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In this volume, readers are introduced to Vygotsky's argument for a theoretical and methodological approach to differentiate A "higher" mental functions from the more basic brain processes that other theorists believed were at the center of the psychological apparatus. The famed Soviet psychologist's view of developmental issues as an intricately woven tapestry of functions includes analyses of: - the development of speech and written language - the mastering of attention and mnemonic skills - self-control and the higher, more cultivated forms of behavior - the cultural age, personality, and world view of children.

Basic Concepts in Information Theory and Coding is an outgrowth of a one­ semester introductory course that has been taught at the University of Southern California since the mid-1960s. Lecture notes from that course have evolved in response to student reaction, new technological and theoretical develop­ ments, and the insights of faculty members who have taught the course (in­ cluding the three of us). In presenting this material, we have made it accessible to a broad audience by limiting prerequisites to basic calculus and the ele­ mentary concepts of discrete probability theory. To keep the material suitable for a one-semester course, we have limited its scope to discrete information theory and a general discussion of coding theory without detailed treatment of algorithms for encoding and decoding for various specific code classes. Readers will find that this book offers an unusually thorough treatment of noiseless self-synchronizing codes, as well as the advantage of problem sections that have been honed by reactions and interactions of several gen­ erations of bright students, while Agent 00111 provides a context for the discussion of abstract concepts.

Incepted halfway through the 20th century, information theory is a classical yet modern field which is more vibrant than ever before. In particular, there have been a number of major research results on the foundation of the theory during the 1990s. These results enable information theory to be understood and explored in a way which has not been possible before, and they open new dimensions in the theory. In short, the depth of information theory is far beyond what we used to know. This book is an integration of the most fundamental topics in information theory plus a few selected advanced topics. Results given include the theory of I-Me asure, Shannon-type and non-Shannon-type information inequalities, and network coding theory. Some important implications of information theory in probability theory and group theory are also explained in this book. ITIP, the software package that comes with the book, is the only software package of its kind which can prove all Shannon-type information inequalities.

Knowledge acquisition is one of the most important aspects influencing the quality of methods used in artificial intelligence and the reliability of expert systems. The various issues dealt with in this volume concern many different approaches to the handling of partial knowledge and to the ensuing methods for reasoning and decision making under uncertainty, as applied to problems in artificial intelligence. The volume is composed of the invited and contributed papers presented at the Workshop on Mathematical Models for Handling Partial Knowledge in Artificial Intelligence, held at the Ettore Majorana Center for Scientific Culture of Erice (Sicily, Italy) on June 19-25, 1994, in the framework of the International School of Mathematics "G.Stampacchia". It includes also a transcription of the roundtable held during the workshop to promote discussions on fundamental issues, since in the choice of invited speakers we have tried to maintain a balance between the various schools of knowl­ edge and uncertainty modeling. Choquet expected utility models are discussed in the paper by Alain Chateauneuf: they allow the separation of perception of uncertainty or risk from the valuation of outcomes, and can be of help in decision mak­ ing. Petr Hajek shows that reasoning in fuzzy logic may be put on a strict logical (formal) basis, so contributing to our understanding of what fuzzy logic is and what one is doing when applying fuzzy reasoning.

The Five-Factor Model Across Cultures was designed to further an understanding of the interrelations between personality and culture by examining the dominant paradigm for personality assessment - the Five-Factor Model or FFM - in a wide variety of cultural contexts. This volume provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary research and theory about personality traits and culture that is extremely relevant to personality psychologists, cross-cultural psychologists, and psychological anthropologists.

The application of quantitative reliability evaluation in electric power sys­ tems has now evolved to the point at which most utilities use these techniques in one or more areas of their planning, design, and operation. Most of the techniques in use are based on analytical models and resulting analytical evaluation procedures. Improvements in and availability of high-speed digi­ tal computers have created the opportunity to analyze many of these prob­ lems using stochastic simulation methods and over the last decade there has been increased interest in and use made of Monte Carlo simulation in quantitative power system reliability assessment. Monte Carlo simulation is not a new concept and recorded applications have existed for at least 50 yr. However, localized high-speed computers with large-capacity storage have made Monte Carlo simulation an available and sometimes preferable option for many power system reliability applications. Monte Carlo simulation is also an integral part of a modern undergrad­ uate or graduate course on reliability evaluation of general engineering systems or specialized areas such as electric power systems. It is hoped that this textbook will help formalize the many existing applications of Monte Carlo simulation and assist in their integration in teaching programs. This book presents the basic concepts associated with Monte Carlo simulation.

''The review articles in this series are invariably of a high standard, and those contained in the most recent volumes to appear...are no exception.'' --- Journal of Plasma Physics, from a review of previous volumes. Volume 18 covers the dynamics of supersonic langmuir turbulence and wall plasma and alpha particles in tokamaks.

