The Politics of Scientific Advice: Institutional Design for Quality Assurance By Justus Lentsch, Peter Weingart

Publisher: C==U==P 2011 | 402 Pages | ISBN: 1107003709 , 0521177154 | PDF | 2 MB

Controversies over issues such as genetically engineered food, foot-and-mouth disease and the failure of risk models in the global financial crisis have raised concerns about the quality of expert scientific advice. The legitimacy of experts, and of the political decision-makers and policy-makers whom they advise, essentially depends on the quality of the advice. But what does quality mean in this context, and how can it be achieved? This volume argues that the quality of scientific advice can be ensured by an appropriate institutional design of advisory organisations. Using examples from a wide range of international case studies, including think tanks, governmental research institutes, agencies and academies, the authors provide a systematic guide to the major problems and pitfalls encountered in scientific advice and the means by which organisations around the world have solved these problems.

Michael E. Edmonds, Alethea V. M. Foster, Lee Sanders, "A Practical Manual of Diabetic Foot Care"

English | 2004-02-02 | ISBN: 1405107154 | 248 pages | PDF | 30.4 mb
This book is a practical clinical manual for the diagnosis, treatment - both medical and surgical - and the long-term care of foot problems in people with diabetes. The authors are world-renowned experts in this subject and they present the internationally recognized best practice.
The clinical chapters are presented in a structured, color-coded format to allow easy reference. The text also includes highlighted best clinical practice tips. Each chapter is accompanied by high-quality, full-color photographs that provide excellent examples of the earliest presenting signs as well as illustrating the step-by-step guidance on treatment. This book is an essential manual for every healthcare professional involved in the care of patients with diabetes.

E. L. Lawler, Jan Karel Lenstra, A. H. G. Rinnooy Kan, D. B. Shmoys, "The Traveling Salesman Problem: A Guided Tour of Combinatorial Optimization"

English | 1985-09-19 | ISBN: 0471904139 | 476 pages | DJVU | 8.5 mb
Provides an in-depth treatment of the Traveling Salesman problem--the archetypical problem in combinatorial optimization. Each chapter deals with a different aspect of the problem, and has been written by an acknowledged expert in the field. Focusses on the essential ideas in a self-contained manner. Includes exercises and an extensive bibliography.

Paul Vitanyi, Ming Li, "An Introduction to Kolmogorov Complexity and Its Applications"

English | 1993-10-19 | ISBN: 3540940537 | 566 pages | DJVU | 4.8 mb
With this book, the authors are trying to present in a unified treatment an introduction to the central ideas and their applications of the Kolmogorov Complexity, the theory dealing with the quantity of information in individual objects. This book is appropriate for either a one- or two-semester introductory course in departments of computer science, mathematics, physics, probability theory and statistics, artificial intelligence, and philosophy. Although the mathematical theory of Kolmogorov complexity contains sophisticated mathematics, the amount of math one needs to know to apply the notions in widely divergent areas, is very little. The authors' purpose is to develop the theory in detail and outline a wide range of illustrative applications. This book is an attempt to grasp the mass of fragmented knowledge of this fascinating theory. Chapter 1 is a compilation of material on the diverse notations and disciplines we draw upon in order to make the book self-contained. The mathematical theory of Kolmogorov complexity is treated in chapters 2-4; the applications are treated in chapters 4-8.

Kin P. Cheung, "Plasma Charging Damage"

English | 2000-11-10 | ISBN: 1852331445 | 358 pages | PDF | 48.4 mb
This book provides an in-depth, comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of the subject of plasma charging damage in modern VLSI circuit manufacturing. It is written for beginners as well as practitioners. For beginners, this book presents an easy-to-follow, unified explanation of various charging-damage phenomena, the goal being to provide them with a solid foundation for taking on real damage problems encountered in VLSI manufacturing. For practitioners, it can help bridge the gap between disciplines by providing all of the necessary background materials in one place.
Drawing on the author's wide range of experience in plasma science, processing technologies, device physics and reliability physics, the text includes information on: - plasma and mechanisms of plasma damage;
- wear-out and breakdown of thin gate-oxides;
- the impact of processing equipment on damage;
- methods of damage measurement;
- damage management;
- gate-oxide scaling.

