bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Toward incremental knowledge correction for agents in complex environments
Authors: Pearson Douglas J , Laird John E
Published: November 2023

In complex, dynamic environments, an agent’s domain knowledge will rarely be complete and correct. Existing deliberate approaches to domain theory correction are significantly restricted in the environments where they can be used. These systems are typically not used in agent-based tasks and rely on declarative representations to support nonincremental learning. This research investigates the use of procedural knowledge to support deliberate incremental error correction in complex environments. We describe a series of domain properties that constrain the error correction process and that are violated by existing approaches. We then present a procedural representation for domain knowledge which is sufficiently expressive, yet tractable. We develop a general framework for error detection and correction and then describe an error correction system, IMPROV, that uses our procedural representation to meet the constraints imposed by complex environments. Finally, we test the system in two sample domains and empirically demonstrate that it satisfies many of the constraints faced by agents in complex and challenging environments.
PAC-learning of preference relations over interpretations in lazy nonmonotonic reasoning
Authors: Satoh Ken
Published: November 2023

This paper presents a method of learning a class of preference order over interpretations in a propositional language which is a generalization of circumscription. The order considered in this paper is based on the distance in a weighted Euclidean space between the most preferable interpretation among all the interpretations and an interpretation represented as lattice points whose elements take values of either O or 1. Nonmonotonic reasoning defined by this order is a subclass of lazy nonmonotonic reasoning (Satoh 1992) where nonmonotonicity emerges only when new added knowledge is contradictory to the previous belief.
Drug design by machine learning
Authors: King Michael J E Sternberg* Ross D , Muggleton Ashwin Srinivasan Stephen H
Published: November 2023

Inductive logic programming, implemented in PROGOL, is used to predict whether members of a set of chemical compounds are mutagenic. This study is used to explore the general area of deriving structure-activity relationships, a central tool in rational drug design. The chemical structures are described in a general way by relational descriptors that encode atom types and their bond connectivities. This description contrasts with global attributes of the chemicals that are widely used in other studies such as regression. The results using PROGOL are compared to those from regression, neural nets and decision trees. Two data sets were considered - a regression friendly and a regression unfriendly set of compounds. PROGOL performed well on both data sets, in contrast to the other approaches that only performed well on one of these two sets of data.
A lecture and two radio broadcasts on machine intelligence by Alan Turing*
Authors: Copeland B Jack
Published: November 2023

Turing’s lecture ‘Intelligent Machinery, A Heretical Theory’ was given at Manchester University, probably in 1951. His ‘Can Digital Computers Think?’ was broadcast on the BBC Third Programme in May 1951. ‘Can Automatic Calculating Machines Be Said To Think?’, broadcast on the Third Programme in January 1952, is a discussion between Turing, Newman, Braithwaite and Jefferson. The appearance of these three items completes the publication of Turing’s surviving works on machine intelligence.
Heyday of the punched-card machine industry, the 1930s
Authors: Martin Campbell-Kelly
Published: November 2023

During the 1930s in Britain the traditional industries of shipbuilding, iron and steel, and coal fell into a decline from which they did not recover until the start of the Second World War. The social consequences of the 1930s economic depression, particularly in the North of England, have left an image of the 1930s in Britain that is in some ways misleading. For set against these declining industries there were, particularly in the South of England, bright new industries that recovered very rapidly from the 1929-1932 economic crisis, and during the second half of the 1930s grew at a prodigious rate. Typical of these expanding industries were chemicals, motor cars, and electrical machinery and appliances. 2 The punched card machine industry belonged to this prosperous sector of modern manufactured goods.
Pent-up demand, 1945-1949
Authors: Martin Campbell-Kelly
Published: November 2023

The post-war development of BTM and Powers, up to the merger in 1959, is encapsulated in the financial statistics of Tables 6.1 and 6.2. These tables show that both companies expanded almost without interruption throughout the fifteen-year period; even allowing for inflation, assets and production grew comfortably five-fold. The tables also show that while the companies were finely balanced in terms of size, in terms of profitability BTM was much the stronger.
The response to the IBM System/360, 1964-1965
Authors: Martin Campbell-Kelly
Published: November 2023

On 7 April 1964, IBM announced System/360, a compatible family of third-generation computers. System/360 consisted of six distinct processors and forty peripherals, which were intended to replace all IBM’s current computers, except the smallest and largest. The scale of the announcement was entirely unprecedented, and all the evidence is that it took the rest of the industry largely by surprise. Although ICT’s product planners had received intelligence in late 1963 that IBM was working on a compatible range of computers, they knew nothing of the range architecture, or when it would be launched.
Government relations and the formation of ICL, 1964-1968
Authors: Martin Campbell-Kelly
Published: November 2023

