Parallel and Distributed Computing and Networks

Probabilistic modelling is the most cost-effective means of performance and reliability evaluation of complex dynamic systems. This self-contained text will be welcomed by students and teachers for its no-nonsense treatment of the basic results and examples of their application. The only mathematical background that is assumed is basic calculus. The necessary fundamentals of probability theory are included, as well as an introduction to renewal, Poisson and Markov processes. Models arising in the fields of manufacturing, computing and communications, involving single or multiple service stations and one or more customer classes, are examined in some detail. Both exact and approximate solution methods are discussed, including recent techniques such as spectral expansion. Special attention is devoted to models of systems subject to breakdowns and repairs. Throughout the book, strong emphasis is placed on explaining the ideas behind the results and helping the reader to use them, making t

Probabilistic modelling is the most cost-effective means of performance and reliability evaluation of complex dynamic systems. This self-contained text will be welcomed by students and teachers for its no-nonsense treatment of the basic results and examples of their application. The only mathematical background that is assumed is basic calculus. The necessary fundamentals of probability theory are included, as well as an introduction to renewal, Poisson and Markov processes. Models arising in the fields of manufacturing, computing and communications, involving single or multiple service stations and one or more customer classes, are examined in some detail. Both exact and approximate solution methods are discussed, including recent techniques such as spectral expansion. Special attention is devoted to models of systems subject to breakdowns and repairs. Throughout the book, strong emphasis is placed on explaining the ideas behind the results and helping the reader to use them, making t

Celebrate the 20th anniversary of the #1 New York Times bestselling Spiderwick Chronicles and get ready for the series soon to be streaming on Disney+ with the all-new deluxe, paperback collection of this fantastical series .After finding a mysterious, handmade field guide in the attic of the ramshackle old mansion they've just moved into, Jared; his twin brother, Simon; and their older sister, Mallory, discover that there's a magical and maybe dangerous world existing parallel to their own--the world of faerie.The more fantastical secrets they uncover, the more attention they draw, until the siblings are drawn into conflict with goblins, dwarves, elves, and more.This action-packed paperback collection includes:01-The Field Guide02-The Seeing Stone03-Lucinda's Secret04-The Ironwood Tree05-The Wrath of Mulgarath06-The Nixie's Song07-A Giant Problem08-The Wyrm King

A pioneer in the field of astrophysics, Johann Zöllner (1834–1882) was a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Leipzig and an associate of the Royal Astronomical Society. Zöllner was best known for his work on astronomical photometry and spectrum analysis, on which he published widely. He invented the astronomical photometer used for measuring stellar magnitudes. He was also interested in optical illusions: the 'Zöllner illusion' consists of straight parallel lines which appear to be unparallel. This book, published in German in 1878–1879 and translated into English by Charles C. Massey in London in 1880, exemplifies the shift in Zöllner's interests in later life: he became involved in the public debate surrounding the scientific veracity of spiritualism. Here Zöllner describes his observations of experiments conducted by the medium Henry Slade in his own home.

The authors of this tract present a treatment of generalised Clifford parallelism within the framework of complex projective geometry. After a brief survey of the necessary preliminary material, the principal properties of systems of mutually Clifford parallel spaces are developed, centred round discussion of an extended form of the Hurwitz - Radon matrix equations. Later chapters deal with methods for the construction and representation of such systems. Much of the work in the tract is previously unpublished. Some emphasis has been placed throughout on special cases (particularly on the exceptionally interesting parallelisms that exist in spaces of seven and fifteen dimensions). Numerous exercises give the reader a clear insight into the fresh ideas presented. The tract will be of interest to advanced undergraduates and graduates with special interests in algebraic and projective geometry or in the geometry of matrices.

