This rigourous and self-contained book describes mathematicaland, in particular, stochastic methods to assess the performance ofnetworked systems. It consists of three parts. The first part is areview on probability theory. Part two covers the classical theoryof stochastic processes (Poisson, renewal, Markov and queuingtheory), which are considered to be the basic building blocks forperformance evaluation studies. Part three focuses on therelatively new field of the physics of networks. This part dealswith the recently obtained insights that many very different largecomplex networks - such as the Internet, World Wide Web, proteins,utility infrastructures, social networks - evolve and behaveaccording to more general common scaling laws. This understandingis useful when assessing the end-to-end quality of communicationsservices, for example, in Internet telephony, real-time video andinteracting games. Containing problems and solutions, this book isideal for graduate students taking courses in performanceanalys

Available for the first time in paperback, The Quantum Theory ofFields is a self-contained, comprehensive, and up-to-dateintroduction to quantum field theory from Nobel Laureate StevenWeinberg. The first volume introduces the foundations of quantumfield theory, the second volume examines modern applications, andfinally, the third volume presents supersymmetry, an area oftheoretical physics likely to be at the center of progress in thephysics of elementary particles and gravitation. The development isfresh and logical throughout, with each step carefully motivated bywhat has preceded. The presentation of modern mathematical methodsis interwoven with accounts of applications in both elementaryparticle and condensed matter physics. The three volumes containmuch original material, and are enhanced with examples and insightsdrawn from the author's experience as a leader of elementaryparticle research. Hb ISBN (1995) Vol.1 0-521-55001-7 Hb ISBN(1996) Vol.2 0-521-55002-5 Hb ISBN (1996) Vols. 1 and 2 Set0-521-58555-

We may know that Einstein was the epitome of genius, but howmany of us know what his theory really means, and what itsrealistic implications are? Einstein and Relativity presents adistillation of Einstein's life and work within their historicaland scientific contexts; and offers a truly accessible explanationof the concept that shaped the twentieth century. Just a few of thebig ideas covered here are Einstein's discovery that light is botha particle and a wave; how Einstein proved the existence ofmolecules; why there is no such thing as real time; and howEinstein's brilliance led to his worst nightmare - the atombomb.

Diane Ackerman's lusciously written grand tour of the realm ofthe senses includes conversations with an iceberg in Antarctica anda professional nose in New York, along with dissertations on kissesand tattoos, sadistic cuisine and the music played by the planetEarth. "Delightful . . . gives the reader the richest possiblefeeling of the worlds the senses take in."--The New York Times.(Literature--Classics Contemporary)

The multidisciplinary field of quantum computing strives toexploit some of the uncanny aspects of quantum mechanics to expandour computational horizons. Quantum Computing for ComputerScientists takes readers on a tour of this fascinating area ofcutting-edge research. Written in an accessible yet rigorousfashion, this book employs ideas and techniques familiar to everystudent of computer science. The reader is not expected to have anyadvanced mathematics or physics background. After presenting thenecessary prerequisites, the material is organized to look atdifferent aspects of quantum computing from the specific standpointof computer science. There are chapters on computer architecture,algorithms, programming languages, theoretical computer science,cryptography, information theory, and hardware. The text hasstep-by-step examples, more than two hundred exercises withsolutions, and programming drills that bring the ideas of quantumcomputing alive for today's computer science students andresearchers.

Research clearly indicates that ethnic groups differsignificantly on levels of mental and physical health, antisocialbehavior, and educational attainment. This book explains thesevariations among ethnic groups with respect to their psychologicaland social functioning and tests competing hypotheses about themechanisms that might cause the functioning to be better, worse, ordifferent in pattern from other groups. Attention is paid toeducational attainments, antisocial behavior, schizophrenia andsuicide, and to the complex and changing patterns of ethnicidentity. The book also focuses on evidence on risk and protectivefactors that is used systematically to ask whether such factorsmight account for the differences in both migration histories andethnic mixture. It concludes with a discussion of the multiplemeanings of ethnicity, the major variations among ethnic groups,and the policy implications of the findings discussed in thebook.

From Publishers Weekly In this lively volume, Cambridge physicist Barrow (The Book ofNothing) considers the natural constants-the handful of seeminglyeternal numerical values, such as the speed of light, the weight ofthe proton, Planck's constant or the four dimensions of space andtime-that constitute the "bedrock" of physical reality. Theseconstants quantify some of the simplest statements that sciencemakes about the world, but as this fascinating work of popularscience demonstrates, they have profound implications for the fateof the universe and our place within it. And, Barrow hints, theymight not be truly constant. He traces scientists' evolvingunderstanding of the natural constants as they grew to assume acentral role in modern relativity theory and quantum mechanics, andoutlines ongoing attempts to determine whether they are justinexplicable facts of nature or the logical consequence of somefundamental Theory of Everything. He also raises importantphilosophical and even religious questions. The n

From one of the most significant neuroscientists at worktoday, a pathbreaking investigation of a question that hasconfounded philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists forcenturies: how is consciousness created? Antonio Damasio has spent the past thirty years studying andwriting about how the brain operates, and his work has garneredacclaim for its singular melding of the scientific and thehumanistic. In Self Comes to Mind, he goes against thelong-standing idea that consciousness is somehow separate from thebody, presenting compelling new scientific evidence thatconsciousness—what we think of as a mind with a self—is to beginwith a biological process created by a living organism. Besides thethree traditional perspectives used to study the mind (theintrospective, the behavioral, and the neurological), Damasiointroduces an evolutionary perspective that entails a radicalchange in the way the history of conscious minds is viewed andtold. He also advances a radical hypothesis regarding the o

In Electric Universe , David Bodanis weaves tales ofromance, divine inspiration, and fraud through a lucid account ofthe invisible force that permeates our universe. In these pages thevirtuoso scientists who plumbed the secrets of electricity comevividly to life, including familiar giants like Thomas Edison; thevisionary Michael Faraday, who struggled against the prejudices ofthe British class system; and Samuel Morse, a painter who, beforeinventing the telegraph, ran for mayor of New York on a platform ofpersecuting Catholics. Here too is Alan Turing, whose dream of amarvelous thinking machine—what we know as the computer—was metwith indifference, and who ended his life in despair after Britishauthorities forced him to undergo experimental treatments to “cure”his homosexuality. From the frigid waters of the Atlantic to the streets of Hamburgduring a World War II firestorm to the interior of the human body, Electric Universe is a mesmerizing journey of discovery by amaster science writer.