Introduction to Computing

Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs) are the state-of-the-art detector in many fields of observational science. Updated to include all of the latest developments in CCDs, this second edition of the Handbook of CCD Astronomy is a concise and accessible reference on all practical aspects of using CCDs. Starting with their electronic workings, it discusses their basic characteristics and then gives methods and examples of how to determine these values. While the book focuses on the use of CCDs in professional observational astronomy, advanced amateur astronomers, and researchers in physics, chemistry, medical imaging, and remote sensing will also find it very valuable. Tables of useful and hard-to-find data, key practical equations, and new exercises round off the book and ensure that it provides an ideal introduction to the practical use of CCDs for graduate students, and a handy reference for more experienced users.

How do bilinguals experience emotions? Do they perceive and express emotions similarly or differently in their respective languages? Does the first language remain forever the language of the heart? What role do emotions play in second language learning and in language attrition? Why do some writers prefer to write in their second language? In this provocative book, Pavlenko challenges the monolingual bias of modern linguistics and psychology and uses the lens of bi- and multilingualism to offer a fresh perspective on the relationship between language and emotions. Bringing together insights from the fields of linguistics, neurolinguistics, psychology, anthropology, psychoanalysis and literary theory, Pavlenko offers a comprehensive introduction to this cross-disciplinary movement. This is a highly readable and thought-provoking book that draws on empirical data and first hand accounts and offers invaluable advice for novice researchers. It will appeal to scholars and researchers acros

Understanding Minimalism, first published in 2005, is an introduction to the Minimalist Program - the model of syntactic theory within generative linguistics. Accessibly written, it presents the basic principles and techniques of the minimalist program, looking firstly at analyses within Government and Binding Theory (the Minimalist Program's predecessor), and gradually introducing minimalist alternatives. Minimalist models of grammar are presented in a step-by-step fashion, and the ways in which they contrast with GB analyses are clearly explained. Spanning a decade of minimalist thinking, this textbook will enable students to develop a feel for the sorts of questions and problems that minimalism invites, and to master the techniques of minimalist analysis. Over 100 exercises are provided, encouraging them to put these skills into practice. Understanding Minimalism will be an invaluable text for intermediate and advanced students of syntactic theory, and will set a solid foundation fo

An important problem in computational biology is identifying short DNA sequences (mathematically, 'words') associated to a biological function. One approach consists in determining whether a particular word is simply random or is of statistical significance, for example, because of its frequency or location. This book introduces the mathematical and statistical ideas used in solving this so-called exceptional word problem. It begins with a detailed description of the principal models used in sequence analysis: Markovian models are central here and capture compositional information on the sequence being analysed. There follows an introduction to several statistical methods that are used for finding exceptional words with respect to the model used. The second half of the book is illustrated with numerous examples provided from the analysis of bacterial genomes, making this a practical guide for users facing a real situation and needing to make an adequate procedure choice.

This book is an introduction to recent progress in the development and application of glass with special photonics properties. Glass has a number of structural and practical advantages over crystalline materials, including excellent homogeneity, variety of form and size, and the potential for doping with a variety of dopant materials. Glasses with photonic properties have great potential and are expected to play a significant role in the next generation of multimedia systems. Fundamentals of glass materials are explained in the first chapter, and the book then proceeds to a discussion of gradient index glass, laser glasses, nonlinear optical glasses and magneto-optical glasses. Beginning with the basic theory, the book discusses actual problems, performance and applications of glasses. The book will be of value to graduate students, researchers and professional engineers working in materials science, chemistry and physics with an interest in photonics and glass with special properties.