Servan-Schreiber’s famous book Le Défi Americain (The American Challenge) which appeared in 196 7, marked a turning point in the passive European acceptance of American domination of the market for hightechnolog goods. The book., vas a best-seller in France and in England, and it articulated the fears of politicians and industrialists, which had been growing for more than a decade. During the 1950s and early 1960s American manufacturers had increasingly come to dominate the advancedtechnology industries. These industries included aerospace, nuclear power and weapons, radar and defence electronics, and computers. AH of these were regarded as strategic industries, in the sense that it was considered that long-term prosperity, not to mention national prestige, depended upon them. The strategic importance of computers was highlighted in F ranee in 1965, when the United States Government placed an embargo on a CDC 6600 ordered by the French atomic research authorities. During the mid-1960s, European governments poured money into the high-technology industries, sometimes independently, sometimes as international consortia. A sprinkling of the names of cherished, but often ultimately abandoned, projects is enough to evoke the spirit of the times: TSR-2, Concorde, ELDO and Euroatom, and many more.
ICL and the New Range, 1968-1972
Authors: Martin Campbell-Kelly
Published: November 2023

The financial statistics of ICL (Table 13.1) have an uncomfortable similarity to those of ICT during the 1960s. Although revenues increased at an average annual rate of about 15 per cent, taking inflation into account this was no better than 10 per cent; this gentle growth was punctuated by two financial crises, in 1971-72 and 1980-81, with attendant reductions in profits and in the head count.
Government launching aid for the New Range, 1973-1975
Authors: Martin Campbell-Kelly
Published: November 2023

When Geoff Cross accepted the managing directorship of ICL in spring 1972, Tom Hudson and Arthur Humphreys did not over-emphasize ICL’s problems. The magnitude of the immediate problems only became apparent to Cross on the first day he took up office in early May.2 There were essentially four problems, which were interrelated; and all demanded immediate attention. First, ICL’s half-year results, to be announced the following month, were catastrophic. Second, there was a crisis of confidence, both within ICL and without, dating from the Economist articles of February 1971. Third, ICL was almost in suspended animation, awaiting a government decision on launching aid for the New Range. Fourth, ICL was being pressured to merge with an American computer company. The only really bright spot was that the computer recession was coming to an end, and the order books were beginning to fill up again, so that once the first-half results were announced, the worst of the 1970-71 downturn would be over.
The destructive potential of computer viruses
Authors: Louw Eric
Published: November 2023

A computer virus is a deliberately created set of instructions which is able to propagate itself through computer systems. Besides the ability to replicate, many viruses are able to do other things, mostly harmful. Some viruses display a message, some slow down the operation of computer systems, and some cause large-scale loss of data and programs. In fact, the variety of things that viruses can be programmed to do is practically endless. Computer virus attacks are not rare occurrences; they have been commonplace for a number of years. The US-based Computer Virus Industry Association documented virus attacks on nearly 90 000 personal computers in that country during 1988, and a 1991 Gallup survey revealed that 24 per cent of the UK’s 500 largest companies had suffered a computer virus attack in the preceding three years. In fact, these figures may well be underestimates. Many companies keep virus attacks quiet, fearing that such publicity could damage their reputations.
Introduction
Authors: Hahnle Reiner
Published: November 2023

This book is, to the best of my knowledge, the first monograph exclusively devoted to automated theorem proving in many-valued* logics. There are several books on automated theorem proving, for instance Chang and Lee (1973), Wos et al. (1984), Bibel (1987), Wos (1988), Fitting (1990b), and even more on many-valued logic† (Rosser and Turquette, 1952; Ackermann, 1967; Rescher, 1969; Dunn and Epstein, 1977; Gottwald, 1989; Bole and Borowik, 1992). There are also books on automated theorem proving in other non-classical logics, for example, Wallen (1990). In general, the interest in theorem proving in various non-classical logics, triggered mainly by new applications in computer science,‡ has grown vastly in the last ten years. One can easily find dozens of references on theorem proving in intuitionistic, modal, linear, conditional, non-monotonic and temporal logic, but not so on theorem proving in many-valued logic.
Applications
Authors: Hahnle Reiner
Published: November 2023

We begin with a fairly exhaustive list of (possible) applications of many valued logics. Some of them will be examined more closely in the following two sections. Some of these applications demand a many-valued theorem prover of considerable flexibility.
Appendicularian distribution and zoogeography
Authors: Fenaux R , Bone Q , Deibel D
Published: November 2023

