The Rhythm of Everything
Is survival of the fittest enough? Or do we wish to thrive through connection? Discover how nature's rhythms reveal a life of abundance, purpose, and deeper meaning.Patterns are embedded in everything-from the delicate spirals of sunflowers to the vast cycles of ocean currents and weather systems. But what do these rhythms tell us about the world, and can they reveal something deeper about our origins, purpose, and connection to the universe?In The Rhythm of Everything, Bonnie Truax blends scientific discovery, personal travel stories, and reflections on faith to explore the interwoven patterns of life. Drawing from her adventures across every continent, she reveals how nature's design mirrors a greater truth-one that speaks to both the scientific mind and the seeking soul.This book will appeal to readers who: Enjoy science writing that explores patterns, symmetry, and the natural order.Seek a bridge between faith and reason in the study of life's origins.Love immersive storytelling that brings global landscapes and ecosystems to life.A compelling read for those who ponder the intersection of logic and belief, The Rhythm of Everything invites you to rediscover the wonder of the world-and your place within it.
Ho'okele Mua II, a Wargame About Climate Change and Operational Risk in INDOPACOM
Qualitative Pathways for Publication
Qualitative research cultivates exploratory ways of thinking that can serve as a vehicle to disseminate findings for researchers, scientists, and principal investigators. However, publishing requires an understanding of theoretical foundations. Researchers may know to use interviews as a method but failing to explicate theory risks reviewer rejection. Multitasking scholars need a succinct "nuts and bolts" approach. This book synthesizes major qualitative scholarship and translates it to scientists and researchers to achieve pathways to publication. While succinct, this book is not rudimentary. There is a minimum amount researchers need to know to get qualitative research published--to read, write, and cite. This book supports scientists' goal-oriented approach to translate scientific research into tangible benefits, improve quality of life, enhance efficiency, and solve practical problems faced by individuals and communities.
American Forests
For more than a century, Americans have carried on a debate about their forests over how and why to manage them, and the sometimes-heated discussions continue today. In American Forests, Douglas MacCleery traces this debate from the time that forest management first came to the United States, through the conservation and environmental movements, on up to 2011, when the book was last updated.MacCleery's history of recovery establishes that the "timber famine" that Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot so stridently forecast in the early twentieth century never occurred. He shows that logged lands have come back, either through natural processes or human effort, unless converted to agricultural or urban use. Also, many species of wildlife--once diminished--are again abundant, forested watersheds are better protected, and the number of forest acres that burn each year has been dramatically reduced. Nonetheless, as MacCleery points out, the new forests are different from the original forests, which had evolved according to nature's rhythms and in response to native peoples' significant manipulation. And while some wildlife species thrive under the new conditions, others do not. Appreciation of the forest as an ecosystem increases, but the debate is not over.
Statistics by Simulation
An accessible guide to understanding statistics using simulations, with examples from a range of scientific disciplines Real-world challenges such as small sample sizes, skewed distributions of data, biased sampling designs, and more predictors than data points are pushing the limits of classical statistical analysis. This textbook provides a new tool for the statistical toolkit: data simulations. It shows that using simulation and data-generating models is an excellent way to validate statistical reasoning and to augment study design and statistical analysis with planning and visualization. Although data simulations are not new to professional statisticians, Statistics by Simulation makes the approach accessible to a broader audience, with examples from many fields. It introduces the reasoning behind data simulation and then shows how to apply it in planning experiments or observational studies, developing analytical workflows, deploying model diagnostics, and developing new indices and statistical methods. - Covers all steps of statistical practice, from planning projects to post-hoc analysis and model checking- Provides examples from disciplines including sociology, psychology, ecology, economics, physics, and medicine- Includes R code for all examples, with data and code freely available online- Offers bullet-point outlines and summaries of each chapter- Minimizes the use of jargon and requires only basic statistical background and skills
Statistics by Simulation