This 2001 text was the first to emphasize the role of oculomotor systems in perception. Oculomotor systems that regulate eye movements play an important role in accounting for certain qualities of visual experience. They are implicated in a wide array of perceptual topics, from apparent size, depth, and distance, to apparent slant and vertical orientation. The text begins with a brief introduction to the basic characteristics of such oculomotor systems as those controlling vergence, pursuit, the vestibulo-ocular response, and saccadic eye movements. Also introduced are fundamental concepts in physiological optics. Next explored are mechanisms of perception, with a particular focus on eye movements, and the remarkably diverse implications of oculomotor research, which extend to motion sickness and life in space orbit. Insights into dysfunctional vision are also offered. This book complements standard texts on visual perception, yet may be read independently by those with a modest backgr

Radiation from astronomical objects generally shows some degree of polarization. Although this polarized radiation is usually only a small fraction of the total radiation, it often carries a wealth of information on the physical state and geometry of the emitting object and intervening material. Measurement of this polarized radiation is central to much modern astrophysical research. This handy volume provides a clear, comprehensive and concise introduction to astronomical polarimetry at all wavelengths. Starting from first principles and a simple physical picture of polarized radiation, the reader is introduced to all the key topics, including Stokes parameters, applications of polarimetry in astronomy, polarization algebra, polarization errors and calibration methods, and a selection of instruments (from radio to X-ray). The book is rounded off with a number of useful case studies, a collection of exercises, an extensive list of further reading and an informative index. This review o

Preconditioning techniques have emerged as an essential part of successful and efficient iterative solutions of matrices. Ke Chen's book offers a comprehensive introduction to these methods. A vast range of explicit and implicit sparse preconditioners are covered, including the conjugate gradient, multi-level and fast multi-pole methods, matrix and operator splitting, fast Fourier and wavelet transforms, incomplete LU and domain decomposition, Schur complements and approximate inverses. In addition, aspects of parallel realization using the MPI are discussed. Very much a users-guide, the book provides insight to the use of these techniques in areas such as acoustic wave scattering, image restoration and bifurcation problems in electrical power stations. Supporting MATLAB files are available from the Web to support and develop readers' understanding, and provide stimulus for further study. Pitched at graduate level, the book is intended to serve as a useful guide and reference for stude

The main objective of this 2002 book is to show that behind the bewildering diversity of historical speculative episodes it is possible to find hidden regularities, thus preparing the way for a unified theory of market speculation. Speculative bubbles require the study of various episodes in order for a comparative perspective to be obtained and the analysis developed in this book follows a few simple but unconventional ideas. Investors are assumed to exhibit the same basic behavior during speculative episodes whether they trade stocks, real estate, or postage stamps. The author demonstrates how some of the basic concepts of dynamical system theory, such as the notions of impulse response, reaction times and frequency analysis, play an instrumental role in describing and predicting speculative behavior. This book will serve as a useful introduction for students of econophysics, and readers with a general interest in economics as seen from the perspective of physics.

While the Syriac version of the Old Testament, known as the Peshitta, was translated from a Hebrew text, it was, surprisingly, preserved by the eastern churches alone. In his book, M. W. Weitzman argues that the translation was put together in around 200 CE by a small Jewish community estranged from the Rabbinic majority. This community eventually embraced Christianity and brought the Peshitta with them. This remarkable theory is the prelude to a comprehensive analysis of the Peshitta itself, which covers all the books in the Bible, surveys the existing scholarship and explores the relationship between the translation and the original Hebrew text. Apart from the philological detail, the book also examines the translation's historical links with Judaism and early Christianity. As a wide-ranging introduction to the subject, the book will appeal to philologists and historical linguists, as well as to biblical studies scholars and theologians.

This work brings together Philip van der Eijk's previously published essays on the close connections that existed between medicine and philosophy throughout antiquity. Medical authors such as the Hippocratic writers, Diocles, Galen, Soranus and Caelius Aurelianus elaborated on philosophical methods such as causal explanation, definition and division and applied key concepts such as the notion of nature to their understanding of the human body. Similarly, philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle were highly valued for their contributions to medicine. This interaction was particularly striking in the study of the human soul in its relation to the body, as illustrated by approaches to specific topics such as intellect, sleep and dreams, and diet and drugs. With a detailed introduction surveying the subject as a whole and an essay on Aristotle's treatment of sleep, this wide-ranging and accessible collection is essential reading for the student of ancient philosophy and science.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to high transverse momentum reactions at hadron (proton-proton or proton-antiproton) colliders. It begins by introducing the Standard Model of high energy physics and describes the specialized detectors used. It then gives a general treatment of the reactions to be studied and summarizes the state of hadron collider physics, defined by Tevatron results. The experimental program at the detectors being built for the Large Hadron Collider at CERN is described, with details of the search program and the general strategy to find the postulated Higgs particle. Speculations of physics beyond the Standard Model are also discussed. This book is suitable for graduate students and researchers in high energy physics. It incorporates a shareware program that enables the reader to reproduce many of the examples and exercises given in the text, and go beyond the scope of text into open-ended study.

