles and dissertations, and how to correctly space formulas within a document. Chapters included are Reports, Dissertations, Journal Articles, Books, Writing Techniques, Formulas, Figures, Tables and Collecting and Citing the Literature. Appendices offer further information on Reference Formats, Selected Quantities, Units and Constants, The 20 Commandments of Electronic Manuscripts, and Conversion Tips. The Art of Scientific Writing has a complete index listing every topic in the book, which assists in finding a topic quickly. By HF Ebel, C Bliefert, WE Russey. ... Read more

Book Description

The second edition of an international bestseller, this book provides veterinary specialists as well as veterinary and biomedical researchers with detailed information about laboratory animal genetics, diseases, health monitoring, nutrition, and environmental impact on animal experiments. Completely revised and updated, Volume I now contains expanded coverage of topics such as procedures in genetic engineering, surgical techniques, and humane endpoints and the treatment of pain and suffering in laboratory animals. It includes a new, streamlined chapter that combines the review of alternative techniques to animal experimentation such as the use of isolated organs, cell cultures, and computer simulations. ... Read more

Book Description

Appropriate for all courses in statistical methods for the agricultural, life, health, and environmental sciences, this book offers a practical and modern approach that minimizes computation and emphasizes conceptual understanding. Rao continually emphasizes issues and topics most relevant to modern day research in the life sciences. For example, point and interval estimation take priority over testing of statistical hypothesis and methods and guidelines for determination of sample size are indicated whenever possible. Statistical Research Methods in the Life Sciences also presents a self-contained and complete discussion of each experimental situation considered. In the two-sample setting, for example, in addition to presenting the procedures under the usual analysis of variance assumption, Rao also presents methods for checking the validity of the assumptions. ... Read more

Book Description

The importance of accurate sample preparation techniques cannot be overstated--meticulous sample preparation is essential.  Often overlooked, it is the midway point where the analytes from the sample matrix are transformed so they are suitable for analysis.  Even the best analytical techniques cannot rectify problems generated by sloppy sample pretreatment.

Devoted entirely to teaching and reinforcing these necessary pretreatment steps, Sample Preparation Techniques in Analytical Chemistry addresses diverse aspects of this important measurement step.  These include:

• State-of-the-art extraction techniques for organic and inorganic analytes
• Sample preparation in biological measurements
• Sample pretreatment in microscopy
• Surface enhancement as a sample preparation tool in Raman and IR spectroscopy
• Sample concentration and clean-up methods
• Quality control steps

Designed to serve as a text in an undergraduate or graduate level curriculum, Sample Preparation Techniques in Analytical Chemistry also provides an invaluable reference tool for analytical chemists in the chemical, biological, pharmaceutical, environmental, and materials sciences. ... Read more

Book Description

"This book offers a broad spectrum of research methodologies within one text that is easy to understand. Thomas examines educational research as a series of simple and complex questions. This integrated presentation of research methodologies makes this a unique text."
Roxana Della Vecchia, Assistant Dean, College of Education
Towson University

"This book should reside in the library of anyone who has a serious interest in doing research in any of the social sciences, or in any of dozens of application areas such as health education, nursing, social work, evaluation, etc."
Norvell Northcutt, Sr. Lecturer, Department of Educational Administration
University of Texas at Austin

Maximize the best of both worlds in your thesis or dissertation with mixed-methods research!

The first of its kind, this comprehensive guide offers the only resource that responds to the growing trend of combining qualitative and quantitative research methods in theses and dissertations. It thoroughly discusses a wide array of methods, the strengths and limitations of each, and how they can be effectively interwoven into various research designs.

Aimed at empowering students with the information necessary to choose the best approach to fit their needs, the user-friendly text outlines numerous research options from varying viewpoints, and highlights the procedures involved with putting each method into practice.

Additional special features include:

• 20 examples of thesis and dissertation proposals that masterfully mix qualitative and quantitative methods in diverse ways
• Tips on how to publish research results
• Techniques for collecting data and interpreting results for qualitative and quantitative methods
• Tools for identifying which method is most appropriate for answering certain kinds of research questions

Reviews (2)

An encyclopedia of meta-analysis
This book is the best overall work on meta-analysis and research synthesis that has appeared in the past decade.All of its chapters are clearly written, and the data sets that are provided to illustrate the various techniques are extremely helpful. A lot of work went into the development of this book, and it shows.