This 2003 book represents an exciting intellectual meeting of researchers from diverse subfields to analyze how and why uncertainty affects American politics. It seeks to reconnect research traditions that have seldom spoken to one another. Though used by formal theorists, empiricists, and historians in a parallel fashion for a number of years, the notion of uncertainty has often been introduced only to explain away anomalies, provide backing for a larger argument, or justify a particular methodology. Uncertainty has rarely been considered in its own right or as a concept that might connect researchers from different subfields. The authors demonstrate some of the many substantive effects that uncertainty has on the bureaucracy, voters, and elected officials. They also reveal the origins and consequences of uncertainty to remind researchers across the discipline how central the idea should be to any serious study of US politics.

This 2003 book represents an exciting intellectual meeting of researchers from diverse subfields to analyze how and why uncertainty affects American politics. It seeks to reconnect research traditions that have seldom spoken to one another. Though used by formal theorists, empiricists, and historians in a parallel fashion for a number of years, the notion of uncertainty has often been introduced only to explain away anomalies, provide backing for a larger argument, or justify a particular methodology. Uncertainty has rarely been considered in its own right or as a concept that might connect researchers from different subfields. The authors demonstrate some of the many substantive effects that uncertainty has on the bureaucracy, voters, and elected officials. They also reveal the origins and consequences of uncertainty to remind researchers across the discipline how central the idea should be to any serious study of US politics.

Five middle schoolers’ quest to save the multiverse continues in this explosive follow-up to Mission Multiverse, perfect for fans of the Percy Jackson seriesThis action-packed sequel finds middle-school band geeks Dev, Isaiah, Tessa, Maeve, and Lewis trapped in a parallel version of Earth as they fight to save their families―and the entire rest of the multiverse―from the villainous Empyrean One. Far from home and running out of options, it will take everything they have to get back to Earth and preserve humanity once and for all. The startling revelation that they are their own worst enemies forces a painful decision: will they forsake the lives they once knew for an uncertain future?Perfect for fans of the Percy Jackson series, this sweeping space adventure combines dry wit with a tension-laden plot to keep readers glued to the page.

Dante's Convivio, composed in exile between 1304 and 1307, is a series of self-commentaries on three of Dante's long poems. These allegorical love poems and philosophical verse become the basis for philosophical, literary, moral, and political exposition. The prose is written in Italian so that those who were not educated in Latin could take part in what Dante called his 'banquet of knowledge'. In this edition, eminent Dante translator-scholar Andrew Frisardi offers the first fully annotated translation of the work into English, with an extensive introduction, making Dante's often complex writings accessible to scholars and students. The parallel Italian text is also included for the first time in an English translation of the Convivio. Readers of this work can gain a strong understanding of the philosophical themes across Dante's work, including the Divine Comedy, as well as the logic, politics and science of his time.

Dante's Convivio, composed in exile between 1304 and 1307, is a series of self-commentaries on three of Dante's long poems. These allegorical love poems and philosophical verse become the basis for philosophical, literary, moral, and political exposition. The prose is written in Italian so that those who were not educated in Latin could take part in what Dante called his 'banquet of knowledge'. In this edition, eminent Dante translator-scholar Andrew Frisardi offers the first fully annotated translation of the work into English, with an extensive introduction, making Dante's often complex writings accessible to scholars and students. The parallel Italian text is also included for the first time in an English translation of the Convivio. Readers of this work can gain a strong understanding of the philosophical themes across Dante's work, including the Divine Comedy, as well as the logic, politics and science of his time.

The development of geometry from Euclid to Euler to Lobachevsky, Bolyai, Gauss and Riemann is a story that is often broken into parts – axiomatic geometry, non-Euclidean geometry and differential geometry. This poses a problem for undergraduates: Which part is geometry? What is the big picture to which these parts belong? In this introduction to differential geometry, the parts are united with all of their interrelations, motivated by the history of the parallel postulate. Beginning with the ancient sources, the author first explores synthetic methods in Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry and then introduces differential geometry in its classical formulation, leading to the modern formulation on manifolds such as space-time. The presentation is enlivened by historical diversions such as Huygens's clock and the mathematics of cartography. The intertwined approaches will help undergraduates understand the role of elementary ideas in the more general, differential setting. This thorough