Although a good deal is known of the broad outlines of appendicularian distribution in different oceans, only at a few favoured sites has sampling been sufficiently detailed, and carried on for long enough, to gain a reasonably ‘complete’ idea of their horizontal and vertical distribution over time. Sampling presents some difficulties, and much of the information from particular areas on the presence or absence of species and their abundance must be regarded as provisional only. Most of our knowledge of global appendicularian distribution has come from oceanographic expeditions during the 19th and 20th centuries, which means that each site (station) was usually sampled only once. The few studies that have achieved repeated sampling from the same station over time have shown marked seasonal qualitative variations in the catch, hence the absence of a particular species in a single sample should not be taken as absolute proof that that species is absent from the area. However this is not the only sampling difficulty. Due to size differences between species, and increase in size with age within species, the mesh size of the plankton nets used will influence the nature of the samples obtained, both qualitatively and quantitatively. A very clear example of the magnitude of this sampling bias was provided by Fenaux (1986b), who took simultaneous vertical samples in the Mediterranean with two nets of mesh size 200 and 53 μ,m. Many fewer specimens were caught by the net with the larger mesh, indeed, to agree with the catch of the 53 μ,m net, that of the 200 μ,m net had to be multiplied by a factor of 2.9 for Oikopleuridae and 4.6 for the smaller Fritillariidae. Another difficulty in sampling has been raised by recent interesting submersible and diver observations, which indicate that appendicularians may be extremely abundant in very thin layers only a few metres thick, and these layers may be patchy (Deibel et al., unpublished). All of these sampling problems, in particular the temporal and spatial inhomogeneity of appendicularian populations, means that most of the data we have on appendicularian distribution is incomplete.
The conservation of British butterflies
Authors: Warren Martin S
Published: November 2023

Britain’s butterflies have been documented since the mid-nineteenth century enabling the construction of detailed maps of their past and present distributions (Heath et al. 1984; Emmet and Heath 1989). Over this period many species have undergone considerable changes, with the majority contracting their ranges following local extinctions, and few species expanding their ranges (see summaries in Dennis 1977; Thomson 1980; Heath et al. 1984). However, there are major problems with interpreting the pattern of change recorded by the presence or absence data given in standard distribution maps. Firstly, the data-base itself has a very uneven geographic cover¬ age and the declines recorded are linked, to some extent, with the thoroughness Qf past and present recording. Thus, fewer declines have been detected in south-west England, Wales, and Scotland, partly because they are more remote, and so have been poorly recorded in the past. Secondly, the declines shown on distribution maps may be related to the original abundance of a species, or the number of colonies within each recording square. Thus, if the rate of decline was even across the country, extinc¬tions would be more apparent in regions where species were sparsely represented to begin with. For many species, these sparse regions occur in eastern Britain, and far higher densities have always been present in the south and west. There is ample evidence that declines have been very severe on a more local scale in traditionally rich butterfly counties such as Dorset (Thomas and Webb 1984), but these have not yet been reflected in obvious changes on distribution maps, especially when plotted at a scale of 10 km squares.
Sex ratio variation in polygynous ants
Authors: Boomsma Jacobus J
Published: November 2023

One of the interesting genetic conflicts between workers and queens in eusocial Hymenoptera concerns the allocation of resources to the female-and male-brood in the nest. This conflict was quantified by Trivers and Hare (1976) in a synthetic theoretical argument containing elements of sex ratio theory (Fisher 1958), kinship theory (Hamilton 1964, 1972), and parent-offspring conflict theory (Trivers 1974). They hypothesized that workers of eusocial species should capitalize on their asymmetry in relatedness towards the sexual brood by producing a female-biased sex investment ratio, whereas the fitness of the mother queen is maximized by an even sex ratio. The maximal bias expected under random mating was shown to be 3:1 and to apply to the case where colonies consist of one singly inseminated mother and full-sib worker daughters. In contrast to this relatedness-asymmetry interpretation of the sex ratios in monogynous ants, Trivers and Hare’s treatment of polygynous species’ sex ratios emphasized primarily the effect of reduced dispersal of gynes, which induces selection for male-biased sex ratios if nests recruit their own gynes as queens. Subsequent studies on polygynous Formica ants (Herbers 1979; Pamilo and Rosengren 1983, 1984; Rosengren and Pamilo 1986) revealed tremendous variation in the sex ratio of nests, both within and among populations. This reinforced a tendency either to emphasize ultimate factors other than worker kin selection for the explanation of these patterns, such as structured populations (Alexander and Sherman 1977), or to concentrate on proximate factors such as blastogenic caste determination (Schmidt 1974), or factors associated with physical and/or pheromonal queen control (Brian 1980).
Serial polygyny in the primitively eusocial wasp ropalidia marginata: implications for the evolution of sociality
Authors: Gadagkar Raghavendra , Chandrashekara Krishnappa , Chandran Swarnalatha , Bhagavan Seetha
Published: November 2023

Social insects usually live in colonies comprising one or a small number of reproductive individuals and a few or large number of sterile individuals. In termites only, both sexes are represented among the reproductives as well as among the sterile workers. In other social insects, namely ants, bees, and wasps, males do not participate significantly in the social life of colonies, which involves primarily the fertile queens and sterile female workers (Wilson 1971). The haplodiploid genetic system found universally.
The history of the problem
Authors: Wood Albert E
Published: November 2023

The relationships of South American organisms involve several distinct problems regarding organisms emplaced in South America at quite different times. There is no a priori reason that they should have involved similar geographic relationships of faunas or similar types of migration routes. South American organisms may be divided into several categories (termed faunal strata by Simpson 1950). The explanation for the origin of one level is independent of that for the others.
Evolution of zygodons with emphasis on dentition1
Authors: Tobien Heinz
Published: November 2023