Excellent "How To" Manual
For anyone interested in doing research synthesis, meta-analysis, or even a literature review, this is a "must have" in your collection. Various researchers present quite helpful information to save time, sweat, and tears in the process ... Read more

Book Description

Excerpted in The New Yorker and hailed by the business press, The Predictors is destined to become a classic of its generation--an antic, subversive odyssey into a universe defined by the mystical convergence of physics and finance.

How could a couple of rumpled physicists in sandals and Eat-the-Rich T-shirts, piling computers into an adobe house in Santa Fe, hope to take on the masters of the universe from Morgan Stanley? Doyne Farmer and Norman Packard may never have read The Wall Street Journal, but they happen to be among the founders of the new sciences of chaos and complexity. Who better to try to find order in the apparently unreasoned chaos of the global financial markets? Thomas A. Bass takes us inside their start-up company, following it from its inception as a motley collection of longhaired Ph.D.s to its passage into the centers of financial power, where "the predictors" find investors and finally go live with real money. The Predictors is a dizzying, often hilarious tale of genius and greed.
... Read more

Reviews (32)

Anticlimatic
I am a trader. I traded in the pits for years. I traded over-the-counter. Futures and options, vanilla and exotic. I also hold degrees in physics and electrical engineering from MIT. I was hoping to relate to the characters in this book. I didn't at all.

First, my comments on the book as a story. I was interested at first, but was struggling to get through the last third of the book, as characters were developed that seemed like little more than filler. I tired of the endless descriptions of wardrobe and scenery. And, in the end, we don't really find out what happened. Some reviewers complain about lack of technical detail. The book was obviously not written as a scientific treatise, but as a story, so those readers really have no reason to be disappointed in that aspect.

Secondly, my thoughts about the science and the scientists featured in the book. Nonlinear dynamic systems have been studied by all Wall Street firms, even at the time Prediction Co. was doing it. I actually have a fair amount of distaste for this whole subject. What it amounts to is traders, banks, uber investors, etc. looking for the next quick money making opportunity within the latest development (fad some might say) in informational science. That in and of itself is not a bad thing, but a reasonable quest. The reason most of these kinds of endeavors fail is that unification of Wall Street and academia can only be successful if the researchers or modelers have a firm grasp of BOTH worlds. The models ultimately fail because what is really being modelled is human psychology and reaction. Numbers alone do not tell the tale. There is no (legal) way of knowing that the trader at MS just had a blow up with his risk advisor and is angrily dumping his yen position inefficiently, and that UBS knows MS is also long calls so they begin crushing call volatility since they know MS will liquidate them as well. Sure, a chart may have predicted a squeeze, but the details of the actual trading couldn't have been prophesied. Prediction Co. was running thousands of models? This should be the first tip off that they had no idea what the principal components of the market were. They were shooting in the dark.

This was a perfect example of banker types with no technical prowess whatsoever trying to work with ivory tower types with no street savvy. It doesn't work. "Well, traders and quants work together in most trading firms." True, but this is different because there was no established program or models that the quants were running. This was fly by the seat of the pants almost. While I admire the accomplishments of these researchers in academic realms, they were definitely not cut out to be businessmen with their communistic, hippy, and honestly, somewhat lazy, approach to life. Yes, some succeed, you have your accasional Bill Gates (although I would argue he was extremely business-headed), but not many. Look at the dot-com debacle. Same story.

Lastly, do you really think that anyone who truly tapped into the Holy Grail of trading would actually allow a book to be written about it?

You would learn a thing or two,
Well I picked up the book as I am interested in complexity science. Most of the reviews here are quite harsh, and probably it was bad expectations management on writer's / publisher's part.

Even though the book sometimes is promoted as an investing book, it is not. It is not meant for day traders who just expect to discover next holy grail of financial markets reading such books. There is no holy grail in markets, but thats another thing. With that said, it may be clear that it is not a TRADING / INVESTIING book.

The book is story of two renowned physicists turning to use their physics, specifically chaos theory, to model financial market. The story part is dealt with great care. I am sure you learn a thing or two reading this book. This book was quite reasy to read and time I spent reading was worth more than had I spent reading a Grisham novel or watching some stupid soap on TV. It is real life here folks.