The text is a self-contained, comprehensive introduction to the theory of hydrodynamic lattice gases. Lattice-gas cellular automata are discrete models of fluids. Identical particles hop from site to site on a regular lattice, obeying simple conservative scattering rules when they collide. Remarkably, at a scale larger than the lattice spacing, these discrete models simulate the Navier-Stokes equations of fluid mechanics. This book addresses three important aspects of lattice gases. First, it shows how such simple idealised microscopic dynamics give rise to isotropic macroscopic hydrodynamics. Second, it details how the simplicity of the lattice gas provides for equally simple models of fluid phase separation, hydrodynamic interfaces, and multiphase flow. Lastly, it illustrates how lattice-gas models and related lattice-Boltzmann methods have been used to solve problems in applications as diverse as flow through porous media, phase separation, and interface dynamics. Many exercises and

This is a revised edition of McEliece's classic, published with students in mind. It is a self-contained introduction to all basic results in the theory of information and coding. This theory was developed to deal with the fundamental problem of communication, that of reproducing at one point, either exactly or approximately, a message selected at another point. There is a short and elementary overview introducing the reader to the concept of coding. Then, following the main results, the channel and source coding theorems, there is a study of specific coding schemes which can be used for channel and source coding. This volume can be used either for self-study, or for a graduate/undergraduate level course at university. It includes dozens of worked examples and several hundred problems for solution. The exposition will be easily comprehensible to readers with some prior knowledge of probability and linear algebra.

Norbert Elias has been described as a great sociologist and over recent years there has been a steady upsurge of interest in his work. Yet despite the fact that he was active for nearly sixty years from the 1920s to the 1960s it was only in the 1980s that English translations of his works became widely available and the importance of his contribution to the sociological endeavour was fully recognised in the English speaking world. This book provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the key aspects of Elias's work and then applies an Eliasian approach to key topics in contemporary sociology such as race, class, gender, religion, epistemology and nationalism. The editors have brought together a distinguished group of international sociologists and this book will not only change the course of Elias studies but be a valuable resource for both students and scholars alike.

Norbert Elias has been described as a great sociologist and over recent years there has been a steady upsurge of interest in his work. Yet despite the fact that he was active for nearly sixty years from the 1920s to the 1960s it was only in the 1980s that English translations of his works became widely available and the importance of his contribution to the sociological endeavour was fully recognised in the English speaking world. This book provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the key aspects of Elias's work and then applies an Eliasian approach to key topics in contemporary sociology such as race, class, gender, religion, epistemology and nationalism. The editors have brought together a distinguished group of international sociologists and this book will not only change the course of Elias studies but be a valuable resource for both students and scholars alike.

Language policy is an issue of critical importance in the world today. In this introduction, Bernard Spolsky explores many debates at the forefront of language policy: ideas of correctness and bad language; bilingualism and multilingualism; language death and efforts to preserve endangered languages; language choice as a human and civil right; and language education policy. Through looking at the language practices, beliefs and management of social groups from families to supra-national organizations, he develops a theory of modern national language policy and the major forces controlling it, such as the demands for efficient communication, the pressure for national identity, the attractions of (and resistance to) English as a global language, and the growing concern for human and civil rights as they impinge on language. Two central questions asked in this wide-ranging survey are of how to recognize language policies, and whether or not language can be managed at all.