Because of the structure of cheek dentition and the mandible, the zygodont mammutids represent a rather well-defined group among mammutids. (In this chapter and elsewhere in this volume, the common names ‘mastodon’, ‘zygodon’, and ‘mammutid’ are used only for members of the family Mammutidae. and the names ‘gomphothere’ and ‘bunodont gomphothere’ refer to members of the family Gomphotheriidae sensu lato. e.g. Gomphotherium. ‘Zygodont’ and ‘bunodont’, spelled with a ‘f, are used as adjectives.) Two genera represent the zygodont lineage in the Old World (Zygolophodon Vacek, 1877 of the middle Miocene, and Mammut Blumenbach, 1799 of the late Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene epochs), and one genus in Africa (Eozygodon Tassy and Pickford, 1983 of the early Miocene). These three genera have been classified in the family Mammutidae (e.g. Tassy 1990a; Shoshani and Tassy, this volume, Chapter 34). The basic structural molar characters are already visible in the earliest members of Zygolophodon. In this chapter. I will focus on the European forms (Zygolophodon and Mammut); Eozygodon has been described and discussed by Tassy and Pickford (1983).
Gomphotheres and mammutids from the Iberian Peninsula
Authors: Mazo Ana v.
Published: November 2023

Remains of gomphotheres and mammutids are abundant in the Iberian Peninsula and are found within a temporal interval from middle Miocene (c. 18 Ma) to Villafranchian (c. 3 Ma; Table 14.1). Earlier studies of these proboscideans reflect, in Spain and Portugal, multiple genera, species, and varieties. In this study, the taxa considered valid include four gomphotheres and two mammutids. This chapter analyses the temporal distribution of these taxa in the Iberian Peninsula, based on the changes reflected by the incisors and cheek teeth of these mammals through time, taking as reference the biozonation of Neogene mammals proposed by Mein (1979, 1990; Table 14.1).
Classification
Authors: Pratt H Douglas , Jeffrey Jack , Conant Sheila
Published: November 2023

The most widely used taxonomy today is that of the AOU (1998), which has its roots in Pratt (1979a) via Berger (1981), with refinements based on numerous papers published subsequently on various subgroups. The classification of Hawaiian honeycreepers used in this book does not coincide exactly with any previous classification. Although relatively few of its distinctive features are novel, it can be regarded as a new overall revision based on a large body of recent research (see Chapter 4). I do not, however, regard it as the final word, but as the best classification for summarising current knowledge. Taxonomies that have been, and continue to be, controversial are discussed below.
Behaviour
Authors: Pratt H Douglas , Jeffrey Jack , Conant Sheila
Published: November 2023

Most Hawaiian honeycreepers on the main islands rarely go to the ground except to gather nesting material, so running and hopping are not common means of locomotion. However, ‘I’iwi (Fancy and Ralph 1998), ‘Apapane (Fancy and Ralph 1997), and ‘Akohekohe (Berlin and VanGelder 1999) often run over the nearly solid leafy surface of the ‘ohi’a canopy. Both drepanidines on Laysan walk and hop along the ground more than they fly (Fisher 1903).
The clear cutting system
Authors: Matthews John D
Published: November 2023

Under this system successive areas are clear felled and regenerated, most frequently by artificial means but sometimes naturally. As a general rule the coupe should be completely cleared, although pre-existing poles and saplings may be left if they occur in promising groups large enough to form self-contained crops. Under ordinary conditions, however, isolated poles and saplings should be removed, as these are likely to develop into branchy trees as well as interfere with the new crop.
The irregular shelterwood system
Authors: Matthews John D
Published: November 2023

The irregular shelterwood system may be defined as a system of successive regeneration fellings with a long and indefinite regeneration period, producing young crops of somewhat uneven-aged type. The system has several distinctive features. It is a ‘natural’ system based on characteristics of the indigenous forest types in the regions where it is practised. The object of sustained yield in quantity and quality of timber, whilst maintaining the capability of the sites, is achieved by varying the composition and structure of each stand so as to match differences in site characters. Although use of exotic species is not excluded preference is given to those native to the region.
Accessory systems
Authors: Matthews John D
Published: November 2023

The formation of two-storied high forest and high forest with reserves provide examples of accessory systems (Troup 1952, p. 133) because they may arise from various other systems and are not dependent on any particular form of regeneration. Two-storied high forest is composed of an upper and a lower storey of trees of seedling origin, growing in intimate mixture on the same site. Generally two species are involved, the upperstorey usually comprising a light-demander under which a shade-tolerant species can grow without being suppressed when introduced at a later date.
The Ancient World
Authors: Desmond Ray
Published: November 2023

