"natural theology > notes > 2016 > Sunday 14 February"

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Beale, R, and T Jackson, Neural Computing: An Introduction, Adam Hilger 1991 Jacket: '. . . starts from basics and goes on to cover all the most important approaches to the subject. . . . The capabilities, advantages and disadvantages of each model are discussed as are possible applications of each. The relationship of the models developed to the brain and its functions are also explored.'
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Cantor, Georg, Contributions to the Founding of the Theory of Transfinite Numbers (Translated, with Introduction and Notes by Philip E B Jourdain), Dover 1955 Jacket: 'One of the greatest mathematical classics of all time, this work established a new field of mathematics which was to be of incalculable importance in topology, number theory, analysis, theory of functions, etc, as well as the entire field of modern logic.'
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Dirac, P A M, The Principles of Quantum Mechanics (4th ed), Oxford UP/Clarendon 1983 Jacket: '[this] is the standard work in the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics, indispensible both to the advanced student and the mature research worker, who will always find it a fresh source of knowledge and stimulation.' (Nature)
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Feynman, Richard P, and Robert B Leighton, Matthew Sands, The Feynman Lectures on Physics (volume 3) : Quantum Mechanics, Addison Wesley 1970 Foreword: 'This set of lectures tries to elucidate from the beginning those features of quantum mechanics which are the most basic and the most general. . . . In each instance the ideas are introduced together with a detailed discussion of some specific examples - to try to make the physical ideas as real as possible.' Matthew Sands
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Khinchin, Aleksandr Yakovlevich, Mathematical Foundations of Information Theory (translated by P A Silvermann and M D Friedman), Dover 1957 Jacket: 'The first comprehensive introduction to information theory, this book places the work begun by Shannon and continued by McMillan, Feinstein and Khinchin on a rigorous mathematical basis. For the first time, mathematicians, statisticians, physicists, cyberneticists and communications engineers are offered a lucid, comprehensive introduction to this rapidly growing field.'
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Pais, Abraham, Inward Bound: Of Matter and Forces in the Physical World, Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press 1986 Preface: 'I will attempt to describe what has been discovered and understood about the constituents of matter, the laws to which they are subject and the forces that act on them [in the period 1895-1983]. . . . I will attempt to convey that these have been times of progress and stagnation, of order and chaos, of belief and incredulity, of the conventional and the bizarre; also of revolutionaries and conservatives, of science by individuals and by consortia, of little gadgets and big machines, and of modest funds and big moneys.' AP
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Schwinger, Julian, and (editor), Selected Papers on Quantum Electrodynamics, Dover 1958 Jacket: In this volume the history of quantum electrodynamics is dramatically unfolded through the original words of its creators. It ranges from the initial successes, to the first signs of crisis, and then, with the stimulus of experimental discovery, the new triumphs leading to an unparalleled quantitative accord between theory and experiment. In terminates with the present position in quantum electrodynamics as part of the larger subject of theory of elementary particles, faced with fundamental problems and future prospect of even more revolutionary discoveries.'
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van der Waerden, B L, Sources of Quantum Mechanics, Dover Publications 1968 Amazon Book Description: 'Seventeen seminal papers, dating from the years 1917-26, in which the quantum theory as wenow know it was developed and formulated. Among the scientists represented: Einstein,Ehrenfest, Bohr, Born, Van Vleck, Heisenberg, Dirac, Pauli and Jordan. All 17 papers translatedinto English.'
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Wiener, Norbert, Cybernetics or control and communication in the animal and the machine, MIT Press 1996 The classic founding text of cybernetics.
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Links

Alan Turing, On Computable Numbers, with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem, 'The “computable” numbers may be described briefly as the real numbers whose expressions as a decimal are calculable by finite means. Although the subject of this paper is ostensibly the computable numbers, it is almost equally easy to define and investigate computable functions of an integral variable or a real or computable variable, computable predicates, and so forth. The fundamental problems involved are, however, the same in each case, and I have chosen the computable numbers for explicit treatment as involving the least cumbrous technique.' back

Apple Inc., Mac Dev Center:Mac OS X Technology Overview: Mac OSX System Overview, 'A Layered Approach The implementation of Mac OS X can be viewed as a set of layers. At the lower layers of the system are the fundamental services on which all software relies. Subsequent layers contain more sophisticated services and technologies that build on (or complement) the layers below.' back