An accessible guide to understanding statistics using simulations, with examples from a range of scientific disciplines Real-world challenges such as small sample sizes, skewed distributions of data, biased sampling designs, and more predictors than data points are pushing the limits of classical statistical analysis. This textbook provides a new tool for the statistical toolkit: data simulations. It shows that using simulation and data-generating models is an excellent way to validate statistical reasoning and to augment study design and statistical analysis with planning and visualization. Although data simulations are not new to professional statisticians, Statistics by Simulation makes the approach accessible to a broader audience, with examples from many fields. It introduces the reasoning behind data simulation and then shows how to apply it in planning experiments or observational studies, developing analytical workflows, deploying model diagnostics, and developing new indices and statistical methods. - Covers all steps of statistical practice, from planning projects to post-hoc analysis and model checking- Provides examples from disciplines including sociology, psychology, ecology, economics, physics, and medicine- Includes R code for all examples, with data and code freely available online- Offers bullet-point outlines and summaries of each chapter- Minimizes the use of jargon and requires only basic statistical background and skills
The Narrative Brain
An investigation of the emotional power of narrative that illuminates the relationship between the human brain and the stories we tell As humans, we think in stories--stories that allow us to feel and share emotions. In order for this phenomenon to work, our brains and the ways in which we tell stories must be attuned to each other. But how exactly does this happen? Tapping into the essence of thinking in stories, Fritz Breithaupt draws on the latest scientific research, including a retelling study (comparable to the telephone game) with more than 12,000 participants, and experiments in which ChatGPT functions as storyteller. This wide-ranging study includes analyses of political history, novels, fairy tales, and everyday office gossip; proposes a new theory of narrative that focuses on emotions and affects; and hypothesizes on the evolution of narratives among our hominid ancestors. Redefining us as beings who anchor ourselves in the world through narratives, Breithaupt introduces a new kind of psychology that cuts to the core of how and why humans feel the need to tell stories.
The Shape of Wonder
In this captivating, insightful book, acclaimed physicists Alan Lightman and Martin Rees illuminate the life and work of numerous scientists in order to demystify the scientific process and show that scientists are concerned citizens, just like the rest of us. In an age of rapid scientific discovery and technological advancement, it's understandable that many feel uneasy about the future. While we might have confidence in these new developments when we go to the hospital for a medical procedure, fly in an airplane, or take an elevator to the top floor of a building, the motivations and lives of scientists themselves feel shrouded from public view. There is a growing sense that scientists are not to be trusted--that they may be guided by political or financial interests, or beholden to governments, or state institutions. This growing mistrust of scientists is an urgent problem. With the onset of climate change, the imminent threats of pandemic or nuclear war, and rapid acceleration in the fields of artificial intelligence and DNA sequencing, innovations in science have the potential to change the world. It's crucial that we not only gain a better understanding of science as a field, but also reestablish trust with its practitioners. The Shape of Wonder guides us through the fascinating lives and minds of scientists around the world and throughout time, from a young theoretical physicist who works as a research assistant professor at the University of Washington and rock climbs in their free time; to German physicist Werner Heisenberg in his early life, when he was a student of music and philosophy; to Govind Swarup, an Indian astronomer whose work on radio telescopes was profoundly important. We get an inside peek at what makes scientists tick--their daily lives, passions, and concerns about the societies they live in. In this brilliant and elucidative work, Lightman and Rees pull back the curtain on the field of science, revealing that scientists are driven by the same sense of curiosity, wonder, and responsibility towards the future that shapes us all.
Behaviours Relations and Interhumanity
This book innovatively defines behaviours and health with fractal symmetry. It also includes a new definition of consciousness as a foundation. A new model of how behaviours arise, as well as a challenging mental model of how information is communicated is introduced. These are part of and also reinforce the foundation of the theory and help to concretize what we cannot see with the eye, but which exists and can be felt. It provides new perspectives on consciousness and the prevailing attachment and behavioural theories. The author is of the opinion that these theories, with necessity, need to be renewed so that people can fully understand their behaviours and relationships and to be able to live healthier lives together with each other. Readers are provided with short, concise and pithy explanations and the chapters which are intimately interwoven, give a gradually deepened understanding. Selected chapters then build on (self)-reflection and discussion. Based on the concept of interhumanity, the book wants to take a closer look at what goes on between us humans. What it is, how to describe it and how it affects us. Thereby, it treats behaviours based on the structure of our bodily functions as a whole and how we receive the information that is the basis for our behaviours are based on. Relationships, male and female, are some of the common threads of the theory and are emphasized throughout along with what favours the most healthy.