From the time of the Greek geographer, Hecateus of Miletus, about 500 BC, until the Portuguese discovered the sea route around the Cape of Good Hope and across the Indian Ocean towards the close of the fifteenth century, European scholars knew India only as a land of legend and fantasy. Writers of the classical world perpetuated such myths as the sun appearing larger there than elsewhere in the world, that it was home to gold-digging ants and to barbarous tribes contorted by bizarre deformities such as men with canine heads or spider legs or with fingers that bent backwards with supple ease. India was loosely synonymous with Asia in general, and as late as the seventeenth century a writer explained to his readers that ‘by the name of India ... we comprehend all the tract between India ... on the west ... unto China eastwards’. Exotic plants with an eastern provenance were often indiscriminately called ‘Indian’.
Interrelationships between two families of multifunctional effectors: retinoids and TGF-β
Authors: Roberts Anita B , Glick Adam B , Sporn Michael B
Published: November 2023

It has been recognized for quite some time that retinoids are important regulators of cell growth and differentiation. As early as 1925, Wolbach and Howe studied histological changes in tissues of vitamin A-deficient rats and suggested that there were important effects of retinoid status on both the differentiation and proliferation of cells. Later, Fell and Mellanby (1953) demonstrated that retinoids could control the phenotype of epithelial cells in tissue culture by showing that either retinol or retinyl acetate could induce keratinized embryonic chicken skin to begin secreting mucus and to elaborate ciliated cells; the opposite occurs in retinoid deficiency, where nasal or tracheal epithelia that are normally mucous-secreting and ciliated undergo a change to a squamous, keratinizing epithelium (Wolbach and Howe 1925). Approaching the problem somewhat differently, Lasnitzki (1955) demonstrated that the premalignant phenotype of mouse prostate glands that had been treated with the carcinogen 3-methyl cholanthrene could be altered by retinoid treatment in organ culture. The atypical cells were replaced by cells with more normal morphology, demonstrating that retinoids could suppress abnormal cellular differentiation that had been induced by a carcinogen and restore a more normal pattern of cellular differentiation. Collectively, these data underscore the importance of retinoids in the maintenance of epithelial homeostasis.
Parnassiaceae
Authors: Gornall R J , Al-Shammary K I A
Published: November 2023

According to many taxonomists the family consists solely of Parnassia L., a genus of about 50 species of herbaceous perennials distributed throughout the north-temperate region, with a centre of diversity in the Himalaya. To this family is added by some the monotypic Lepuropetalon Elliott, an ephemeral species occurring in two widely separated areas: (1) southeastern USA and Mexico; and (2) central Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.
Bird Families of the World
Authors: Frith Clifford B , Frith Dawn W
Published: November 2023

The bowerbirds are confined to the great island of New Guinea and the island continent of Australia, and their immediately adjacent islands. They are medium-sized birds, omnivorous and largely solitary. They are unique in the avian world in that the males build elaborate ‘bowers’: structures of sticks, grasses or other plant stems on or close to the ground for display and courtship, often incorporating objects such as colourful fruits, flowers, feathers, bones, stones, shells, insect skeletons, and numerous other natural (and human-made) objects. The highly sophisticated building, decorating, collecting, arranging, thieving, singing, and courtship posturing and dancing by males is primarily to attract and impress females. As much of it is performed in the absence of females, however, some consider it possible that males may also enjoy such activities for their own sake. The bowers and the birds’ behaviour associated with them have been much studied by behavioural ecologists searching for evolutionary and ecological explanations of behavioural patterns. The authors’ aims include: (a) making the reader aware of the broader significance of bowerbirds to general biological studies and (b) providing references to key literature on theoretical issues. Part I contains general chapters on bowerbird evolution, behaviour, environment, demography, courtship patterns, breeding biology, and sexual selection. Part II follows with 21 species accounts, giving comprehensive information on the birds in their natural state, including distribution maps and sonographs. Complementing the species accounts are superb colour plates by Eustace Barnes, especially commissioned for this volume. The Bowerbirds, like its companions in the series, is an indispensable work of reference for everyone interested in birds.
Multiple mates: polygyny and cooperative polyandry
Authors: Ligon J David
Published: November 2023

The subject of polygyny has been a key topic in avian behavioural ecology for more than thirty years. Polygyny is identified by a mating association between one male and two or more females, with each female possessing its own nest and young. Why females would choose to mate with an already-paired male, when unmated males appear to be available, is a question that has fascinated many students of avian mating systems.
Health and morbidity: ethnomedical and epidemiological perspectives
Authors: Shell-Duncan Bettina , Shelley J Karen , Leslie Paul W
Published: November 2023

Multidisciplinary studies of human health in Turkana provide a unique opportunity to examine consequences of multiple stresses of pastoral existence in a harsh, arid, semi- desert environment, and to evaluate biobehavioral responses of the Turkana people. A comprehensive understanding of determinants of health and well-being among the Turkana necessitates analysis of relationships among a variety of factors, including nutrition, immunity, and infectious morbidity, within their socio-cultural and ecological context. The manner in which the Turkana perceive and act upon potential or existing threats to health influences their ability to mitigate environmental stress, and affects the distribution of disease stress within the population.
Allopolyploid speciation
Authors: Kobel Hans Rudolf
Published: November 2023