The development of geometry from Euclid to Euler to Lobachevsky, Bolyai, Gauss and Riemann is a story that is often broken into parts – axiomatic geometry, non-Euclidean geometry and differential geometry. This poses a problem for undergraduates: Which part is geometry? What is the big picture to which these parts belong? In this introduction to differential geometry, the parts are united with all of their interrelations, motivated by the history of the parallel postulate. Beginning with the ancient sources, the author first explores synthetic methods in Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry and then introduces differential geometry in its classical formulation, leading to the modern formulation on manifolds such as space-time. The presentation is enlivened by historical diversions such as Huygens's clock and the mathematics of cartography. The intertwined approaches will help undergraduates understand the role of elementary ideas in the more general, differential setting. This thorough

The Summa Theologiae ranks among the greatest documents of the Christian Church, and is a landmark of medieval western thought. It is regularly consulted by scholars of theology, philosophy and a range of related academic disciplines. This paperback reissue of the classic Latin/English edition first published by the English Dominicans in the 1960s and 1970s has been undertaken in response to regular requests from around the world. The original text is unchanged, except for the correction of a small number of typographical errors. The parallel English and Latin texts can be used successfully by anybody with a basic knowledge of Latin, while the presence of the Latin text allowed the translators a degree of freedom in adapting their English version for modern readers. Each volume contains a glossary of technical terms and is designed to be complete in itself to serve for private study or as a course text.

Thoroughly revised for its second edition, this advanced textbook provides an introduction to the basic methods of computational physics, and an overview of progress in several areas of scientific computing by relying on free software available from CERN. The book begins by dealing with basic computational tools and routines, covering approximating functions, differential equations, spectral analysis, and matrix operations. Important concepts are illustrated by relevant examples at each stage. The author also discusses more advanced topics, such as molecular dynamics, modeling continuous systems, Monte Carlo methods, genetic algorithm and programming, and numerical renormalization. It includes many more exercises. This can be used as a textbook for either undergraduate or first-year graduate courses on computational physics or scientific computation. It will also be a useful reference for anyone involved in computational research.

Dating back to work of Berthelot, rigid cohomology appeared as a common generalization of Monsky-Washnitzer cohomology and crystalline cohomology. It is a p-adic Weil cohomology suitable for computing Zeta and L-functions for algebraic varieties on finite fields. Moreover, it is effective, in the sense that it gives algorithms to compute the number of rational points of such varieties. This is the first book to give a complete treatment of the theory, from full discussion of all the basics to descriptions of the very latest developments. Results and proofs are included that are not available elsewhere, local computations are explained, and many worked examples are given. This accessible tract will be of interest to researchers working in arithmetic geometry, p-adic cohomology theory, and related cryptographic areas.

Thoroughly revised for its second edition, this advanced textbook provides an introduction to the basic methods of computational physics, and an overview of progress in several areas of scientific computing by relying on free software available from CERN. The book begins by dealing with basic computational tools and routines, covering approximating functions, differential equations, spectral analysis, and matrix operations. Important concepts are illustrated by relevant examples at each stage. The author also discusses more advanced topics, such as molecular dynamics, modeling continuous systems, Monte Carlo methods, genetic algorithm and programming, and numerical renormalization. It includes many more exercises. This can be used as a textbook for either undergraduate or first-year graduate courses on computational physics or scientific computation. It will also be a useful reference for anyone involved in computational research.

Governments across the globe have begun evolving from lumbering bureaucracies into smaller, more agile special jurisdictions - common-interest developments, special economic zones, and proprietary cites. Private providers increasingly deliver services that political authorities formerly monopolized, inspiring greater competition and efficiency, to the satisfaction of citizens-qua-consumers. These trends suggest that new networks of special jurisdictions will soon surpass nation states in the same way that networked computers replaced mainframes. In this groundbreaking work, Tom W. Bell describes the quiet revolution transforming governments from the bottom up, inside-out, worldwide, and how it will fulfill its potential to bring more freedom, peace, and prosperity to people everywhere.