This 2003 book describes a striking connection between topology and algebra, namely that 2D topological quantum field theories are equivalent to commutative Frobenius algebras. The precise formulation of the theorem and its proof is given in terms of monoidal categories, and the main purpose of the book is to develop these concepts from an elementary level, and more generally serve as an introduction to categorical viewpoints in mathematics. Rather than just proving the theorem, it is shown how the result fits into a more general pattern concerning universal monoidal categories for algebraic structures. Throughout, the emphasis is on the interplay between algebra and topology, with graphical interpretation of algebraic operations, and topological structures described algebraically in terms of generators and relations. The book will prove valuable to students or researchers entering this field who will learn a host of modern techniques that will prove useful for future work.

This 2003 book describes a striking connection between topology and algebra, namely that 2D topological quantum field theories are equivalent to commutative Frobenius algebras. The precise formulation of the theorem and its proof is given in terms of monoidal categories, and the main purpose of the book is to develop these concepts from an elementary level, and more generally serve as an introduction to categorical viewpoints in mathematics. Rather than just proving the theorem, it is shown how the result fits into a more general pattern concerning universal monoidal categories for algebraic structures. Throughout, the emphasis is on the interplay between algebra and topology, with graphical interpretation of algebraic operations, and topological structures described algebraically in terms of generators and relations. The book will prove valuable to students or researchers entering this field who will learn a host of modern techniques that will prove useful for future work.

What determines where a species lives? And what determines its abundance? This book takes a fresh approach to some of the classic questions in ecology. Despite great progress in the twentieth century much more remains to be done before we can provide full answers to these questions. The methods described and deployed in this book point the way forward. The core message of the book is that the key insights come from understanding what determines population growth rate, and that application of this approach will make ecology a more predictive science. Topics covered include population regulation, density-dependence, the ecological niche, resource and interference competition, habitat fragmentation and the ecological effects of environmental stress, together with applications to conservation biology, wildlife management, human demography and ecotoxicology. After a substantial introduction by the editors the book brings together contributions from leading scientists from Australia, New Zea

What determines where a species lives? And what determines its abundance? This book takes a fresh approach to some of the classic questions in ecology. Despite great progress in the twentieth century much more remains to be done before we can provide full answers to these questions. The methods described and deployed in this book point the way forward. The core message of the book is that the key insights come from understanding what determines population growth rate, and that application of this approach will make ecology a more predictive science. Topics covered include population regulation, density-dependence, the ecological niche, resource and interference competition, habitat fragmentation and the ecological effects of environmental stress, together with applications to conservation biology, wildlife management, human demography and ecotoxicology. After a substantial introduction by the editors the book brings together contributions from leading scientists from Australia, New Zea

D-branes represent a key theoretical tool in the understanding of strongly coupled superstring theory and M-theory. They have led to many striking discoveries, including the precise microphysics underlying the thermodynamic behaviour of certain black holes, and remarkable holographic dualities between large-N gauge theories and gravity. This book provides a self-contained introduction to the technology of D-branes, presenting the recent developments and ideas in a pedagogical manner. It is suitable for use as a textbook in graduate courses on modern string theory and theoretical particle physics, and will also be an indispensable reference for seasoned practitioners. The introductory material is developed by first starting with the main features of string theory needed to get rapidly to grips with D-branes, uncovering further aspects while actually working with D-branes. Many advanced applications are covered, with discussions of open problems which could form the basis for other avenu

This book rejects conventional accounts of how American political parties differ from those in other democracies. It focuses on the introduction of the direct primary and argues that primaries resulted from a process of party institutionalization initiated by party elites. It overturns the widely accepted view that, between 1902 and 1915, direct primaries were imposed on the parties by anti-party reformers intent on weakening them. An examination of particular northern states shows that often the direct primary was not controversial, and only occasionally did it involve confrontation between party 'regulars' and their opponents. Rather, the impetus for direct nominations came from attempts within the parties to subject informal procedures to formal rules. However, it proved impossible to reform the older caucus-convention system effectively, and party elites then turned to the direct primary - a device that already had become more common in rural counties in the late nineteenth century