Since all but one of the Xenopus species are polyploid in various degrees, polyploidy should have resulted from relatively few and uncomplicated mechanisms that operated repeatedly in this genus. This contrasts with other vertebrates where polyploidy is rare and most often accompanied by an aberrant mode of reproduction. In both animals and plants, polyploid species are often of allopolyploid origin and there is evidence that this also applies to Xenopus. Conditions promoting bisexual allopolyploidy include (1) mixed populations that hybridize, (2) polyploidization in the germ line of hybrids, (3) compatibility of polyploidy with sex determination, and (4) reproductive success of polyploids equal to that of their parental species. Several of these requirements have been investigated in the laboratory. While male hybrids are sterile owing to univalent meiosis, female hybrids frequently produce unreduced eggs through premeiotic endoreduplication. When fertilized by spermatozoa of either parental species these develop into 3n females which again may produce unreduced eggs, giving rise to tetraploid backcross offspring of both sexes; the sex ratio depends on the species combination and on the temperature during sexual differentiation.
Mythology, harvesting and farming
Authors: Davies S J J F , Bamford Michael J , Loomes Danika
Published: November 2023

Ostriches are symbolised in the relics of ancient civilisations, Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek and Roman. Ostrich eggs were used as cups and vases in Mesopotamia 5000 years ago. The Romans have left evidence that ostriches were brought to Rome and ridden by the nobility. Many peoples in Africa and Asia Minor used ostrich feathers as a mark of rank amongst warriors. In Egypt the plumes were regarded as symbols of truth and justice and by the Somalis as a symbol of victory.
The University of Amsterdam
Authors: Kipnis A Ya , Yavelov B E , Rowlinson J S
Published: November 2023

On 23 October 1877 van der Waals and his family left The Hague for Amsterdam, which was by then a city of more than 300 000 inhabitants and had been for a long time the biggest city in the Netherlands. This busy commercial and industrial metropolis must have been a contrast to the quietness of Leiden. The French artist and writer Eugène Fromentin had described it in 1875 as an ‘oldish-looking, middle-class, stuffy, busy, swarming’ city [l, p. 233]. It must be remembered, however, that the population of London was by then ten times that of Amsterdam and to some European travellers the Dutch city seemed to be a quiet green town, particularly in the new suburbs. It was in one of these fashionable districts, near the most beautiful of the city parks, named after Joost van den Vandel, that van der Waals chose the family’s new home. It was N57 P. C. Hooftstraat, named after Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, like van den Vandel a writer of the seventeenth century. In 1896 the number was changed to 177 on the incorporation of the suburbs into the city [238]; van der Waals lived there until his death. The district is no longer as fashionable as it was and the house has lost its front door on its incorporation into 175—179.
Physical chemistry
Authors: Kipnis A Ya , Yavelov B E , Rowlinson J S
Published: November 2023

Van der Waals called himself a physicist, and in saying this he was correct, but one should remember how many there were of those who were primarily physicists who contributed also to physical chemistry. These include Helmholtz, Planck and Gibbs among the most famous, but the list is much longer and certainly includes van der Waals, whose activities are aptly delineated by Andrews’s remark: ‘It is often difficult to draw a distinct line of separation between the physical and chemical sciences; and it is perhaps doubtful whether the division is not really an artificial one’ [I, p. lxxvii]. Van der Waals’s equation of state, his principle of corresponding states and his theory of capillarity all belong equally to molecular physics and to physical chemistry, but there is one part of his work which nowadays would certainly fall wholly within physical chemistry, and that is his work on the thermodynamics of multicomponent non-ideal systems, that is, of real solutions and the phase equilibria between them.
Design, synthesis, and structure of alicyclic diol hosts
Authors: Bishop Roger , Dance G
Published: November 2023

A number of years ago we reported the preparation of the alicyclic diol exo-2, exo-6-dihydroxy-2,6-dimethylbicyclo[3.3.1]nonane (1) and commented on its unexpected and novel properties. This material was observed to form solid inclusion compounds when crystallized from a wide range of common solvents, including ethyl acetate, toluene, acetone, chloroform, and dioxane. In most cases these co-crystalline arrangements were very stable towards loss of the volatile guest molecules.
Catalytic aspects of inclusion in zeolites
Authors: Herron Norman
Published: November 2023

The widespread use of their ion-exchange properties in the water-softening/detergent industry and their strong acid catalysis properties in petroleum-refining have made zeolites the workhorse materials in both applications. While this has attracted many researchers to the zeolite field, it has also had the effect of typecasting these remarkable materials into a limited number of chemical roles. The work reported in this chapter is a brief review of our own work at Du Pont and attempts to dispel this stereotype. Using a perspective where zeolites are viewed as a highly ordered host ‘supermolecule’ capable of sieving and directing substrate molecules, we have developed a series of novel guest-host and catalyst species. These materials owe a debt more to the areas of inclusion chemistry and biochemistry rather than traditional catalytic research.
A minimal principle in the phase problem
Authors: Hauptman H A
Published: November 2023