Differential equation - Wikipedia, Differential equation - Wikipedia,the free encyclopedia, 'A differential equation is a mathematical equation for an unknown function of one or several variables that relates the values of the function itself and its derivatives of various orders. Differential equations play a prominent role in engineering, physics, economics, and other disciplines. Differential equations arise in many areas of science and technology, specifically whenever a deterministic relation involving some continuously varying quantities (modeled by functions) and their rates of change in space and/or time (expressed as derivatives) is known or postulated. This is illustrated in classical mechanics, where the motion of a body is described by its position and velocity as the time value varies. Newton's laws allow one (given the position, velocity, acceleration and various forces acting on the body) to express these variables dynamically as a differential equation for the unknown position of the body as a function of time. In some cases, this differential equation (called an equation of motion) may be solved explicitly. back

Dynamics (physics) - Wikipedia, Dynamics (physics) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In the field of physics, the study of the causes of motion and changes in motion is dynamics.' back

FIFA (Federation International de Football Association), FIFA - Laws of the Game, 'On 1 July 2009, the new Laws of the Game, modified at the 123rd Annual General Meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in Newcastle, Northern Ireland on 28 February 2009, came into force.' back

Formalism (mathematics) - Wikipedia, Formalism (mathematics) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In foundations of mathematics, philosophy of mathematics, and philosophy of logic, formalism is a theory that holds that statements of mathematics and logic can be thought of as statements about the consequences of certain string manipulation rules. For example, Euclidean geometry can be seen as a game whose play consists in moving around certain strings of symbols called axioms according to a set of rules called "rules of inference" to generate new strings. In playing this game one can "prove" that the Pythagorean theorem is valid because the string representing the Pythagorean theorem can be constructed using only the stated rules.' back

Frank Brennan, Cardinal Pell, his lawyers and the Royal Commission, 'The fact that these men were sexually abused as children is uncontested. The issue is whether their claims that Pell knew or tried to effect some form of cover-up are true and accurate recollections. Given the high degree of scrutiny applied to Pell by the commission and the media, it's only fair that he have his lawyers cross examine these two victims who claim that he did not want to know that abuse occurred or even worse, that he tried to cover it up. And it is appropriate given that both Green and Ridsdale have indicated they have no objection being recalled to be so examined.' back

Free Software Foundation, Free Software Foundation - GNU Project - FSF, 'What we do The FSF advocates for free software ideals as outlined in the Free Software Definition, works for adoption of free software and free media formats, and organizes activist campaigns against threats to user freedom like Windows 7, Apple's iPhone and OS X, DRM on ebooks and movies, and software patents. We drive development of the GNU operating system and maintain a list of high-priority free software projects to promote replacements for common proprietary applications. We build and update resources useful for the free software community like the Free Software and Hardware Directories, and the free software jobs board. We also provide licenses for free software developers to share their code, including the GNU General Public License.' back

Kamel Daoud, The Sexual Misery of the Arab World, 'The attacks on Western women by Arab migrants in Cologne, Germany, on New Year’s Eve evoked the harassment of women in Tahrir Square itself during the heady days of the Egyptian revolution. The reminder has led people in the West to realize that one of the great miseries plaguing much of the so-called Arab world, and the Muslim world more generally, is its sick relationship with women. In some places, women are veiled, stoned and killed; at a minimum, they are blamed for sowing disorder in the ideal society. In response, some European countries have taken to producing guides of good conduct to refugees and migrants.' back

Kristina Keneally, When I first geard Tim Minchon's song about Cardinal Pell. I laughted. The I started crying, 'But a whimsical, acerbic and mocking take down of Cardinal Pell? What’s there to cry about? For starters, it provoked sorrow at my loss of faith in the church, an organisation that has done much good but nonetheless values its rules, assets, and male privilege above all else. I cried because there was little else I could do with my deep fury that neither Pell nor his mates at the Vatican appear to take seriously the need to respond fully and openly, and to reform the church, in the face of the child sexual abuse crisis.' back

Laurie Goodstein, Catholic Leaders Say Zika Doesn't Change Ban on Contraception, 'As the Zika virus spreads in Latin America, Catholic leaders are warning women against using contraceptives or having abortions, even as health officials in some countries are advising women not to get pregnant because of the risk of birth defects. . . . “Contraceptives are not a solution,” said Bishop Leonardo Ulrich Steiner, the secretary general of the National Council of Bishops of Brazil, and an auxiliary bishop of Brasília, in an interview. “There is not a single change in the church’s position.”' back

Mandy Len Caron, Five myths about love, 'Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is...detectable on an fMRI scan? Poets have written about love for millennia, but only recently has it become a subject of serious scientific pursuit. Psychologists, biologists, economists and anthropologists are all investigating the role of love in our lives and our culture.' back

