Combining the experience of strength...

Should the hard questions of philosophy matter to ordinary people? In this down-to-earth, nonhistorical guide, Thomas Nagel, the distinguished author of Mortal Questions and The View From Nowhere, brings philosophical problems to life, revealing in vivid, accessible prose why they have continued to fascinate and baffle...

The Analytic Network Process (ANP), developed by Thomas Saaty in his work on multicriteria decision making, applies network structures with dependence and feedback to complex decision making. This new edition of Decision Making with the Analytic Network Process is a selection of the latest applications of ANP to economic, social and...

Optics is a science which covers a very large domain and is experiencing indisputable growth. It has enabled the development of a considerable number of instruments, the optical component or methodology of which is often the essential part of portent systems. This book sets out show how optical physical phenomena such as lasers – the...

Have you ever wondered how your GPS can find the fastest way to your destination, selecting one route from seemingly countless possibilities in mere seconds? How your credit card account number is protected when you make a purchase over the Internet? The answer is algorithms. And how do these mathematical formulations translate themselves...

Sound is an integral part of every user experience but a neglected medium in design disciplines. Design of an artifact's sonic qualities is often limited to the shaping of functional, representational, and signaling roles of sound. The interdisciplinary field of sonic interaction design (SID) challenges these prevalent approaches by...

The accounting department is a cost center. It does not directly generate revenues, but, rather, provides a fi xed set of services to the rest of the company, and is asked to do so at the lowest possible cost. Consequently, the accounting staff is called on to process transactions, write reports, create new processes, or investigate old...

Hero of Alexandria had a great idea. In the first century ad, Hero’s design of the fi rst steam engine was ingenious and workable. Indeed, classical scholars have argued that it could have been combined with other inventions of the era to create a steam locomotive and railroad, transforming commerce and military affairs in the ancient...

This book has benefited from the generous assistance and support of many individuals and institutions. The study leading to this book began at the University of Hawaii at Manoa when I was a graduate student. I have had wonderful teachers: Roger Ames, Jack Bilmes, Fred...