Developing the Horizons of the Mind is a comprehensive book on Relational and Contextual Reasoning (RCR), a theory of the human mind which powerfully addresses key areas of human conflict such as the ideological conflict between nations, the conflict in close relationships and the conflict between science and religion. K. Helmut Reich provides a clear and accessible introduction to the fresh RCR way of thinking that encourages people to adopt an inclusive rather than an oppositional approach to conflict and problem-solving. Part one outlines the key aspects of RCR theory and supporting empirical data and part two provides examples of its application in the world. RCR provides a stimulating and challenging tool to several disciplines, including philosophy, psychology, religious studies and education, and this book will be a valuable resource for cognitive scientists, psychotherapists, theologians, educators and all those involved in conflict resolution.

This book offers an ideal first reader in ancient Greek. It presents a selection of extracts from a comprehensive range of Greek authors, from Homer to Plutarch, together with generous help with vocabulary and grammar. The passages have been chosen for their intrinsic interest and variety, and brief introductions set them in context. All but the commonest Greek words are glossed as they occur and a general vocabulary is included at the back. Although the book is designed to be used by students who have only completed a beginner's course in Greek, students of all ages will find that it helps them to improve their ability and confidence in reading a wide range of prose and verse texts, while at the same time providing a fascinating and copiously illustrated introduction to the riches and variety of ancient Greek literature over a period of almost a thousand years.

The First New Science gives a clear account of Vico's mature philosophy: the belief that certain functions which are necessary for the maintenance of human society and culture, including philosophy, also condition them historically. This challenges the traditional view that philosophy can lay claim to an historically independent viewpoint, thus bringing into question the legitimacy of the claims of universal prescriptive political theories as against the de facto political beliefs of particular historical societies. This is the first of Vico's later major books in which he wrote in Italian in order not merely to expound but to demonstrate in practice, his conception of the philosophical importance of etymology. This 2002 Cambridge Texts edition is the first complete English translation of the 1725 text. Accompanied by a glossary, bibliography, chronology of Vico's life and expository introduction, it makes this important work accessible to students for the first time.

The First New Science gives a clear account of Vico's mature philosophy: the belief that certain functions which are necessary for the maintenance of human society and culture, including philosophy, also condition them historically. This challenges the traditional view that philosophy can lay claim to an historically independent viewpoint, thus bringing into question the legitimacy of the claims of universal prescriptive political theories as against the de facto political beliefs of particular historical societies. This is the first of Vico's later major books in which he wrote in Italian in order not merely to expound but to demonstrate in practice, his conception of the philosophical importance of etymology. This 2002 Cambridge Texts edition is the first complete English translation of the 1725 text. Accompanied by a glossary, bibliography, chronology of Vico's life and expository introduction, it makes this important work accessible to students for the first time.

The main objective of this 2002 book is to show that behind the bewildering diversity of historical speculative episodes it is possible to find hidden regularities, thus preparing the way for a unified theory of market speculation. Speculative bubbles require the study of various episodes in order for a comparative perspective to be obtained and the analysis developed in this book follows a few simple but unconventional ideas. Investors are assumed to exhibit the same basic behavior during speculative episodes whether they trade stocks, real estate, or postage stamps. The author demonstrates how some of the basic concepts of dynamical system theory, such as the notions of impulse response, reaction times and frequency analysis, play an instrumental role in describing and predicting speculative behavior. This book will serve as a useful introduction for students of econophysics, and readers with a general interest in economics as seen from the perspective of physics.

This is a revised edition of McEliece's classic. It is a self-contained introduction to all basic results in the theory of information and coding (invented by Claude Shannon in 1948). This theory was developed to deal with the fundamental problem of communication, that of reproducing at one point, either exactly or approximately, a message selected at another point. There is a short and elementary overview introducing the reader to the concept of coding. Then, following the main results, the channel and source coding theorems, there is a study of specific coding schemes which can be used for channel and source coding. This volume can be used either for self-study, or for a graduate/undergraduate level course at university. It includes dozens of worked examples and several hundred problems for solution. The exposition will be easily comprehensible to readers with some prior knowledge of probability and linear algebra.