'The review articles in this series are invariably of a high standard, and those contained in the most recent volumes to appear are no exception....an excellent fund of detailed and reasonably up-to-date information.' -Journal of Plasma Physics, from a review of a previous volume Volume 19 offers plasma physicists detailed studies on paraxial WKB solution of a scalar wave equation, multiple-mirror plasma confinement, and plasma rotation in tokamaks.

This volume analyzes both the theoretical and experimental aspects of neutron spectroscopy of solids, whereby complex crystals may be analyzed in relation to the theories of symmetry and neutron scattering near a structural or magnetic transition.

In this easily-accessible textbook, the authors integrate the ill-posed problem theory and its underlying mathematical apparatus. This comprehensive work includes descriptions of recent results and a presentation of actual applications of the ill-posed problem theory. The first part of the book describes the differentiation of normed space mappings, the integration of the functions of abstract variables, and the theory of linear operators. The second section deals with the mathematical physics connected to integral equations of the first type, and with the bases of operator equation theory.

Author S.A. Stepanov thoroughly investigates the current state of the theory of Diophantine equations and its related methods. Discussions focus on arithmetic, algebraic-geometric, and logical aspects of the problem. Designed for students as well as researchers, the book includes over 250 excercises accompanied by hints, instructions, and references. Written in a clear manner, this text does not require readers to have special knowledge of modern methods of algebraic geometry.

This monograph constructs correct extensions of extremal problems, including problems of multicriteria optimization as well as more general cone optimization problems. The author obtains common conditions of stability and asymptotic nonsensitivity of extremal problems under perturbation of a part of integral restrictions for finite and infinite systems of restrictions. Features include individual chapters on nonstandard approximation of finitely additive measures by indefinite integrals and constructions of attraction sets. Professor Chentsov illustrates abstract settings by providing examples of problems of impulse control, mathematical programming, and stochastic optimization.

In this book, Yurii L. Ershov posits the view that computability-in the broadest sense-can be regarded as the Sigma-definability in the suitable sets. He presents a new approach to providing the Gödel incompleteness theorem based on systematic use of the formulas with the restricted quantifiers. The volume also includes a novel exposition on the foundations of the theory of admissible sets with urelements, using the Gandy theorem throughout the theory's development. Other topics discussed are forcing, Sigma-definability, dynamic logic, and Sigma-predicates of finite types.

The current volume includes articles on the elementary processes in nonsymmetric collisions of inert gas atoms, the parameters of gaseous dimers, and the physical properties of strongly coupled plasmas.

The notion of right-ordered groups is fundamental in theories of I-groups, ordered groups, torsion-free groups, and the theory of zero-divisors free rings, as well as in theoretical physics. Right-Ordered Groups is the first book to provide a systematic presentation of right-ordered group theory, describing all known and new results in the field. The volume addresses topics such as right-ordered groups and order permutation groups, the system of convex subgroups of a right-ordered group, and free products of right-ordered groups.

This book describes the latest Russian research covering the structure and algorithmic properties of Boolean algebras from the algebraic and model-theoretic points of view. A significantly revised version of the author's Countable Boolean Algebras (Nauka, Novosibirsk, 1989), the text presents new results as well as a selection of open questions on Boolean algebras. Other current features include discussions of the Kottonen algebras in enrichments by ideals and automorphisms, and the properties of the automorphism groups.

This is the only monograph devoted to the expressibility of finitely axiomatizable theories, a classical subject in mathematical logic. The volume summarizes investigations in the field that have led to much of the current progress, treating systematically all positive results concerning expressibility. Also included in this unique text are solutions to both the Vaught-Morely problem and the Hanf problem, and a number of new natural questions that provide prospects for further development of the theory.

The theory of quasivarieties constitutes an independent direction in algebra and mathematical logic and specializes in a fragment of first-order logic-the so-called universal Horn logic. This treatise uniformly presents the principal directions of the theory from an effective algebraic approach developed by the author himself. A revolutionary exposition, this influential text contains a number of results never before published in book form, featuring in-depth commentary for applications of quasivarieties to graphs, convex geometries, and formal languages. Key features include coverage of the Birkhoff-Mal'tsev problem on the structure of lattices of quasivarieties, helpful exercises, and an extensive list of references.

This volume provides the basis of the MHD theory in two extended reviews. The first review deals with high-temperature plasma equilibrium and stability in conventional stellarators (the steady state three-dimensional magnetic confinement systems). The second review considers the processes in the stationary plasma thrusters (SPT) created by one of the authors, A.I Morozov. In spite of the three-dimensional nature of stellarators, the author of the review, V.D. Pustovitov, has been able to give a concise presentation of basic ideas and results of the rather complicated theory of stellarators, both for specialists and for students in this field. The results of experimental and theoretical investigations of a new type of discharge device, SPT, are presented in the second review. Plasma thrusters generate quasi-neutral multi-ampere streams of ions with particle energies of 50 - 1000eV. They are most widely known as electric propulsion thrusters for spacecraft, and have been mounted onboard more than 50 Russian satellites. In addition, the SPTs are now used in technological systems for processing the surface layers of various products.