Unreliable
Reproducibility is fundamental to the scientific method. After reading a paper describing research findings, a scientist should be able to repeat the experiment and obtain the same results. Yet an alarming number--perhaps as high as 90 percent--of published biomedical research papers face challenges in independent replication. Such issues range from honest mistakes to outright fraud. The scope of this crisis, however, underscores deeper systemic issues within the scientific community: its culture, incentives, and institutions. In Unreliable, the distinguished scientist Csaba Szabo examines the causes and consequences of the reproducibility crisis in biomedical research, showing why the factors that encourage misconduct stem from flaws in real-world science. There are many culprits, including commonplace research methods and dubious statistical techniques. Academic career incentives, hypercompetition for grant funding, and a bias toward publishing positive results have exacerbated the problem. Deliberate data manipulation and fabricated findings churned out by "paper mills" are disturbingly common. Academic institutions and publishers, for their part, have perpetuated a culture of impunity. Szabo explores how these failures have hindered scientific progress and impeded the development of new treatments, and he introduces readers to the "science sleuths" who tirelessly uncover misconduct. He proposes comprehensive reforms, from scientific training to the grant system through the publication process, to address the root causes of the crisis. Written in clear language and leavened with a keen sense of irony, Unreliable is an essential account of the reproducibility crisis that gives readers an inside look at how science is actually done.
Unreliable
Reproducibility is fundamental to the scientific method. After reading a paper describing research findings, a scientist should be able to repeat the experiment and obtain the same results. Yet an alarming number--perhaps as high as 90 percent--of published biomedical research papers face challenges in independent replication. Such issues range from honest mistakes to outright fraud. The scope of this crisis, however, underscores deeper systemic issues within the scientific community: its culture, incentives, and institutions. In Unreliable, the distinguished scientist Csaba Szabo examines the causes and consequences of the reproducibility crisis in biomedical research, showing why the factors that encourage misconduct stem from flaws in real-world science. There are many culprits, including commonplace research methods and dubious statistical techniques. Academic career incentives, hypercompetition for grant funding, and a bias toward publishing positive results have exacerbated the problem. Deliberate data manipulation and fabricated findings churned out by "paper mills" are disturbingly common. Academic institutions and publishers, for their part, have perpetuated a culture of impunity. Szabo explores how these failures have hindered scientific progress and impeded the development of new treatments, and he introduces readers to the "science sleuths" who tirelessly uncover misconduct. He proposes comprehensive reforms, from scientific training to the grant system through the publication process, to address the root causes of the crisis. Written in clear language and leavened with a keen sense of irony, Unreliable is an essential account of the reproducibility crisis that gives readers an inside look at how science is actually done.
Science Communication
Science Communication: The Basics is an accessible yet critical introduction to science communication viewed as the social conversation around science. It addresses why science communication matters, examines the evolution of theories and practices and explains concepts, myths, misunderstandings and challenges.Massimiano Bucchi and Brian Trench navigate the foundations and key themes of science communication through numerous vignettes, examples, cases and arguments. They provide annotated recommended reading and a Lexicon summarising the understandings and uses of key terms in the field. Revealing science communication as a collective process and part of daily life, topics covered include science communication as part of culture and our understanding of ourselves and the world; the history of science communication and the development of 'modern science'; policy and theoretical approaches; the growth of professional practice, formal education and research in the field; evolving platforms for science communication; and quality, trust and ethical awareness in science communication.Science Communication: The Basics is designed to be a concise primer and essential reading for newcomers to the field including staff in research and policy institutions, students of the natural, human and social sciences, and general readers curious about the ways science is presented and perceived in society.Science Communication: The Basics is the third in a triptych of works on science communication from the two authors. The other two works are the Routledge Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology, first published in 2008 and now in its third edition (2021), and a four-volume anthology of readings, The Public Communication of Science (2016), also published by Routledge.
The Art of Explanation
**From BBC presenter and journalist Ros Atkins, creator of the viral 'Ros Atkins on...' explainer videos and host of the forthcoming BBC Radio 4 podcast 'Communicating with Ros Atkins'**'A great read for polishing your communication skills' FORBES'For all those who want their audiences to listen and understand' JEREMY BOWEN 'Precision, deftness and a calming expertise' THE TIMES Do you worry about holding people's attention during presentations?Are you unsure where to start when faced with writing an essay or report?Are you preparing for an interview and wondering how to get all your points across? Explanation - identifying and communicating what we want to say - is an art. And the BBC presenter and journalist Ros Atkins, creator of the viral 'Ros Atkins on...' explainer videos, is something of a master of the form. In this book, Ros shares the secrets he has learned from years of working in high-pressure newsrooms, identifying the ten elements of a good explanation and the seven steps you need to take to express yourself with clarity and impact. Whether at work, school, university or home, we all benefit from being able to articulate ourselves clearly. Filled with practical examples, The Art of Explanation is a must-read for anyone who wants to sharpen their communication skills.
