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The basic goal of an inverse eigenvalue problem is to reconstruct the physical parameters of a certain system from the knowledge or desire of its dynamical behavior. Depending on the application, inverse eigenvalue problems appear in many different forms. This book discusses the fundamental questions, some known results, many applications, mathematical properties, a variety of numerical techniques, as well as several open problems.

This book articulates and defends a simple conception of semantic composition: when two meaningful expressions are concatenated, the result is understood as a conjunction of monadic predicates; in human languages, concatenation always signifies predicate conjunction. From this ‘Conjunctivist’ perspective, simple cases of adjunction (like ‘black cat’) are paradigms, and neo-Davidsonian event analyzes rightly associate certain grammatical relations with thematic roles. The sentence ‘Fido chased Garfield yesterday’ means, roughly, that something satisfies four conditions: its Agent was Fido, it was a chase, its Theme was Garfield, and it occurred yesterday. Such analyses, involving existential closure of a covert variable, are easily extended to examples involving negation and sentential connectives. This book contains four chapters. Chapter 1 compares elementary Conjunctivist proposals with ‘Functionist’ accounts according to which (i) predicate-argument concatenation signifies function-application, and (ii) adjuncts are accommodated by appeal to type-shifting or function-conjunction. Chapter 2 provides a Conjunctivist account of quantificational constructions, like ‘chased every cat’, in terms of a metalanguage with plural variables. This account is extended to plural noun phrases, as in ‘Three dogs chased the cats’; and this suggests a treatment of apparently nonconjunctive phrases like ‘big ants’. The resulting proposals — which explain the conservativity of determiners, and handle collective readings without quantifying over collections — are better than Functionist alternatives. Chapter 3 shows that Conjunctivism is superior to Functionism with regards to causative constructions, serial verbs, and many verbs that combine with complementizer phrases. Chapter 4 is a summary of conclusions, and discusses some difficulties facing all extant accounts of meaning.

This book covers the theory, practicalities, and the extensive applications of neutron powder diffraction in materials science, physics, chemistry, mineralogy, and engineering. Various highlight applications of neutron powder diffraction are outlined in the introduction, then the theory is developed and instrumentation described sufficient for a return to the applications. The book covers the use of neutron powder diffraction in the solution (hard) and refinement (more straightforward) of crystal and magnetic structures, applications of powder diffraction in quantitative phase analysis, extraction of microstructural information from powder diffraction patterns, and the applications of neutron diffraction in studies of elastic properties and for the measurement of residual stress. Additional theory to underpin these various applications is developed as required.

Agent-based modeling and simulation (ABMS) — a way to simulate a large number of choices by individual actors — is one of the most exciting practical developments in business and government modeling since the invention of relational databases. It represents a new way to understand data and generate information that has never been available before — a way for businesses and governments to view the future and to understand and anticipate the likely effects of their decisions on their markets, industries, and territories. It thus promises to have far-reaching effects on the way that businesses and governments in many areas use computers to support practical decision-making. This book has three purposes: first, to teach readers how to think about ABMS, that is, about agents and their interactions; second, to teach readers how to explain the features and advantages of ABMS to other people; and third, to teach readers how to actually implement ABMS by building agent-based simulations. It aims to be a complete ABMS resource and also provides a complete collection of ABMS business and government applications resources.

What in our theoretical pronouncements commits us to objects? The Quinean standard for ontological commitment involves (nearly enough) commitments when we utter “there is” or “there are” statements without hope of eliminating these by paraphrase. Coupled with the indispensability of the truth of applied mathematical doctrine, the result is that the ontologically hard-nosed scientist is a Platonist—haplessly commited to abstracta. In this book Azzouni offers a way around the Quinean straitjacket: ontological commitment turns on how theories are (nearly enough) nailed to the world. The specifics of how theories are applied indicates which among the posits of a theory are mere mathematical garb and which are genuine connections to items out there. In the first part of the book Azzouni undercuts the arguments, both actual and possible, in support of Quine’s criterion. An alternative criterion for what exists—ontological independence—is offered, one in sturdy accord with ordinary folk views on the matter. In the second part of the book, a beginning is made of bringing this alternative to bear upon scientific theories with a rich mathematical component. Along the way, old philosophical issues about absolute space and time versus relative space and time, the status of mathematical posits, such as spatial and temporal points, and so on, are illuminated.

Many scientists and engineers spend their lives designing, constructing, and running accelerators, yet few universities include a study of them in their curricula. This book is a straightforward introduction used by undergraduates and postgraduate students as well as by professional staff attending the summer schools run by the big accelerator laboratories. Research physicists should read it for important background. It covers the essentials of the subject for accelerator physicists and engineers, and is at the level of the introductory courses provided by the CERN and US Accelerator schools. Its style is to give enough information to understand the subject without an excess of mathematics or theory. The text includes exercises and answers to focus the attention of the reader on the calculations necessary to design a new machine. After a chapter on the history of the accelerators, four chapters cover the dynamics of particle beams as they are guided and focused by the magnets of a synchrotron or storage ring and as they are accelerated by rf cavities. Another two chapters cover linear and non-linear effects from imperfect fields. There are chapters on synchrotron radiation, colliders, instabilities, and on future acceleration techniques. A chapter describes the applications of the ten thousand or more accelerators in the world ranging from the linear accelerators used for cancer therapy, through those used in industry and in other fields of research, to the giant ‘atom smashers’ at international particle physics laboratories. A final chapter is to stimulate new ideas for future acceleration techniques.

The case-control method, and to a lesser extent its case-based variants, have become a most important tool in the armamentarium of today's investigator of health problems. This book addresses a number of general and specific questions dealing with the case-control and other case-based methods, including how to design and implement a case-control study that minimizes biases; how to analyze the data to deal appropriately with confounding and to help identify interactions; how to interpret data from a case-control study; and how to use the method in a variety of problem solving situations. The book provides an exposition of the uses of a study of individual cases as well as case series in epidemiology. It describes the development of the comparative method as a basis for decision making in the health professions. The first part of the book deals with issues of design of the case control and other case based methods such as the case-crossover and case-cohort studies. In this section of the book several issues of design and analysis of case-control studies are presented within a framework for developing an information base for decision making in research and in health care. The second part of the book has a focus on the applications of the method. These include the use of case-control studies in outbreak investigations as well as other acute events such as disasters, the use of the method in health care and health services evaluation, and its use in genetic epidemiology as well as other applications.