This book offers a bold new interpretation of American business history during the formative years 1870-1920, which mark the dawn of modern big business. It focuses on four major revolutions that ushered in this new era: those in power, transportation, communication, and organization. Using the metaphor of America as an economic hothouse uniquely suited to rapid economic growth during these years, it analyzes the interplay of key factors such as entrepreneurial talent, technology, land, natural resources, law, mass markets, and the rise of cities. It also delineates the process that laid the foundation for the modern era, in which virtually every human activity became a business, and, in most cases, a big business. The book also profiles numerous major entrepreneurs whose careers and activities illustrate broader trends and themes. It utilizes a wide variety of sources, including novels from the period, to produce a lively narrative.

To an algebraist the theory of group characters presents one of those fascinating situations, where the structure of an abstract system is elucidated by a unique set of numbers inherent in the system. But the subject also has a practical aspect, since group characters have gained importance in several branches of science, in which considerations of symmetry play a decisive part. This is an introductory text, suitable for final-year undergraduates or postgraduate students. The only prerequisites are a standard knowledge of linear algebra and a modest acquaintance with group theory. Especial care has been taken to explain how group characters are computed. The character tables of most of the familiar accessible groups are either constructed in the text or included amongst the exercise, all of which are supplied with solutions. The chapter on permutation groups contains a detailed account of the characters of the symmetric group based on the generating function of Frobenius and on the Schur functions. The exposition has been made self-sufficient by the inclusion of auxiliary material on skew-symmetric polynomials, determinants and symmetric functions.

Fourier analysis is a subject that was born in physics but grew up in mathematics. Now it is part of the standard repertoire for mathematicians, physicists and engineers. In most books, this diversity of interest is often ignored, but here Dr Korner has provided a shop-window for some of the ideas, techniques and elegant results of Fourier analysis, and for their applications. These range from number theory, numerical analysis, control theory and statistics, to earth science, astronomy, and electrical engineering. Each application is placed in perspective by a short essay. The prerequisites are few (the reader with knowledge of second or third year undergraduate mathematics should have no difficulty following the text), and the style is lively and entertaining. In short, this stimulating account will be welcomed by all who like to read about more than the bare bones of a subject. For them this will be a meaty guide to Fourier analysis.

This is a new translation of and commentary on Pico della Mirandola's most famous work, the Oration on the Dignity of Man. It is the first English edition to provide readers with substantial notes on the text, essays that address the work's historical, philosophical and theological context, and a survey of its reception. Often called the 'Manifesto of the Renaissance', this brief but complex text was originally composed in 1486 as the inaugural speech for an assembly of intellectuals, which could have produced one of the most exhaustive metaphysical, theological and psychological debates in history, had Pope Innocent VIII not forbidden it. This edition of the Oration reflects the spirit of the original text in bringing together experts in different fields. Not unlike the debate Pico optimistically anticipated, the resulting work is superior to the sum of its parts.

Future Imperfect describes and discusses a variety of technological revolutions that might happen over the next few decades, their implications and how to deal with them. Topics range from encryption and surveillance through biotechnology and nanotechnology to life extension, mind drugs, virtual reality and artificial intelligence. One theme of the book is that the future is radically uncertain. Technological changes already begun could lead to more or less privacy than we have ever known, freedom or slavery, effective immortality or the elimination of our species, and radical changes in life, marriage, law, medicine, work and play. We do not know which future will arrive, but it is unlikely to be much like the past. It is worth starting to think about it now.

The central claim of Measuring the Mind is that, contrary to popular opinion, the psychologists who dominated educational policy-making between the wars were educational progressives and political radicals. They argued that education should reflect the requirements of children rather than the convenience of adults, and regarded intelligence testing as an instrument of child-centred education. These psychologists owed their political inspiration to the meritocratic ideal and lost popularity with the waning of this ideal after the war. Four main themes dominate the discussion: the emergence of educational psychology as a distinct discipline; the recent history of ideas about children's mental development; the role of experts in formulating educational policy; and the rise and fall of the measurement of merit.

The Physics of Information Technology, first published in 2000, explores the familiar devices that we use to collect, transform, transmit, and interact with electronic information. Many such devices operate surprisingly close to very many fundamental physical limits. Understanding how such devices work, and how they can (and cannot) be improved, requires deep insight into the character of physical law as well as engineering practice. The book starts with an introduction to units, forces, and the probabilistic foundations of noise and signalling, then progresses through the electromagnetics of wired and wireless communications, and the quantum mechanics of electronic, optical, and magnetic materials, to discussions of mechanisms for computation, storage, sensing, and display. This self-contained volume will help both physical scientists and computer scientists see beyond the conventional division between hardware and software to understand the implications of physical theory for information manipulation.