This book provides a modern introduction to the representation theory of finite groups. Now in its second edition, the authors have revised the text and added much new material. The theory is developed in terms of modules, since this is appropriate for more advanced work, but considerable emphasis is placed upon constructing characters. Included here are the character tables of all groups of order less than 32, and all simple groups of order less than 1000. Applications covered include Burnside's paqb theorem, the use of character theory in studying subgroup structure and permutation groups, and how to use representation theory to investigate molecular vibration. Each chapter features a variety of exercises, with full solutions provided at the end of the book. This will be ideal as a course text in representation theory, and in view of the applications, will be of interest to chemists and physicists as well as mathematicians.

This book provides a modern introduction to the representation theory of finite groups. Now in its second edition, the authors have revised the text and added much new material. The theory is developed in terms of modules, since this is appropriate for more advanced work, but considerable emphasis is placed upon constructing characters. Included here are the character tables of all groups of order less than 32, and all simple groups of order less than 1000. Applications covered include Burnside's paqb theorem, the use of character theory in studying subgroup structure and permutation groups, and how to use representation theory to investigate molecular vibration. Each chapter features a variety of exercises, with full solutions provided at the end of the book. This will be ideal as a course text in representation theory, and in view of the applications, will be of interest to chemists and physicists as well as mathematicians.

This 2001 text was the first to emphasize the role of oculomotor systems in perception. Oculomotor systems that regulate eye movements play an important role in accounting for certain qualities of visual experience. They are implicated in a wide array of perceptual topics, from apparent size, depth, and distance, to apparent slant and vertical orientation. The text begins with a brief introduction to the basic characteristics of such oculomotor systems as those controlling vergence, pursuit, the vestibulo-ocular response, and saccadic eye movements. Also introduced are fundamental concepts in physiological optics. Next explored are mechanisms of perception, with a particular focus on eye movements, and the remarkably diverse implications of oculomotor research, which extend to motion sickness and life in space orbit. Insights into dysfunctional vision are also offered. This book complements standard texts on visual perception, yet may be read independently by those with a modest backgr

Graduate students and researchers in astrophysics and cosmology need a solid understanding of a wide range of physical processes. This clear and authoritative book has been designed to help them to develop the necessary toolkit of theory. The book is modular in design, allowing the reader to pick and choose a selection of chapters, if necessary. It can be used alone, or in conjunction with the accompanying two volumes (covering stars and stellar systems, and galaxies and cosmology, respectively). After reviewing the basics of dynamics, electromagnetic theory, and statistical physics, the book carefully develops a solid understanding of radiative processes, spectra, fluid mechanics, plasma physics and MHD, dynamics of gravitating systems, general relativity, nuclear physics, and other key concepts. Throughout, the reader's understanding is developed and tested with problems and helpful hints. This welcome volume provides graduate students with an indispensable introduction to and refere

This introduction to the basic ideas of structural proof theory contains a thorough discussion and comparison of various types of formalization of first-order logic. Examples are given of several areas of application, namely: the metamathematics of pure first-order logic (intuitionistic as well as classical); the theory of logic programming; category theory; modal logic; linear logic; first-order arithmetic and second-order logic. In each case the aim is to illustrate the methods in relatively simple situations and then apply them elsewhere in much more complex settings. There are numerous exercises throughout the text. In general, the only prerequisite is a standard course in first-order logic, making the book ideal for graduate students and beginning researchers in mathematical logic, theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. For the new edition, many sections have been rewritten to improve clarity, new sections have been added on cut elimination, and solutions to sel

Now in paperback, this text provides a self-contained introduction to applications of loop representations and knot theory in particle physics and quantum gravity. Loop representations (and the related topic of knot theory) are of considerable current interest because they provide a unified arena for the study of the gauge invariant quantization of Yang-Mills theories and gravity, and suggest a promising approach to the eventual unification of the four fundamental forces. This text begins with a detailed review of loop representation theory. It then goes on to describe loop representations in Maxwell theory, Yang-Mills theories as well as lattice techniques. Applications in quantum gravity are then discussed in detail. Following chapters move on to consider knot theories, braid theories and extended loop representations in quantum gravity. A final chapter assesses the current status of the theory and points out possible directions for future research.