Jerome Engel, Timothy A. Pedley, Jean Aicardi, Marc A. Dichter, Solomon Mosh?, Emilio Perucca, Michael Trimble, "Epilepsy: A Comprehensive Textbook (3-volume set)"

English | 2007-09-28 | ISBN: 0781757770 | 3056 pages | CHM | 124.7 mb
Written and edited by world-renowned authorities, this three-volume work is, to quote a reviewer, "the definitive textbook about seizures and epilepsy". This Second Edition is thoroughly updated and gives you a complete print and multimedia package: the three-volume set plus access to an integrated content Website.
More than 300 chapters cover the spectrum of biology, physiology, and clinical information, from molecular biology to public health concerns in developing countries. Included are detailed discussions of seizure types and epilepsy syndromes; relationships between physiology and clinical events; psychiatric and medical comorbidity; conditions that could be mistaken for epilepsy; and an increasing range of pharmacologic, surgical, and alternative therapies, including vagus nerve stimulation and deep brain stimulation. This edition describes many new antiepileptic drugs, major advances in surgical treatment, and state-of-the-art neuroimaging, EEG, and other technologies for diagnosis and seizure prediction.
A companion Website offers instant access to the complete, fully searchable text, plus an image bank of additional figures, video footage, and annual updates to selected chapters.

John P. Fackler Jr., Larry R. Falvello, "Techniques in Inorganic Chemistry"

English | 2010-07-16 | ISBN: 1439815143 | 219 pages | PDF | 6.3 mb
Inorganic chemistry continues to generate much current interest due to its array of applications, ranging from materials to biology and medicine. Techniques in Inorganic Chemistry assembles a collection of articles from international experts who describe modern methods used by research students and chemists for studying the properties and structures of inorganic chemicals.
Crystallography and diffraction methods

The book begins by examining developments in small-molecule x-ray crystallography. It identifies some of the major advances, discusses current attitudes toward crystallography and its uses, and considers challenges and future prospects. It then examines how ab initio x-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) methods are used to determine structure, with discussions on metal pyrazolates, metal imidazolates, and metal pyrimidinolates. This is followed by a description of single crystal neutron diffraction, a powerful structural technique. The text highlights what can presently be achieved in neutron diffraction and discusses future applications of neutron scattering.
Reflecting the popularity of density functional calculations, the book includes a chapter that focuses on quantum chemistry. It examines the latest computational techniques and describes how these techniques can be applied to solve a wide range of real-world problems encountered in the realm of inorganic chemistry and particularly in transition metal chemistry. It also explains the intelligent use of quantum chemical methods for the determination of molecular structure, reactivity, and spectra of coordination and organometallic compounds.
Lastly, the text explores important spectroscopic approaches. It first describes intermolecular nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) NMR experiments and diffusion experiments, offering examples that demonstrate theoretical aspects of the methodology. The final chapter summarizes recent experimental and theoretical work on pressure effects on the d-d and luminescence spectra of transition metal complexes.
Derived from select articles in Comments on Inorganic Chemistry, this volume provides a solid background in the array of techniques available in the researcher’s toolkit.

Gerard A. Maugin, "Configurational Forces: Thermomechanics, Physics, Mathematics, and Numerics"

English | 2010-12-01 | ISBN: 143984612X | 562 pages | PDF | 4.4 mb
Exploring recent developments in continuum mechanics, Configurational Forces: Thermomechanics, Physics, Mathematics, and Numerics presents the general framework for configurational forces. It also covers a range of applications in engineering and condensed matter physics.
The author presents the fundamentals of accepted standard continuum mechanics, before introducing Eshelby material stress, field theory, variational formulations, Noether’s theorem, and the resulting conservation laws. In the chapter on complex continua, he compares the classical perspective of B.D. Coleman and W. Noll with the viewpoint linked to abstract field theory. He then describes the important notion of local structural rearrangement and its relationship to Eshelby stress. After looking at the relevance of Eshelby stress in the thermodynamic description of singular interfaces, the text focuses on fracture problems, microstructured media, systems with mass exchanges, and electromagnetic deformable media. The concluding chapters discuss the exploitation of the canonical conservation law of momentum in nonlinear wave propagation, the application of canonical-momentum conservation law and material force in numerical schemes, and similarities of fluid mechanics and aerodynamics.
Written by a long-time researcher in mechanical engineering, this book provides a detailed treatment of the theory of configurational forces—one of the latest and most fruitful advances in macroscopic field theories. Through many applications, it shows the depth and efficiency of this theory.