This book, about the nature and techniques of mathematical modeling, is oriented towards simple efficient implementations on computers. The text is in three sections. The first covers exact and approximate analytical techniques; the second, numerical methods; the third, model inference based on observations; and the last, the special role of time in modeling. Each of the topics in the book would be the worthy subject of a dedicated text, but only by presenting the material in this way is it possible to make so much material accessible to so many people. Each chapter presents a concise summary of the core results in an area, providing an orientation to what they can (and cannot) do, enough background to use them to solve typical problems, and pointers to access the literature for particular applications. The text is complemented by extensive worked problems.

Markov chains are central to the understanding of random processes. This is not only because they pervade the applications of random processes, but also because one can calculate explicitly many quantities of interest. This textbook, aimed at advanced undergraduate or MSc students with some background in basic probability theory, focuses on Markov chains and quickly develops a coherent and rigorous theory whilst showing also how actually to apply it. Both discrete-time and continuous-time chains are studied. A distinguishing feature is an introduction to more advanced topics such as martingales and potentials in the established context of Markov chains. There are applications to simulation, economics, optimal control, genetics, queues and many other topics, and exercises and examples drawn both from theory and practice. It will therefore be an ideal text either for elementary courses on random processes or those that are more oriented towards applications.

American Science and Modern China is an essay in comparative history, originally published in 1980. It focuses on the transmission of scientific ideas and organizations from the United States to China, a topic interesting primarily for what it reveals about the social history of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American science. The main themes concern how scientific traditions and institutions that were developed in one setting served as models for the creation of new ones elsewhere, what modifications were induced by this change of environment, and what these modifications imply about the interdependence of scientific knowledge and social life. The book deals with a number of individuals and organizations involved in the development of modern science in China. Dr Buck examines their views of science's place among the forces for change in China, describes their efforts to build institutional bases for science, and sets their plans and programs in broad social and intellectual contexts.

This is a full-length history of the Western Electric Company, which was the manufacturing arm of the Bell System. As manufacturer in the communications revolutions in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Western Electric made products that accelerated society's pace, such as telegraphs, telephones, an early computing machine, radios, radar and transistors. Western's history offers numerous examples of the difference between innovation and implementation. The aftermath of Western's 1882 acquisition by Bell Telephone, for instance, reveals vertical integration as a lengthy process rather than a single event. Ironically, although Western transformed business worldwide with innovations in areas such as quality control and industrial psychology, the company was slow to implement these innovations itself. Western's dual role as captive supplier for a regulated monopoly and as government contractor led to its most rapid change, in the area of civil rights.

The place of science and technology in the British economy and society is widely seen as critical to our understanding of the British 'decline'. There is a long tradition of characterising post-1870 Britain by its lack of enthusiasm for science and by the low social status of the practitioners of technology. David Edgerton examines these assumptions, analysing the arguments for them and pointing out the different intellectual traditions from which they arise. Drawing on a wealth of statistical data, he argues that British innovation and technical training were much stronger than is generally believed, and that from 1870 to 1970 Britain's innovative record was comparable to that of Germany. This book is a comprehensive study of the history of British science and technology in relation to economic performance. It will be of interest to scientists and engineers as well as economic historians, and will be invaluable to students approaching the subject for the first time.

This book examines the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-5, a significant event in world history virtually ignored in Western literature. Japan so rapidly defeated China that citizens of Europe suddenly perceived Japan, not only as the dominant power of Asia, but also as a key international player. Western disgust with Chinese military performance led to their rapidly growing intrusions on Chinese sovereignty while Japan soon became an ally of the ruling superpower, Great Britain. To the present day, China is still struggling to reverse the judgment of this war and restore its regional dominance.

This is the first book to place Russia's 'long' eighteenth century squarely in its European context. The conceptual framework is set out in an opening critique of modernisation which, while rejecting its linear implications, maintains its focus on the relationship between government, economy and society. Following a chronological introduction, a series of thematic chapters (covering topics such as finance and taxation, society, government and politics, culture, ideology, and economy) emphasise the ways in which Russia's international ambitions as an emerging great power provoked administrative and fiscal reforms with wide-ranging (and often unanticipated) social consequences. This thematic analysis allows Simon Dixon to demonstrate that the more the tsars tried to modernise their state, the more backward their empire became. A chronology and critical bibliography are also provided to allow students to discover more about this colourful period of Russian history.

Why has autonomy been a leading idea in philosophical writing on bioethics, and why has trust been marginal? In this important book, Onora O'Neill suggests that the conceptions of individual autonomy so widely relied on in bioethics are philosophically and ethically inadequate, and that they undermine rather than support relations of trust. She shows how Kant's non-individualistic view of autonomy provides a stronger basis for an approach to medicine, science and biotechnology, and does not marginalize untrustworthiness, while also explaining why trustworthy individuals and institutions are often undeservingly mistrusted. Her arguments are illustrated with issues raised by practices such as the use of genetic information by the police or insurers, research using human tissues, uses of new reproductive technologies, and media practices for reporting on medicine, science and technology. Autonomy and Trust in Bioethics will appeal to a wide range of readers in ethics, bioethics and related disciplines.