Bass is not a novelist so I did not expect him write a literary piece here. He has written a true story in a very good way and struggle of Farmer and Packard in estabilshing a company and utilizing their knowldge in a productive way is very cleverly depicted. There are tonnes of other relevant information that come and go, and an intelligent reader would surely pick something here. There is a lot of current history explored here.

With that said, this is NOT a book for the NEXT TRADING SYSTEM, nor does it preach that their system was PERFECT.

Interesting Topic not Handled Well
I agree with many of the other reviewers. This book is 90% filler. Instead of discussing the topic at hand, we are repeatedly bombarded with a desciption of the weather, the El Paso fiesta season, etc... This is a story about a group of (in my opinion, uninteresting) characters, and not a book on Investing or Science. Not recommended.

Another book about a start-up
This book is less about the market and more about the personal relationships and dealings of a business start-up. I'm surprised that the book lists its category as BUSINESS/SCIENCE when truly it lies in the former. I guess mentioning chaos theory, neural networks and genetic algorithms was all that was needed.

Regardless, it was an entertaining story about a group of physicists, being totally ignorant of the market, decide that they can predict the market. The storyline follows what I would consider typical of any start-up; the fights, arguments, doubts, meetings galore, etc... As I said, entertaining but not too much different from any other story about a start-up.

My two biggest complaints:

1) The back cover from the San Francisco Chronicle calls this book "one of the best books ever written about commodities, currency, and derivatives trading." I don't think they even read the book since this book isn't about trading but all about the traders.

2) The over use of descriptive fashion and landscape. I lost track of how many times we needed to be told who was wearing what and how blue the sky was in Santa Fe. It really got annoying after awhile.

Full of adventure
Interesting adventures, better than the Hardy Boys! On one page Doyne's replacing the differential in his old van in the desert, several pages later he's suited up (unwillingly, presumably) dueling intellectually with the experts at Goldman-Sachs. In between he's writing checks to keep the fledgling company alive. Like I said, beats Hardy Boys hands down! Bass includes a good description of neo-classical economics ideas, still widely believed by many economicsts far and wide, as in the case of the failed LTCM, not to mention Enron, the IMF, world Bank, and US advisors to Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, thailand, Russia, .... . Significantly, LTCM was guided in part by two Nobel Prize winning neo-classical economists who characteristically proceded implicitly as if there would be 'springs' in the market to enforce the 'no arbitrage' assumption at long (but not too-long...) times. I personally don't believe that the future can be forecast reliably, but then according to a member of The Company they found a small (few %) advantage and sold it to UBS. A gambler with a small bankrole would suffer the gamblers' ruin while trying to bet on such weak correlations. Actually, the hat on the cover looks vaguely familiar, but then what's in a hat? ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Focusing on all current applications, this book presents the various methods as well as their suitability and limitations for a specific question. One particular highlight is the presentation of all basic information on the structure of the relevant objects, thus allowing readers to choose the most suitable applications for any specific problem. They will also find in-depth background information on structure-function relationships, plus descriptions of sample preparations with respect to a particular technique and the necessary equipment.
The whole is rounded off with an overview of the future application potential for devices and applications of upcoming interest in biotechnology. ... Read more

Book Description

Radiotelemetry and Animal Populations is a succinct synthesis ofemerging technologies and their applications to the empirical and theoretical problems of population assessment. The book is divided into sections designed to encompass the various aspects of animal ecology that may be evaluated using radiotelemetry technology - experimental design, equipment and technology, animal movement, resource selection, and demographics. Wildlife biologists at the leading edge of new developments in the technology and its application have joined forces. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Radio Tracking and Animal Populations
Radio tracking and animal populations covers all aspects of radio tracking wild animals, from designing the study right through to analyzing results and drawing conclusion from the findings. I have found this book to be the most comprehensively referenced, and in depth piece of literature on radio tracking that I have managed to locate so far.
I have constantly used this book while carrying out a telemetry study as the research for my masters degree, and recommend this book as the ideal starting point for anyone considering carying out a radio tracking study of wild animals.
My only regret concerning this book is that I didn't come across it earlier in my studies.

Good review
This a good review of radio telemetry techniques and applications. ... Read more

Book Description

"This book is a must for anyone teaching, or wishing to better understand, qualitative research . . . This handbook is destined to be a classic text in the field of qualitative research that belongs on every student's and researcher's bookshelf."