Max Costello, Obey 'the boss' or obey the law? The dilemma od detention policy, 'The Department of Immigration and Border Protection is considering returning — to the Manus Island or Nauru detention centres — each of the 267 asylum seekers who are currently in Australia to receive medical (including psychiatric) treatment, or, in a few instances, to support a family member receiving treatment. However, each “return or not return” decision is not a matter of pure discretion, it’s a matter of law — hence, as we shall see, the dilemma. Specifically, the decision-making is governed by the criteria set out in the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth). The WHS Act applies to all detention centres because each one is a Commonwealth “workplace” as defined by Section 8.' back

Schrödinger equation - Wikipedia, Schrödinger equation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In physics, the Schrödinger equation, proposed by the Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1926, describes the space- and time-dependence of quantum mechanical systems. It is of central importance in non-relativistic quantum mechanics, playing a role for microscopic particles analogous to Newton's second law in classical mechanics for macroscopic particles. Microscopic particles include elementary particles, such as electrons, as well as systems of particles, such as atomic nuclei.' back

Stephanie Kirchgaessner, Vatican riven by internal battle over handling of child abuse claims, 'A battle is being waged within the Vatican over how senior clergy ought to handle accusations of sexual abuse amid signs that a special commission created by Pope Francis to handle the issue is being sidelined by senior church officials in Rome. The rift was exposed after a report in the Guardian about a training course that was offered to new bishops last year in which a controversial French monsignor instructed them that it was “not necessarily” their duty to report accusations of abuse to law enforcement authorities if local laws did not require it. That stance was rejected this week by Pope Francis’s point man on abuse issues, Boston cardinal Seán O’Malley, who heads a special pontifical commission to protect minors.' back

Stephanie Kirchgaessner, Catholic bishops not obliged to report clerical child abuse, Vatican says, 'The Catholic church is telling newly appointed bishops that it is “not necessarily” their duty to report accusations of clerical child abuse and that only victims or their families should make the decision to report abuse to police. . . . “According to the state of civil laws of each country where reporting is obligatory, it is not necessarily the duty of the bishop to report suspects to authorities, the police or state prosecutors in the moment when they are made aware of crimes or sinful deeds,” the training document states. back

themedicalbiochemistrypage.org, Muscle Biochemistry: Structure and Function, 'Current understanding of the molecular events underlying muscle contraction is embodied in the sliding filament model of muscle contraction. The model is applicable to smooth, skeletal, cardiac, and other contractile activity, including mechanochemical events such as single cell locomotion and receptor endocytosis. Since the biochemistry of these activities are best understood for skeletal muscle, this discussion focus on skeletal muscle (noting, where appropriate, differences in the other muscle types). The biochemical characteristics that differentiate fast-reacting and slow-reacting cells in muscle tissue and the biochemical basis of some common patho-physiological states of muscle, including tetany, fatigue, and rigor mortis are reviewed as well.' back

Victor M Fic, The tantra: its origin, theories, art and diffusion from India to Nepal, Tibet, China, Mongolia and Indonesia, Preface: 'The Tantra is a body of theories, techniques and rituals developed in India in antiquity. It has two fundamental aspects. The first aspect of the Tantra is the theory of creation, which posits that the universe has no beginning and no end, and that all its manifestations are merely the projections of the divine energy of its Creator. The second aspect of Tantra is the belief that the performance of Tantrik techniques and rituals facilitates access to this divine energy, enabling their practitioners to empower themselves, as well as other associated with them in the guru-disciple relationship. Thus the knowledge and proper application of Tantrik techniques and rituals is believed to harness the Creator's cosmic energies to the promotion of the mundane as well as the spiritual goals of their practitioners.' back

Wojciech Hubert Zurek, Quantum origin of quantum jumps: breaking of unitary symmetry induced by information transfer and the transition from quantum to classical, 'Submitted on 17 Mar 2007 (v1), last revised 18 Mar 2008 (this version, v3)) "Measurements transfer information about a system to the apparatus, and then further on -- to observers and (often inadvertently) to the environment. I show that even imperfect copying essential in such situations restricts possible unperturbed outcomes to an orthogonal subset of all possible states of the system, thus breaking the unitary symmetry of its Hilbert space implied by the quantum superposition principle. Preferred outcome states emerge as a result. They provide framework for the ``wavepacket collapse'', designating terminal points of quantum jumps, and defining the measured observable by specifying its eigenstates. In quantum Darwinism, they are the progenitors of multiple copies spread throughout the environment -- the fittest quantum states that not only survive decoherence, but subvert it into carrying information about them -- into becoming a witness.' back

vol VII: Notes

2016

Notes

Sunday 14 February 2016

Monday 15 February 2016

Tuesday 16 February 2016

Wednesday 17 February 2016

Thursday 18 February 2016

Friday 19 February 2016

Saturday 20 February 2016

Further reading

Books

Links