The Secret Life of a Cemetery
From the head curator of the most famous cemetery in the world--a moving story about a place where joy, grief, and wild nature converge in unexpected and inspiring ways. "P癡re-Lachaise in Paris, whose tombs of Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, ?dith Piaf and many other artistic icons have made it a popular tourist draw, has become a haven for wildlife."--from the New York Times profile of author Beno簾t Gallot For Beno簾t Gallot, P癡re Lachaise is best explored without a guide: You're guaranteed to lose your way. You'll feel as though you've stepped out of time, out of Paris, and into another place entirely. In his debut memoir, Gallot, head curator of P癡re Lachaise and son of a grave stonemason, pulls back the curtains on his otherworldly workplace--a cemetery crammed with tourists in the high season and mourners year round, but also a natural paradise, where foxes roam, birds flit between trees, and wildflowers and moss encroach onto tombstones. In elegant, engrossing chapters, Gallot reveals the secret world of P癡re Lachaise--its Napoleonic origins, its unusual graves and monuments--alongside touching stories from his working life in the cemetery. Born into a family of undertakers, Gallot was named curator of P癡re-Lachaise in his early-thirties, inheriting the complex job of managing over 100 acres of green space, overseeing 70,000 graves, and arranging burials and cremations, all while contending with millions of tourists--plus film crews, birdwatchers, ghost hunters, and the occasional nude performance artist. Gallot, who also lives on the cemetery grounds with his wife and young children, demystifies his unusual and often misunderstood profession, which in reality requires much more contact with living people than dead ones. In doing so, he provides insight into the history of graveyards and our evolving relationship with death. Gallot also shares vivid descriptions of flora and fauna, which have reemerged in recent years thanks to a huge rewilding effort. Initially unsure about the idea, he embraced it as the cemetery alleys blossomed and birdsong proliferated. Then in April 2020, with the city in lockdown, Gallot took an early-morning stroll and crossed paths with a fox--in the middle of Paris! He snapped a picture and posted it, unwittingly setting off a media frenzy. Gallot's daily photographs of P癡re-Lachaise's flourishing animal and plant life have attracted followers from around the world, helping to change the public perception of cemeteries, which ultimately exist as places for the living. A bestseller in France, lauded as "a superb book ... full of humor, empathy, and great sweetness" by the French literary press, The Secret Life of a Cemetery is a life-affirming read that will stand the test of time.
Woodlands
'Trees are wildlife just as deer or primroses are wildlife. Each species has its own agenda and its own interactions with human activities ...'Written by one of Britain's best-known naturalists, Woodlands offers a fascinating new insight into the trees of the British landscape that have filled us with awe and inspiration throughout the centuries.Looking at such diverse evidence as the woods used in buildings and ships, and how woodland has been portrayed in pictures and photographs, Rackham traces British woodland through the ages, from the evolution of wildwood, through man's effect on the landscape, modern forestry and its legacy, and recent conservation efforts and their effects.In his lively and thoroughly engaging style, Rackham explores woodlands and their history, through names, surveys, mapping and legal documents, archaeology, photographs and works of art, thus offering an utterly compelling insight into British woodlands and how they have come to shape a national obsession.
Physics
"Physics: An Introduction to Physical Dynamics" provides an accessible introduction to the fundamentals of physics for science and engineering undergraduates who are studying elementary physics.This textbook contains twelve chapters with accompanying problem sets, and deals with the dynamical properties of a variety of physical systems. The first six chapters introduce Newton's laws of motion, followed by the concepts of mechanical work and mechanical energy, with illustrative applications to the translational and/or rotational motion of inflexible objects such as particles and 3D objects of fixed shape. The next four chapters generalize the application of Newton's laws and mechanical energy to flexible systems, including flowing fluids, waves on strings, and oscillating springs. The last two chapters deal with the laws of thermodynamics, and with heat energy transfer between systems at different temperatures.The presentation assumes some familiarity with topics in elementary mathematics, including calculus. A wide variety of situations are explored, by means of which a student should acquire an enhanced understanding of the properties of physical systems from the astronomic scale to the microscopic.Key Features: - Covers the classical mechanics of both single particles and assemblies of particles subject to forces.- Contains wide ranging sets of examples and worked problems.- Covers much of the material that a student might expect to encounter during the first year of a university physics course.