--HARVARD EDUCATIONAL REVIEW

The Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry, Second Edition, the second volume in the paperback version of the Handbook of Qualitative Research, 2^nd Edition, consists of Part III of the handbook ("Strategies of Inquiry").

The Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry, Second Edition isolates the major strategies--historically, the research methods--that researchers can use in conducting concrete qualitative studies. The question of methods begins with the design of the research project, which Valerie Janesick describes in dance terms. Design issues also involve matters of money and funding, issues discussed by Julianne Cheek. Questions of design always begin with a socially situated observer who moves from a research question to a paradigm or perspective, and then to the empirical world. So located, the researcher then addresses a range of methods that can be employed In any study. The history and uses of these strategies are explored extensively in this volume. The chapters move from performance ethnography to case studies, issues of ethnographic representation, grounded theory strategies, testimonios, life histories, participatory action research, and clinical research.

"This may well be 'the one book on qualitative research' that one would want to take 'to a desert island,' as the editors hope."

--JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY ETHNOGRAPHY

The Handbook of Qualitative Research, Second Edition is widely considered to be the state of the art in evaluating the field of qualitative inquiry. Now published in paperback in response to the needs of classroom teachers, The Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry, Second Edition will be an ideal supplement for a course on research methods, across a wide number of academic disciplines.

"The Handbook of Qualitative Research represents a major publishing event. It comprehensively gathers together and organizes rapidly-growing developments in the philosophy, theory, and method of conducting qualitative research."

--EVALUATION AND PROGRAM PLANNING

Reviews (1)

A cornerstone to qualitative research
"Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry" by Denzin and Lincoln is one of the top references for those starting research using a qualitative methodology.

The book starts of giving a brief overview of all the methodsthat are classes as qualitative in the introduction.

Chapter one continues by talking about what methodologies of research can be used with these methods, as well as dealing with some of the issues of qualitative research, like resistance, it history and a comparison between qualitative and quantative methods.

Chapter two mainly deals with research design. It talks about initial design, pilot studies and the writeup.

Chapter three deals with designing and conducting funded research. It helps with strategies and writing research proposals.

Chapter four details case studies and what you need to do to use this technique for your research,

The remaining chapter study the various qualitative methods in detail, giving a good understanding of each.

Finally the reference section for this book is excellent, give a good guide to further direction for study in the area of qualitative methods.

The the student or begining qualitative researcher it is a must. For the experienced researcher it a n excellent reference to have on hand ... Read more

Book Description

The goal of this book is to make some underutilized but potentially very useful methods in experimental design and analysis available to ecologists, and to encourage better use of standard statistical techniques.Ecology has become more and more an experimental science in both basic and applied work,but experiments in the field and in the laboratory often present formidable statistical difficulties.Organized around providing solutions to ecological problems, this book offers ways to improve the statistical aspects of conducting manipulative ecological experiments, from setting them up to interpreting and reporting the results.An abundance of tools, including advanced approaches, are made available to ecologists in step-by-step examples, with computer code provided for common statistical packages.This is an essential how-to guide for the working ecologist and for graduate students preparing for research and teaching careers in the field of ecology. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Physics and computer science genius Stephen Wolfram, whose Mathematica computer language launched a multimillion-dollar company, now sets his sights on a more daunting goal: understanding the universe. Wolfram lets the world see his work in A New Kind of Science, a gorgeous, 1,280-page tome more than a decade in the making. With patience, insight, and self-confidence to spare, Wolfram outlines a fundamental new way of modeling complex systems.

On the frontier of complexity science since he was a boy, Wolfram is achampion of cellular automata--256 "programs" governed by simplenonmathematical rules. He points out that even the most complexequations fail to accurately model biological systems, but the simplestcellular automata can produce results straight out of nature--treebranches, stream eddies, and leopard spots, for instance. The graphicsin A New Kind of Science show striking resemblance to thepatterns we see in nature every day.

Wolfram wrote the book in a distinct style meant to make it easy to read, even for nontechies; a basic familiarity with logic is helpful butnot essential. Readers will find themselves swept away by the elegantsimplicity of Wolfram's ideas and the accidental artistry of thecellular automaton models. Whether or not Wolfram's revolutionultimately gives us the keys to the universe, his new science isabsolutely awe-inspiring. --Therese Littleton ... Read more

Reviews (314)

Mind candy
A New Kind Of Science may come to be viewed as the Godel, Escher, Bach of our generation. It's full of challenging big ideas that touch on nearly every field of science and beyond. It's a brilliant and delightful read and makes wonderful mind candy.