Governments across the globe have begun evolving from lumbering bureaucracies into smaller, more agile special jurisdictions - common-interest developments, special economic zones, and proprietary cites. Private providers increasingly deliver services that political authorities formerly monopolized, inspiring greater competition and efficiency, to the satisfaction of citizens-qua-consumers. These trends suggest that new networks of special jurisdictions will soon surpass nation states in the same way that networked computers replaced mainframes. In this groundbreaking work, Tom W. Bell describes the quiet revolution transforming governments from the bottom up, inside-out, worldwide, and how it will fulfill its potential to bring more freedom, peace, and prosperity to people everywhere.

Learn the core theory and explore real-world networking issues with this richly illustrated example-based textbook. It provides an accurate view of modern networks through detailed coverage of the most relevant networking technologies, with no unnecessary extras. Carefully designed, affordable laboratory exercises based on open-source software networking tools are included for hands-on practice with real networking devices. Numerous case studies and examples further link theory to practice, whilst the topologies, tools and configurations needed to carry out practical exercises are provided to guide students through each task. Its bottom-up approach is easy for students to follow and perfect for lab-oriented courses.

With a machine learning approach and less focus on linguistic details, this gentle introduction to natural language processing develops fundamental mathematical and deep learning models for NLP under a unified framework. NLP problems are systematically organised by their machine learning nature, including classification, sequence labelling, and sequence-to-sequence problems. Topics covered include statistical machine learning and deep learning models, text classification and structured prediction models, generative and discriminative models, supervised and unsupervised learning with latent variables, neural networks, and transition-based methods. Rich connections are drawn between concepts throughout the book, equipping students with the tools needed to establish a deep understanding of NLP solutions, adapt existing models, and confidently develop innovative models of their own. Featuring a host of examples, intuition, and end of chapter exercises, plus sample code available as an onli

Balancing theoretical analysis and practical advice, this book describes all the underlying principles required to build high performance indoor optical wireless communication (OWC) systems based on visible and infrared light, alongside essential techniques for optimising systems by maximising throughput, reducing hardware complexity and measuring performance effectively. It provides a comprehensive analysis of information rate-, spectral- and power-efficiencies for single and multi-carrier transmission schemes, and a novel analysis of non-linear signal distortion, enabling the use of off-the-shelf LED technology. Other topics covered include cellular network throughput and coverage, static resource partitioning and dynamic interference-aware scheduling, realistic light propagation modelling, OFDM, optical MIMO transmission and nonlinearity modelling. Covering practical techniques for building indoor optical wireless cellular networks supporting multiple users and guidelines for 5G cel

Wireless sensor networks promise an unprecedented fine-grained interface between the virtual and physical worlds. They are one of the most rapidly developing information technologies, with applications in a wide range of fields including industrial process control, security and surveillance, environmental sensing, and structural health monitoring. Originally published in 2005, this book provides a detailed and organized survey of the field. It shows how the core challenges of energy efficiency, robustness, and autonomy are addressed in these systems by networking techniques across multiple layers. The topics covered include network deployment, localization, time synchronization, wireless radio characteristics, medium-access, topology control, routing, data-centric techniques, and transport protocols. Ideal for researchers and designers seeking to create algorithms and protocols and engineers implementing integrated solutions, it also contains many exercises and can be used by graduate

Wireless sensor networks promise an unprecedented fine-grained interface between the virtual and physical worlds. They are one of the most rapidly developing information technologies, with applications in a wide range of fields including industrial process control, security and surveillance, environmental sensing, and structural health monitoring. Originally published in 2005, this book provides a detailed and organized survey of the field. It shows how the core challenges of energy efficiency, robustness, and autonomy are addressed in these systems by networking techniques across multiple layers. The topics covered include network deployment, localization, time synchronization, wireless radio characteristics, medium-access, topology control, routing, data-centric techniques, and transport protocols. Ideal for researchers and designers seeking to create algorithms and protocols and engineers implementing integrated solutions, it also contains many exercises and can be used by graduate