Assessing Feasibility with Value-Laden Models
In this Open-Access-book, the author investigates the value dimension of Integrated Assessment Models and their application to questions of feasibility. Integrated models provide a quantified representation of the interaction between the socio-economic system with the climate and serve as a pivotal tool at the intersection of climate science, policymakers, and society. This book critically examines how IAMs approach the concept of feasibility. It unpacks the value assumptions embedded within integrated modeling, critiques the implicit normativity of these models, and proposes principles for responsibly managing value judgments in scientific advice. Arguing for a thick conception of feasibility--one that integrates key normative dimensions--it highlights the gap between conceptual discussions of feasibility and the scientific practices that inform feasibility assessments. Addressed to both philosophers and integrated modelers, this book sheds light on the implicit values shaping our collective visions for the future.
A Drive to Survive
How the purposive behavior of living systems outstrips the constraints of the free energy principle. Since 2005, Karl Friston's proposal that the principle of free energy minimization underpins the purposive behavior of living agents has evolved through thousands of publications. This principle's central move is to formalize the drive for self-preservation in terms of a single probabilistic imperative: to survive, a living system must consistently exhibit the same "most likely" pattern of activity over time. Despite the simplicity of this central claim, the free energy principle's complexity and rate of development have previously made it difficult to identify and evaluate. In A Drive to Survive, Kathryn Nave offers an extended critical analysis of the strengths and limitations of Friston's proposal. Nave shows that the free energy principle's capacity to account for the biological origins of purposiveness is undermined by its applicability to any stable inanimate system. As this triviality has become apparent, so advocates have begun to reframe the free energy principle as a means to eliminate, rather than explain, the notion of distinctively biological purposiveness. This, Nave proposes, gets things the wrong way around. The triviality of free energy minimization does not prove that there is no difference in kind between living agents and ordinary machines, but rather it reflects that the framework cannot capture the intrinsic instability and unpredictability that distinguish the former.
Zoonomia; Or, the Laws of Organic Life, Vol. I
Zoonomia; Or, the Laws of Organic Life, Vol. I" is a classic book, that has held significant value throughout history, and to ensure its timeless wisdom is never lost, Alpha Editions has carefully preserved it by republishing it in a modern, accessible format for both present and future generations. Thoughtfully reformatted, retyped, and newly designed, this edition offers a clear and readable text-free from scanned copies of the original work. Alpha Editions is dedicated to breathing new life into antique and classic books, making these literary treasures available once again for readers who cherish history, culture, and timeless knowledge.
Zoonomia; Or, the Laws of Organic Life, Vol. II
Zoonomia; Or, the Laws of Organic Life, Vol. II" is a classic book, that has held significant value throughout history, and to ensure its timeless wisdom is never lost, Alpha Editions has carefully preserved it by republishing it in a modern, accessible format for both present and future generations. Thoughtfully reformatted, retyped, and newly designed, this edition offers a clear and readable text-free from scanned copies of the original work. Alpha Editions is dedicated to breathing new life into antique and classic books, making these literary treasures available once again for readers who cherish history, culture, and timeless knowledge.
The A.B.-Z. of our own nutrition
The A.B.-Z. of our own nutrition" is a classic book, that has held significant value throughout history, and to ensure its timeless wisdom is never lost, Alpha Editions has carefully preserved it by republishing it in a modern, accessible format for both present and future generations. Thoughtfully reformatted, retyped, and newly designed, this edition offers a clear and readable text-free from scanned copies of the original work. Alpha Editions is dedicated to breathing new life into antique and classic books, making these literary treasures available once again for readers who cherish history, culture, and timeless knowledge.
The Social Dimensions of Scientific Knowledge
This Element is about the social dimensions of scientific knowledge. The first section asks in what ways scientific knowledge is social. The second section develops a conception of scientific knowledge that accommodates the insights of the first section, and is consonant with mainstream thinking about knowledge in analytic epistemology. The third section asks under what conditions we can tell, in the real world, that a consensus in a scientific community amounts to shared scientific knowledge, as characterized in the second section, and how to deal with scientific dissent. The fourth section reviews the ways epistemic and social elements mutually interact to coproduce scientific knowledge. This Element engages with literature from philosophy of science and social epistemology, especially social epistemology of science, as well as Science, Technology, and Society (STS), and analytic epistemology. The Element focuses on themes and debates that date from the start of the second millennium.