The only problem is I don't believe any of it. Wolfram bases the entire opus on the complicated behavior of a few simple cellular automata (CAs). Curiously, he never discusses any of the cool things that originally got a lot of people so excited about CAs -- topics like adaptation on the edge of chaos, and genetic algorithm evolution of specific functions. Instead, the entire book is just about how it's sometimes possible to observe complex and unpredictable patterns. And he tries over and over to convince the reader of just how important that observation is for understanding the universe.

As a supposed harbinger of a major paradigm revolution, we can contrast it with Einstein's one-time dramatic new theory of the universe. While a lot of people didn't understand it, the theories of relativity gave quite a few very specific predictions that could be -- and were successfully -- tested by observation and experiment. I've now read through the entirety of A New Kind Of Science and I can't find any specific predictions that would show his worldview explains reality any better than conventional ideas.

The only prediction he gives us relating to his theories is that every field of science will ultimately be transformed by them, and he goes on to list many of those fields. As I have a doctorate in molecular evolution, I was particularly interested in his dismissal of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection -- one of the most firmly established theories in science. Wolfram claims that Darwinian evolution is not sufficient to produce complex adaptations. I'm loathe to criticize an intellectual of Wolfram's stature, but his understanding of evolutionary theory, at least insofar as is presented in this book, is not very sophisticated. At any rate, anyone wanting an authoritative explication of the power of natural selection to generate complex adaptations may refer to Richard Dawkins' The Blind Watchmaker. I wish Wolfram offered some sort of testable alternative, or evidence of any kind beyond an endless display of pictures of the output of his simple programs. While the output may match the complexity observed in nature, Wolfram never makes the case that they match the adaptivity or intelligence observed in nature.

Many of these pictures are indeed very pretty. But by the fourth or fifth hundred page his obsession with these automata becomes a bit tedious. And the outworldly conclusions he draws from observing their behavior will leave you bumfuzzled. For example: because his automata are discrete in space and in time he proposes (with no further justification) that the entire universe must be made up of discrete cells of space and time. Sounds great, but where's the evidence, and where are the testable hypotheses? He goes on to propose, again with no evidence other than the observed behavior of a select few of his automata, that the mysterious rules of the universe update only one discrete time cell at any given instant. Wolfram offers countless other extrapolations to the mechanisms of nature and structure of the universe, all similarly astounding and similarly unsupported.

As I read through this opus, and especially as I neared the end, I kept asking myself -- How is it possible for someone so brilliant to have spent so many years developing something so uncompelling? I came up with three possible explanations:

1) Wolfram has gone off the deep end. Just like Dr. Richard Daystrom of Star Trek's "The Ultimate Computer", the undisputed genius who goes mad trying to exceed his former glory. Perhaps Wolfram has been staring at his pretty pictures for so long his synapses can no longer make any other kind of connection.

2) Wolfram is perpetrating an elaborate hoax on the world, much like Dr. Alan Sokal's famous "Transgressing the Boundaries" paper, a parody of the academic humanities that the editors of Social Text were fooled into publishing. But Wolfram's physics flimflam is writ on an infinitely larger scale. Just to prove he's so much smarter than every one else, and just as a practical joke, he's trying to derail the entire scientific enterprise.

And finally,

3) I have become so entrenched in the practice and paradigms of traditional science that I am unable to grasp or appreciate the profundity of what's been laid before me in the simplest of terms.

Number three is always possible. And in fact it would be wonderful to bear witness to what he's calling the greatest discovery in the history of science, even if it does fly over my head at Mach 2. Wolfram is one of the smartest and most accomplished residents of the universe, and even though one of the basic tenets of the (traditional) scientific method is that the validity of a claim is judged independently of the stature and reputation of the one who proposes it, it's difficult not to give someone like Wolfram the benefit of the doubt -- no matter how much of a stretch.

All the same, I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys being intellectually stimulated and likes to think about big ideas. Even if he's wrong, I'm sure glad I read it.