Will brain scientists ever be able to read our minds? Why are some things harder to remember than others? Based on recent brain research and neural network modelling, The Brain-Shaped Mind addresses these, and other, questions, and provides a clear account of how the structure of the brain influences the workings of the mind. Neuroscientists are now learning about our minds by examining how the neurones in the brain are connected with one another and the surrounding environment. This book explores how neural networks enable us to recognise objects and learn new things, and what happens when things go wrong. The reader is taken on a fascinating journey into what is arguably one of the most complicated and remarkable aspects of our lives.

Will brain scientists ever be able to read our minds? Why are some things harder to remember than others? Based on recent brain research and neural network modelling, The Brain-Shaped Mind addresses these, and other, questions, and provides a clear account of how the structure of the brain influences the workings of the mind. Neuroscientists are now learning about our minds by examining how the neurones in the brain are connected with one another and the surrounding environment. This book explores how neural networks enable us to recognise objects and learn new things, and what happens when things go wrong. The reader is taken on a fascinating journey into what is arguably one of the most complicated and remarkable aspects of our lives.

This is a textbook on graph theory, especially suitable for computer scientists but also suitable for mathematicians with an interest in computational complexity. Although it introduces most of the classical concepts of pure and applied graph theory (spanning trees, connectivity, genus, colourability, flows in networks, matchings and traversals) and covers many of the major classical theorems, the emphasis is on algorithms and thier complexity: which graph problems have known efficient solutions and which are intractable. For the intractable problems a number of efficient approximation algorithms are included with known performance bounds. Informal use is made of a PASCAL-like programming language to describe the algorithms. A number of exercises and outlines of solutions are included to extend and motivate the material of the text.

A new one-of-a-kind look into the artistic journey and cultural legacy of the one-and-only Taylor Swift – the perfect 2024 Swiftie Christmas giftYou know the songs by heart. You’ve traded the friendship bracelets. You’ve worn the cowboy boots and the bejewelled bodysuits.Now, get the inside track on this generation’s biggest super star – Taylor Swift.An intimate look at the life and music of modern pop's most legendary figure, Taylor Swift, from leading music journalist Rob Sheffield.A cultural phenomenon. A worldwide obsession. An agent of emotional chaos. There's no parallel to Taylor Swift in history: a teenage girl who turns into the world's favorite pop star, songwriter, storyteller, guitar hero, live performer, changing how music is made and heard. An all-time great on the level of The Beatles, Prince, or David Bowie.Heartbreak Is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music is the first book that goes deep on the musical and cultural impact of Taylor Swift. Nobody

---with an introduction by Sally Rooney‘It was incredible how fear and danger never produced ignoble words but always true ones, words that were torn from your very heart.’Anna, a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl in a small town in northern Italy, finds herself pregnant after a brief romance. To save her reputation, she marries an eccentric older family friend, Cenzo Rena, and they move to his village in the south. Their relationship is touched by tragedy and grace as the events of their life in the countryside run parallel to the war and the encroaching threat of fascism – and in their wake, a society dealing with anxiety and grief.At the heart of the novel is a concern with experiences that both deepen and deaden existence: adultery and air raids, neighbourhood quarrels and bombings. With her signature clear-eyed wit, Ginzburg asks how we can act with integrity when faced with catastrophe, and how we can love well.‘It was as if her writing was a very important secret that I had been waiti

