This book provides a hands-on experience with atomic structure calculations. Material covered includes angular momentum methods, the central field Schrödinger and Dirac equations, Hartree-Fock and Dirac-Hartree-Fock equations, multiplet structure, hyperfine structure, the isotope shift, dipole and multipole transitions, basic many-body perturbation theory, configuration interaction, and correlation corrections to matrix elements. The book also contains numerical methods for solving the Schrödinger and Dirac eigenvalue problems and the (Dirac)-Hartree-Fock equations.

The theory of value structure concerns the meaning of “better than” and “good,” as well as the way in which values serve as a basis for rational decision making. Drawing methodologically from economics and theories of decision making, the aim of serious axiology in metaethics is to do justice to problems that have puzzled philosophers of value for centuries. Can value comparisons be cyclic? Are all values comparable with each other and can decision makers just add up different aspects of an evaluation to determine the best course of action? A Theory of Value Structure: From Values to Decisions starts with a thorough introduction to the modeling of “better than” comparisons from a normative perspective. In the philosophical part of the book, Erich H. Rast argues that aspects of “better than” comparisons can differ qualitatively so much that one aspect may outrank another. Consequently, the classical weighted sum aggregation model fails. Values cannot always be summed up and comparisons may be fundamentally noncompensatory, an indeterminacy that explains problems like the apparent nontransitivity of “better than” and hard cases in decision making. Using a lexicographic method of value comparisons, Rast develops a multidimensional theory of “better than” and shows how and to which extent it can be combined with standard methods of decision making under uncertainty by using rank-dependent utility theory.

Ab initio quantum chemistry has emerged as an important tool in chemical research and is appliced to a wide variety of problems in chemistry and molecular physics. Recent developments of computational methods have enabled previously intractable chemical problems to be solved using rigorous quantum-mechanical methods. This is the first comprehensive, up-to-date and technical work to cover all the important aspects of modern molecular electronic-structure theory. Topics covered in the book include: * Second quantization with spin adaptation * Gaussian basis sets and molecular-integral evaluation * Hartree-Fock theory * Configuration-interaction and multi-configurational self-consistent theory * Coupled-cluster theory for ground and excited states * Perturbation theory for single- and multi-configurational states * Linear-scaling techniques and the fast multipole method * Explicity correlated wave functions * Basis-set convergence and extrapolation * Calibration and benchmarking of computational methods, with applications to moelcular equilibrium structure, atomization energies and reaction enthalpies. Molecular Electronic-Structure Theory makes extensive use of numerical examples, designed to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of each method treated. In addition, statements about the usefulness and deficiencies of the various methods are supported by actual examples, not just model calculations. Problems and exercises are provided at the end of each chapter, complete with hints and solutions. This book is a must for researchers in the field of quantum chemistry as well as for nonspecialists who wish to acquire a thorough understanding of ab initio molecular electronic-structure theory and its applications to problems in chemistry and physics. It is also highly recommended for the teaching of graduates and advanced undergraduates.

Both the interpretation of atomic spectra and the application of atomic spectroscopy to current problems in astrophysics, laser physics, and thermonuclear plasmas require a thorough knowledge of the Slater-Condon theory of atomic structure and spectra. This book gathers together aspects of the theory that are widely scattered in the literature and augments them to produce a coherent set of closed-form equations suitable both for computer calculations on cases of arbitrary complexity and for hand calculations for very simple cases.

This book offers a solution for the problem of structure and agency in sociological theory by developing a new pair of fundamental concepts: metric and nonmetric. Nonmetric forms, arising in a crowd made out of innumerable individuals, correspond to social groups that divide the many individuals in the crowd into insiders and outsiders. Metric forms correspond to congested zones like traffic jams on a highway: individuals are constantly entering and leaving these zones so that they continue to exist, even though the individuals passing through them change. Building from these concepts, we can understand “agency” as a requirement for group identity and group membership, thus associating it with nonmetric forms, and “structure” as a building-up effect following the accumulation of metric forms. This reveals the contradiction between structure and agency to be a case of forced perspective, leaving us victim to an optical illusion.

Das Werk liefert eine einheitliche Darstellung der Baustatik auf der Grundlage der Technischen Mechanik. Es behandelt Stab- und Flächentragwerke nach der Elastizitäts- und Plastizitätstheorie. Es betont den geschichtlichen Hintergrund und den Bezug zur praktischen Ingenieurtätigkeit und dokumentiert erstmals in umfassender Weise die spezielle Schule, die sich in den letzten 50 Jahren an der ETH in Zürich herausgebildet hat. Als Lehrbuch enthält das Werk viele durchgearbeitete Beispiele und Aufgaben zum vertieften Studium. Die einzelnen Kapitel werden durch Zusammenfassungen abgeschlossen, welche die wichtigsten Lehrinhalte in prägnanter Form hervorheben. Die verwendeten Fachausdrücke sind in einem Anhang definiert. Als Nachschlagewerk enthält das Buch ein umfassendes Stichwortverzeichnis. Die Gliederung des Inhalts und Hervorhebungen im Text erleichtern die Übersicht. Bezeichnungen, Werkstoff- und Querschnittswerte sowie Abrisse der Matrizenalgebra, der Tensorrechnung und der Variationsrechnung sind in Anhängen zusammengefasst. Insgesamt richtet sich das Buch als Grundlagenwerk an Studierende und Lehrende ebenso wie an Bauingenieure in der Praxis. Es bezweckt, seine Leser zu einer sinnvollen Modellierung und Behandlung von Tragwerken zu befähigen und sie bei den unter ihrer Verantwortung vorgenommenen Projektierungs- und Überprüfungsarbeiten von Tragwerken zu unterstützen.

A coherent and comprehensive theory of visual pattern classification with quantitative models, verifiable predictions and extensive empirical evidence.