Wolfram's "New" Science Simply Doesn't Work
As everyone who can read English and has been awake for the past six months knows, Stephen Wolfram has written how certain cellular automata have the "universal" property of being able to perform any calculation that can be performed on a computer or anything else. Wolfram generates thousands of lovely pictures that, he claims, are similar to those observed in many physical and biological systems. All these pictures are generated by simple rules and sometimes simple initial conditions. Yet, some show surprisingly complex and seemingly random behaviour.

So far so good. Wolfram's next contention is that the complexity found in what he calls Class 4 cellular automata cannot be exceeded by any physical, biological or computational process. Put more boldly, every physical, biological, psychological, financial, meteorolical and, no doubt, astrological feature of the universe that exhibits complexity is generated by some sort of cellular automaton with appropriate initial conditions.

Such a statement cannot, of course, be proved in any acceptable way. To compensate, Wolfram gives us many examples of phenomena whose random behaviour resembles those of cellular automata. He is most convincing with his pictures of real seashells and arguments about turbulence in fluids (I especially liked his wafting smoke in the air anology.) He is less persuasive when he argues that evolution has nothing to do with maximizing anything and everything to do with generated patterns, some of which survive. When he talks about the analogy between Class 4 cellular automata and human cognition, he is downright silly.

Yet this is all irrelevant. Wolfram is scathing in the inability of mathematics to solve anything but the simplest physical problems. Thus Newton could tell us how to calculate the orbit of a planet around a star but neither he nor any of his successors could come up with a reasonable mathematical model for turbulence. And no one has even attempted a mathematical model of evolution.

But describing the disease is easier than prescribing a cure. Suppose that Wolfram is correct and that every meaningful physical and biological process is generated by an ongoing cellular automoton--or something equivalent. Then we could understand how we got where we are and predict where we will go. All we need is to discover the underlying rules and initial conditions for each system we wish to model. But therein lies the rub.

Wolfram argues persuasively that the systems generated by Class 4 cellular automata are irreducible. This means that there is no shorthand method for calculating future behaviour. The only thing we can do is go through the iteration millions, billions, gazillions of times and observe the outcomes at each step. Since the behaviour is random, knowing where you are at any step doesn't help you to predict where you will be at a future step.

The inverse problem is far more intractable. It is practically impossible to determine the underlying rules and initial conditions of a cellular automoton by looking at the deterministic pattern that it generated--especially if the pattern is complex and random (the only case of interest). But that's the whole point. Even if we knew with certainty that some complex process was generated by a cellular automoton with simple rules, it would still be impossible to describe its past behaviour or predict its future because we could never find the rule and starting conditions.

So, at its most profound level, even if Wolfram's new science is correct, it fails at doing two of the most fundamental things that science is supposed to do: telling us how we got where we are and making predictions about future behaviour.

In the final analysis, Wolfram's book is brilliant and well worth reading. But its new ideas may prove to be as useful as those in astrology.

Wolfram is not as revolutionary as ME
Stephen Wolfram is making a lot of noise about his "new kind of science," and the revolutionary impact it will have. But Wolfram is wrong, because his theories are not as revolutionary as my own. If you really want to know about the "new kind of science" you will find it in my work, not his.

Let me explain why I can so confidently make this statement. First, the issue of computers. While Stephen is right that computers will play an important role in the new kind of science, he failed to realize that his computer is not as good as mine. He has a pathetic, outdated model manufactured more than two months ago, while I buy a new computer each time a new breakthrough is made in micrprocessor speed and memory. Thus, my computer models are better than Wolfram's.

Also, Wolfram does not and cannot account for the amazing scientific discoveries made by ME using MY computers. I am a recognized pioneer in the field of quantum mitosis, and my studies of the statistical entropic confabulations of subcognitive querktons have become benchmarks in modern science. But I don't remember Wolfram ever calling ME to discuss these important breakthroughs.

Looks like it's back to the drawing board, Steve. Your supposedly all-encompassing new science may draw admiring glances for a week or two, but MY ideas are better. Right now, I'm even working on a grand unified theory of cognitive assonance which will allow me to objectively determine the degree to which Wolfram's ideas are inferior to my own, and finally get the crab grass out of my lawn. Who's your daddy, Wolfy?

Thought-provoking book
Given that you bothered to read these reviews, you probably should buy the book.

Wolfram's either on to something or he's not. I don't know and don't care. His writing style is tedious and annoyingly arrogant, but again, who cares?