Direct methods are those procedures which attempt to solve the phase problem by reconstructing the lost phase information directly from the observed structure factor amplitudes. These methods rely on the existence of relationships among the structure factors which express the values of certain linear combinations of phases, called structure invariants, in terms of normalized structure factor magnitudes.
Mixtures
Authors: Koningsveld R , Stockmayer W H , Nies E
Published: November 2023

To develop the thermodynamics of mixtures we have to consider open systems, which are able to exchange matter (as well as work and heat) with their surroundings. Taking a binary (two-component) system for simplicity, we start with an extension of (7) in the form
Ternary and multicomponent systems
Authors: Koningsveld R , Stockmayer W H , Nies E
Published: November 2023

In ternary systems a two-dimensional representation is limited to an isothermal section of a constant-pressure diagram, or vice versa. It is customary to use an equilateral triangle, apparently first introduced by Gibbs and shown in Fig. 81, to depict the various equilibria. There are three concentration variables x  1, x  2, and x  3, one of which depends on the other two by
Kinetic Theory of Rarefied Gases
Authors: Mccourt Frederick R W , Beenakker Jan J M , Kohler Walter E , Kuscer Ivan
Published: November 2023

In previous chapters dealing with the solution of the Boltzmann equation, we have considered only the linearized equation. Its solutions are valid when deviations from equilibrium are small so that quadratic terms in the driving gradients can be neglected.
Semiclassical Mechanics with Molecular Applications
Authors: Child M S
Published: November 2023

Semiclassical mechanics relates Newton's classical theory to modern quantum mechanics in a manner designed for the interpretation of the most recent experiments. The theory is physically intuitive and computationally accurate and is particularly powerful for large quantum numbers - hence it has special reference to atomic, nuclear, and molecular physics - but it also proves to be remarkably accurate even for the lowest quantum states. This book gives a comprehensive account of the application of the theory to molecular systems, with particular attention paid to the problems of non-separability. Although it is primarily a research monograph, the inclusion of problems at the end of each chapter makes this book equally applicable as a graduate text.
Element cycles and their evolution
Authors: Williams R J P , Da Silva J J R Frausto
Published: November 2023

The initial combination of matter was then fixed largely by thermodynamic physicochemical selection (Chapters 2 and 3). However, after rapid cooling and when planets formed, phase separations occurred due to fields of gravity and in these cold bodies some compounds were produced in the presence of others with which they should react but they could not because the temperature was too low. It was then necessary to define many chemicals as components in compartments, not in equilibrated phase systems, in an operational manner. Physical restriction in phases and kinetic chemical control of selection, generating components, in this third step (Chapters 4-7), had taken over from thermodynamic chemical selection. At the same time, these inorganic compounds were now and then subjected to volcanic action (Figs 8.6 and 15.2) as well as weathering, which forced energised compartmental and chemical separation upon them. Some inorganic and small organic compounds on the surfaces of planets were also made to react and to be elevated in energy, giving new components, through the action of solar radiation. Of course, the new compounds produced were unstable and decayed (slowly) since they were energised. There began, therefore, a constant cycle of prebiotic activation and deactivation of matter on the surface of our planet-the Earth (Fig. 15.1, cycling stage I). In this cycling, new element selection in kinetic traps was possible and, at some stage, copying began as a special kinetic trap. This development generated an organic self-assembling system for the natural selection, self-selection, of elements utilising external energy sources and, eventually, a living system. Like all other excited and self assembling conditions, life must decay and cycle (Fig. 15. l) but, as we saw in Chapters l 0-12, it also became self-developing in complexity-a Darwinian natural selection that included further element selection.
The World Made New
Authors: Merricks Linda
Published: November 2023

This is the biography of one of the most original and widely significant, yet largely forgotten, British scientists. Frederick Soddy is an intriguing figure who was deeply concerned with and involved in politics, economics, and the role of science in the world. He was one of the first generation of English atomic scientists, working with Rutherford on the initial discoveries about atomic disintegration, and received the Nobel Prize in 1921 for hi research on isotopes. Soddy's worry about the responsibility of science and scientists to society began with his fear that the atomic energy he and Rutherford had discovered could be disastrous if suitable political controls were not enforced, and led to his abandoning scientific research. He lived to see his worst fears realized with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Soddy was a pioneer in the field of energy conservation and environmental ethics, and was committed to social reform. Frederick Soddy was a remarkable and talented man who was not recognized as such in his own life-time, largely because his ideas and attitudes did not fit in with the times in which he lived. However he has become more appreciated since his death, not only because his scientific work has gained its rightful recognition, but also because of the increased awareness today of the environment and the role of science in it.
Childhood and early life
Authors: Merricks Linda
Published: November 2023