Sir John Soane: The Royal Academy Lectures contains the full text of Soane's lectures, edited by David Watkin from the manuscripts at the Sir John Soane's Museum in London. It is a revised and abridged edition of his award-winning book Sir John Soane: Enlightenment Thought and the Royal Academy Lectures. In his introduction to this volume, Watkin explains the significance of Soane's approach to architectural history and theory, as expressed in the lectures delivered from 1810–1820 as Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy. Providing a key that enables the modern observer to understand the work of an architect who is widely regarded as the most inventive of his day, the lectures enable us to enter in Soane's private dialogue with an astonishing array of philosophers, architectural theorists, art historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists. They are accompanied by a selection of the beautiful watercolors that Soane prepared as illustrations.

This book is an introduction to recent progress in the development and application of glass with special photonics properties. Glass has a number of structural and practical advantages over crystalline materials, including excellent homogeneity, variety of form and size, and the potential for doping with a variety of dopant materials. Glasses with photonic properties have great potential and are expected to play a significant role in the next generation of multimedia systems. Fundamentals of glass materials are explained in the first chapter, and the book then proceeds to a discussion of gradient index glass, laser glasses, nonlinear optical glasses and magneto-optical glasses. Beginning with the basic theory, the book discusses actual problems, performance and applications of glasses. The book will be of value to graduate students, researchers and professional engineers working in materials science, chemistry and physics with an interest in photonics and glass with special properties.

Cosmology: The Science of the Universe is an introduction to past and present cosmological theory. For much of the world's history, cosmological thought was formulated in religious or philosophical language and was thus theological or metaphysical in nature. However, cosmological speculation and theory has now become a science in which the empirical discoveries of the astronomer, theoretical physicist, and biologist are woven into intricate models that attempt to account for the universe as a whole. Professor Harrison draws on the discoveries and speculations of these scientists to provide a comprehensive survey of man's current understanding of the universe and its history. Tracing the rise of the scientific method, the major aim of this book is to provide an elementary understanding of the physical universe of modern times. Thoroughly revised and updated, this second edition extends the much acclaimed first edition taking into account the many developments that have occurred.

First published in 1999, this much expanded and updated edition of the best-selling handbook Astrophotography for the Amateur provides a complete guide to taking pictures of stars, galaxies, the Moon, the Sun, comets, meteors and eclipses, using equipment and materials readily available to the hobbyist. In this new edition, the book has been completely revised and now includes new chapters on computer image processing and CCD imaging; expanded advice on choosing cameras and telescopes; completely updated information about the films; a much larger bibliography; and hundreds of new photographs (in colour, and black and white) demonstrating the latest equipment and techniques. Astrophotography for the Amateur has become the standard handbook for all amateur astronomers. This expanded and updated edition provides an ideal introduction for beginners and a complete handbook for advanced amateurs. It will also appeal to photography enthusiasts who can discover how to take spectacular images w

The Journals of George Eliot publishes for the first time the entire text of the surviving journals of the great Victorian novelist, and constitutes a new text by her - the closest she came to autobiography. The journals span her life from 1854, when she entered into a common-law union with George Henry Lewes, to her death in 1880, revealing the professional writer George Eliot as well as the remarkable woman Marian Evans. Many aspects of her writing life are illuminated, such as the separation of 'George Eliot' - and the account of her work's public reception - from her 'private' self, at the time she began to write fiction. The journals present a George Eliot of many moods, not only the serious sybilline figure so admired in her later years. The edition's extensive apparatus includes a chronology, introduction, headnotes to each diary, and an annotated index supplying valuable contextual and explanatory information.