His assertions about science are bold and unconventional. If he's right about something, maybe there will be some benefit to mankind (or even better, to me ;-) ) If not, so I wasted a few bucks. It's not the first time. Won't be the last....

Bottom line: Thinking Wolfram's ideas through is fun, whether you agree, disagree, or have no opinion. If you disagree, you'll feel good that you're smarter than a "physics and computer science genius". Otherwise, you'll feel that you have thought about some intriguing possibilities.

Single mindedness is bad even if it's a brilliant mind
The lack of proper reference to those minds that have studied and articulated complexity and cellular automata gives the impression that Wolfram solely thought up and now presents the ideas. No great ideas are exclusive. The book appears to be a self generated hoo rah for himself, oh and a little bit of computer generated plot. After lugging this monster around for way too long I finally just dropped it to door stop status and now it serves a much higher purpose than its content deserves. ... Read more

Book Description

Allegations of fraud, conflict of interest, and other ethical dilemmas have troubled the scientific community lately. With increasing frequency, graduate programs in the biomedical sciences are offering formalized training in the principles of responsible scientific conduct. Until now, there has been no single true textbook that can be used to teach this important subject. This text was developed to cover broad areas of scientific integrity and to meet the needs of today's graduate students and scientists working in the biomedical sciences.Case studies that parallel the material presented in the chapters are included to illustrate the diversity of issues that have been identified under the umbrella of scientific integrity. TABLE OF CONTENTS: Scientific Integrity MentoringScientific Record-KeepingAuthorship and Peer Review Use of Animals in Biomedical Experimentation Use of Humans in Biomedical ExperimentationConflict of InterestOwnership of Data and Intellectual PropertyGenetic Technology and Scientific Integrity ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Should be read by everyone involved in biological research
It is a very important book. Should be read by everyone involved with biological research;it would be useful to have a spanish version. ... Read more

Book Description

Heath 2/e, presents a broad overview of numerical methods for solving all the major problems in scientific computing, including linear and nonlinear equations, least squares, eigenvalues, optimization, interpolation, integration, ordinary and partial differential equations, fast Fourier transforms, and random number generators.The treatment is comprehensive yet concise, software-oriented yet compatible with a variety of software packages and programming languages.The book features more than 160 examples, 500 review questions, 240 exercises, and 200 computer problems.Changes for the second edition include:expanded motivational discussions and examples; formal statements of all major algorithms; expanded discussions of existence, uniqueness, and conditioning for each type of problem so that students can recognize "good" and "bad" problem formulations and understand the corresponding quality of results produced; and expanded coverage of several topics, particularly eigenvalues and constrained optimization.The book contains a wealth of material and can be used in a variety of one- or two-term courses in computer science, mathematics, or engineering.Its comprehensiveness and modern perspective, as well as the software pointers provided, also make it a highly useful reference for practicing professionals who need to solve computational problems. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Good Introductory Survey
This book excels at presenting a reader with little to no knowledge in computer science and a mild mathematical background (knowledge of differential equations as a prerequisite) with the fundamental concepts regarding scientific computing. The presentation of pseudo-code algorithms helps smooth the transition from analytical (pencil and paper) thinking to numerical thinking. The algorithms are presented in a manner such tha anyone with access to dozens of possible environments can apply them, though they are by no means complete, thus requiring some thought into the processes. The material covered is 110% of what an engineer will want to know, 90% of what an applied mathematician will want to know, and 45% of what a numerical analyist will want to know. In all, a great book to begin a foray into numerical computing.

A better book than the rest
For a teaching book this is better than anyother book out on the market. It skims over the material, which makes it so the students don't get bored or overwhelmed by it. I have read books that were a lot more in depth about Algorithms Analysis espically the Knuth series, but that is too much for the introductionary course to Numerical Analysis and this book offers breadth and some depth when it comes time to deal with the complicated subject matter. This book recieves three stars, just because all the other books are worse. ... Read more