From Jim Holt, the New York Times bestselling author of Why Does the World Exist?, comes an entertaining and accessible guide to the most profound scientific and mathematical ideas of recent centuries in When Einstein Walked with Gödel: Excursions to the Edge of Thought.Does time exist? What is infinity? Why do mirrors reverse left and right but not up and down? In this scintillating collection, Holt explores the human mind, the cosmos, and the thinkers who’ve tried to encompass the latter with the former. With his trademark clarity and humor, Holt probes the mysteries of quantum mechanics, the quest for the foundations of mathematics, and the nature of logic and truth. Along the way, he offers intimate biographical sketches of celebrated and neglected thinkers, from the physicist Emmy Noether to the computing pioneer Alan Turing and the discoverer of fractals, Benoit Mandelbrot. Holt offers a painless and playful introduction to many of our most beautiful but least understood ideas, f

This short book sets out the principles of the methods commonly employed in obtaining numerical solutions to mathematical equations and shows how they are applied in solving particular types of equations. Now that computing facilities are available to most universities, scientific and engineering laboratories and design shops, an introduction to numerical method is an essential part of the training of scientists and engineers. A course on the lines of Professor Wilkes's book is given to graduate or undergraduate students of mathematics, the physical sciences and engineering at many universities and the number will increase. By concentrating on the essentials of his subject and giving it a modern slant, Professor Wilkes has written a book that is both concise and that covers the needs of a great many users of digital computers; it will serve also as a sound introduction for those who need to consult more detailed works.

Drawing on a wide and rich array of sources, this book explores the nature and extent of Dutch trade and commerce in the Río de la Plata during three decades of the least-studied century (1650–1750) of Spain's rule in the Americas. In doing so, it raises important questions about trade in colonial South America and how it was impacted by the Dutch, suggesting that these transactions were carried out within the confines of the law, contradicting common beliefs among scholars that this trading was not regulated. The book contributes to a growing literature on contraband trade, administration, networks, and corruption while challenging narratives of exclusively Spanish influence on the Americas.

The second edition of a rigorous and example-driven introduction to topics in economic dynamics that emphasizes techniques for modeling dynamic systems.This text provides an introduction to the modern theory of economic dynamics, with emphasis on mathematical and computational techniques for modeling dynamic systems. Written to be both rigorous and engaging, the book shows how sound understanding of the underlying theory leads to effective algorithms for solving real-world problems. The material makes extensive use of programming examples to illustrate ideas, bringing to life the abstract concepts in the text. Key topics include algorithms and scientific computing, simulation, Markov models, and dynamic programming. Part I introduces fundamentals and part II covers more advanced material. This second edition has been thoroughly updated, drawing on recent research in the field.New for the second edition:“Programming-language agnostic” presentation using pseudocode.New chapter 1 covering

Since the original publication of this book, available computer power has increased greatly. Today, scientific computing is playing an ever more prominent role as a tool in scientific discovery and engineering analysis. In this second edition, the key addition is an introduction to the finite element method. This is a widely used technique for solving partial differential equations (PDEs) in complex domains. This text introduces numerical methods and shows how to develop, analyse, and use them. Complete MATLAB programs for all the worked examples are now available at www.cambridge.org/Moin, and more than 30 exercises have been added. This thorough and practical book is intended as a first course in numerical analysis, primarily for new graduate students in engineering and physical science. Along with mastering the fundamentals of numerical methods, students will learn to write their own computer programs using standard numerical methods.

Since the original publication of this book, available computer power has increased greatly. Today, scientific computing is playing an ever more prominent role as a tool in scientific discovery and engineering analysis. In this second edition, the key addition is an introduction to the finite element method. This is a widely used technique for solving partial differential equations (PDEs) in complex domains. This text introduces numerical methods and shows how to develop, analyse, and use them. Complete MATLAB programs for all the worked examples are now available at www.cambridge.org/Moin, and more than 30 exercises have been added. This thorough and practical book is intended as a first course in numerical analysis, primarily for new graduate students in engineering and physical science. Along with mastering the fundamentals of numerical methods, students will learn to write their own computer programs using standard numerical methods.