There was nothing in his family history to suggest that Frederick Soddy would become a scientist. None of his ancestors had managed to get as far as university, and there was certainly nothing at all scientific in his background. The Soddy family had originated in the Bunhills district of London and family tradition has it that they were of Huguenot extraction, the family having fled to London in the seventeenth century. Frederick’s father, Benjamin Soddy, had moved his family from Walworth in South London to Eastbourne in 1875. No reason has been recorded for this move, but the reputation of the south coast for its health-giving properties prompts the speculation that illness was the likely cause. Although there is no direct evidence, either Benjamin or Hannah, his second wife, might have been the victim. At the time of the move, Benjamin was only in his early fifties, but he retired from full-time employment as a com merchant in favour of a three-day-a-week position at the London Com Exchange as a buyer for ‘Messrs. Tilling, The London Omnibus Company’. However, he lived until 1911 and so perhaps this semi-retirement was a matter of personal choice. On the other hand, Hannah was only in her early thirties and had three young sons, John, Joseph and Thomas, all under three years of age when they moved, and then Frederick was born in 1877. Again, there is no mention of disease but such frequent pregnancies apparently took their toll of Hannah’s health and she died when Frederick, the youngest child, was only eighteen months old.
Glasgow
Authors: Merricks Linda
Published: November 2023

Soddy arrived in Glasgow in the autumn of 1904 at the beginning of what was to prove, in his own words, his ‘most productive period’. Not only was his professional career to prove that he was successful as an individual, not just as the junior partner of Rutherford or Ramsay, but outside science he was to be introduced to a range of concerns and interests which were to occupy him for most of his life. Most importantly, he was to meet his future wife. Each of these aspects was brought about through a chance meeting in 1902 with George Beilby, a Scottish industrialist with a wide circle of acquaintances in educational as well as industrial areas. The first and fundamental assistance rendered by Beilby was professional. Beilby seems to have used his influence in Soddy’s favour when the University of Glasgow, having embarked on a programmer of modernizing their chemistry department in the summer of 1903, had decided to appoint an Independent Lecturer in Physical Chemistry around whom a research school could be started.
Aberdeen and the First World War
Authors: Merricks Linda
Published: November 2023

Winifred and Frederick Soddy arrived in Aberdeen in the summer of 1914 full of hopes for the future. It seemed that Soddy had finally, at the age of thirty-eight, achieved professional recognition. He was professor of a department in a Scottish university and, at least before the First World War, this gave him considerable powers within the institution and respect outside. In addition, it looked as if Aberdeen would suit them very well domestically. For the Soddys, with their love of walking and climbing, its position was very much in its favour since the hills and mountains were easily accessible and there they could escape the city. They arrived prepared to maximise these opportunities. In addition to climbing boots, they took from Glasgow bicycles, golf clubs and a drawing board in anticipation of the enjoyment of their new surroundings. The climate was also an improvement on Glasgow. Soddy had disliked the warm dampness typical of the west of Scotland, although he had suffered less there than he had in London smogs. He much preferred the dryer, colder weather of the eastern and more northern part of the country which was, he found, far more conducive to work.
Monetary and other theories
Authors: Merricks Linda
Published: November 2023

For many of the inhabitants of England, the armistice gave hopes of a new beginning, the start of a period of peace and prosperity in the ‘Homes Fit For Heroes’ which would be provided for all those who had fought in the war. Less certain was the precise mechanism through which this would be achieved. Problems of demobilising the servicemen and women, of dismantling munitions and other war time industries and returning them to peacetime production, and of facing the enormous shortage of housing after years of neglect and lack of new building all gave some sense of the problems which lay in store. Despite the boom of the first year of peace, signs of impending disaster were soon growing. The backlog of demand for various goods in short supply during the war was accompanied by high government spending and the lifting of wartime controls and soon demand outstripped production, prices and labour costs rose and after April 1920 the boom developed into a ‘speculative ramp’.
Signal processing in electronic nose instrumentation
Authors: Gardner Julian W , Bartlett Philip N
Published: November 2023

The architecture of a typical electronic nose (and a chemical sensoric array device, ChemSAD) may be conveniently represented by a number of process elements in a functional block diagram as shown in Fig. 6.1 (Gardner and Bartlett 1994). The input signal to the system is either a simple odour (e.g. limonene) or a complex odour (e.g. the headspace of a lager beer) and is represented here by a concentration vector cj(t).
Methods and experimental approaches
Authors: Little Colin , Williams Gray A , Trowbridge Cynthia D
Published: November 2023

Rocky shores have long captured the imaginations of inquisitive children, enthusiastic natural historians and, as a result, the scientiIc curiosity of biologists. The ease of access and the variety of life forms which are readily available make rocky shores a truly fascinating habitat. In terms of scientiIc pursuits, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, rocky shores were the collecting sites for many keen taxonomists; but more importantly in the mid 1900s they soon became the outside laboratory of pioneering marine ecologists (see review by Paine, 1994). The readily deInable vertical environmental gradient between low and high tides, the hard two-dimensional substrate, and the easily quantiIable interactions between the relatively short-lived species make rocky shores an ideal habitat in which to measure the distribution of species and tease apart the processes that cause those resultant patterns.