Book Description

Are you thinking about doing a qualitative study, or currently in the middle of one? If so, Joseph A. Maxwell's Qualitative Research Design is the reliable guide for you. Taking a hands-on, innovative approach to qualitative design, it emphasizes the components of a design, how these interact with each other, and the environment in which the study is situated. Maxwell provides a clear strategy for creating coherent and workable relationships among these design components, highlighting the key design issues to deal with and describing the main considerations that inform your decisions about these issues. These design issues include clarifying the purpose of your study; creating a theoretical context for the research; formulating research questions; developing a relationship with the people you are studying; making decisions about sampling, data collection, and analysis; and assessing validity threats and alternative explanations to your study's conclusions. The author also explains how to make the transition from your research design to your research proposal, providing an explicit model for the structure of a qualitative proposal that is based on the design of your study. Taking an exceptional approach to research design, Qualitative Research Design provides detailed exercises for applying its information and guidelines to your study. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Maxwell provides roadmap
Having acquired a veritable library of qualitative methods books and journal articles, I still felt like I was floundering. This book gave me not only a new and more valuable way of thinking about what I was doing, but a step-by-step action guide, practical, practicable, and with a depth (both explicated and in specific references) that makes me much more confident about eventual orals. Short and extremely sweet!

Buy this book!
I and several of my compatriots found this text to be a practical island in an overwhelming and contradictory sea of theory. It's short, eminently readable, and especially useful for those struggling to write a qualitative dissertation proposal. Maxwell's liberating revision of the usual ponderous "lit review" to the actually applicable "research context" is in itself worth the purchase price. ... Read more

Book Description

"This book fills a large gap in the applied statistics literature and, at the same time, provides empirical researchers with the means to quickly determine a valuable piece of information, namely: what sample size is needed for a particular study. "If this book only presented the reader with a straightforward set of procedures for determining N for any particular research design, it would have fulfilled its mission successfully. But the book does more. . . . How Many Subjects? has much to offer the careful and interested reader." --from the Foreword by Victor H. Denenberg "How Many Subjects? provides a 'cookbook' enabling researchers to plan an analysis that gives their alternative or research hypotheses a reasonable chance of being supported . . . useful to those with limited statistical background who simply need a guide to evaluating the power of a test contained in others' research, or to selecting the proper sample size to achieve a given level of power in their own research." --Contemporary Sociology "Until now no broad framework has existed to treat power in a unified fashion across hypothesis testing techniques. . . . An excellent contribution to the literature. . . . A valuable reference book. . . . A nice addition to the statistical literature. How Many Subjects? should be at the disposal of teachers and students of statistics." --Applied Psychological Measurement "This is a simple introduction for non-statisticians to power analysis and sample size determination. Helena Chmura Kraemer and Sue Thiemann have produced an easily readable book that clearly illustrates why sample sizes need to be sufficiently large, so that the experiment has good power properties and hence low type II error rates. . . . This book is an excellent introduction to the problem and whets the appetite to find out more." --The Statistician "A success. . . . For graduate students, there is no question about the book's value. I think that all graduate students should be advised to read this book before starting significant projects such as a dissertation." --Journal of Marketing Research The authors introduce a simple technique of statistical power analysis that allows researchers to compute approximate sample sizes and power for a wide variety of research designs. Because the same technique is used with only slight modifications for different statistical tests, researchers can easily compare the sample sizes required by different designs and tests to make cost-effective decisions in planning a study. These comparisons, emphasized throughout the book, demonstrate some important principles of design, measurement, and analysis that are rarely discussed in courses or textbooks. This book therefore serves not merely as a "how-to" reference for sample size calculations but also as a guide to some general principles of cost-effective research. ... Read more

Book Description

This book will provide a comprehensive, step-by-step approach to organic process research and development in the pharmaceutical, fine
chemical, and agricultural chemical industries. Process R&D describes the steps taken, following synthesis and evaluation, to bring key
compounds to market in a cost-effective manner. More people are being hired for work in this area as increasing numbers of drug candidates are
identified through combinatorial chemistry and high-throughput screening. The book is directed to industrial (primarily organic) chemists, and
academicians (particularly those involved in a growing number of start-up companies) and students who need insight into industrial process R&D. Current books do not describe hands-on, step-by-step, approaches to solving process development problems, including route, reagent,
and solvent selection; optimising catalytic reactions; chiral syntheses; and "green chemistry." "Practical Process Research and Development" will be a valuable resource for researchers, managers, and graduate students.

* Provides insights into generating rugged, practical, cost-effective processes for the chemical preparation of "small molecules"
* Breaks down process optimization into route, reagent and solvent selection, development of reaction conditions, workup, crystallizations and more
* Includes over 100 tips for rapid process development
* Presents guidelines for implementing and troubleshooting processes ... Read more