Since its emergence in the early twentieth century, quantum theory has become the fundamental physical paradigm, and is essential to our understanding of the world. Providing a deeper understanding of the microscopic world through quantum theory, this supplementary text reviews a wider range of topics than conventional textbooks. Emphasis is given to modern entanglement, quantum teleportation, and Bose-Einstein condensation. Macroscopic quantum effects of practical relevance, for example superconductivity and the quantum Hall effect, are also described. Looking to the future, the author discusses the exciting prospects for quantum computing. Physical, rather than formal, explanations are given, and mathematical formalism is kept to a minimum so readers can understand the concepts more easily. Theoretical discussions are combined with a description of the corresponding experimental results. This book is ideal for undergraduate and graduate students in quantum theory and quantum optics.

This textbook is an introduction to the design and writing of computer programs. It leads the reader through all the stages of program construction from the original specifications through to the final program. The formal verification of intermediate versions of the program is studied in considerable detail. The authors show how, given the formal specification of a program, data structure and program structure diagrams are drawn and then converted into a procedural program in a program design language (PDL). They demonstrate the conversion of PDL into a variety of real programming languages including Pascal, FORTRAN, COBOL, and Assembler. The book also includes chapters on abstract data types, analysing existing programs, and a small case study. First-year undergraduates in computer science and graduates taking courses in computing will find this a comprehensive introduction to program construction.

The third volume in The Cambridge Urban History of Britain examines the process of urbanisation and suburbanisation from the early Victorian period to the twentieth century. Twenty-eight leading scholars provide a coherent, systematic, historical investigation of the rise of cities and towns in England, Scotland and Wales, examining not only the evolving networks and types of towns, but their economic, demographic, social, political, cultural and physical development. The contributors discuss pollution and disease, the resolution of social conflict, the relationships between towns and the surrounding countryside, new opportunities for leisure and consumption, the development of local civic institutions and identities, and the evolution of municipal and state responsibilities. This comprehensive volume gives unique insights into the development of the urban landscape. Its detailed overview and analyses of the problems and opportunities which arise shed historical light on many of the is

The third volume in The Cambridge Urban History of Britain examines the process of urbanisation and suburbanisation from the early Victorian period to the twentieth century. Twenty-eight leading scholars provide a coherent, systematic, historical investigation of the rise of cities and towns in England, Scotland and Wales, examining not only the evolving networks and types of towns, but their economic, demographic, social, political, cultural and physical development. The contributors discuss pollution and disease, the resolution of social conflict, the relationships between towns and the surrounding countryside, new opportunities for leisure and consumption, the development of local civic institutions and identities, and the evolution of municipal and state responsibilities. This comprehensive volume gives unique insights into the development of the urban landscape. Its detailed overview and analyses of the problems and opportunities which arise shed historical light on many of the is

Mem-elements for Neuromorphic Circuits with Artificial Intelligence Applications illustrates recent advances in the field of mem-elements (memristor, memcapacitor, meminductor) and their applications in nonlinear dynamical systems, computer science, analog and digital systems, and in neuromorphic circuits and artificial intelligence. The book is mainly devoted to recent results, critical aspects and perspectives of ongoing research on relevant topics, all involving networks of mem-elements devices in diverse applications. Sections contribute to the discussion of memristive materials and transport mechanisms, presenting various types of physical structures that can be fabricated to realize mem-elements in integrated circuits and device modeling.As the last decade has seen an increasing interest in recent advances in mem-elements and their applications in neuromorphic circuits and artificial intelligence, this book will attract researchers in various fields.

Djupe and Gilbert investigate the political influence of church and how membership in organized religious bodies shapes the political life of members. Djupe and Gilbert's goal in this inquiry is to re-center scholarly attention on the voluntary association as an essential element of American civic and political life. They develop a theoretical framework that captures the multifaceted elements of church life that affect individual political attitudes and actions. Political information from clergy, small groups, and social networks flows plentifully in churches, but individuals process that information differently depending on their motivations related to their status in the church. Articulating a more fully specified model of how associations expose individuals to political information and norms will help us understand the political opinions and behavior of citizens and the contribution of that pattern to sustaining democracy.