Abstract not found

Is speculative mathematics dangerous? Recent interactions between physics and mathematics pose the question with some force: traditional mathematical norms discourage speculation, but it is the fabric of theoretical physics. In practice there can be benefits, but there can also be unpleasant and destructive consequences. Serious caution is required, and the issue should be considered before, rather than after, obvious damage occurs. With the hazards carefully in mind, we propose a framework that should allow a healthy and positive role for speculation.

In this article the basic principles of responsible authorship and peer review are surveyed, with special emphasis on (a) guidelines for refereeing archival journal articles and proposals; and (b) how these guidelines should be taken into account at all stages of writing.

1.1 Nonlinear Dynamics for Computation Nonlinear differential equations and iterated maps can perform any computation. They are Turing equivalent, which means that they can solve the same computational problems as a Turing Machine in about the same amount of time [MOO99]. To make this precise, systems that are in the class called “Turing equivalent ” can solve the same computational

Physis kryptesthai philei—“Nature likes to hide itself”—says a fragment attributed to Heraclitus. After reading Peter Bentley’s Digital Biology you may be tempted to think that, at least when it comes to biology, nature cannot hide much from an observant scientist equipped with a computer.

This paper questions the current emphases in innovation policy on a particular interpretation of US performance which emphasises R&D intensive high technology producing sectors, spin-offs from the science base and private sector venture capital. Whilst recognizing the important role they may play it is argued that it has been greatly exaggerated to the neglect of other key factors. One is the importance of the diffusion and use of ICT as a general purpose technology beyond the ICT and other R&D intensive high-tech producing sectors. A second is the dominant role which performance transformation in existing firms plays in driving industry level productivity compared with the direct role of new entrants. A third is the diversified role played by universities in knowledge exchange which extends beyond a narrow focus on spin offs and licensing to encompass the creation of human capital and a wide range of formal and informal business interactions. Finally there is the major role that public R&D procurement policy has played in the US in the effective provision of public rather than private sector venture capital. The paper provides a broad overview of evidence on each of these factors and

This article is a fascinating account of famous cases of self-deception by scientists working in a broad diversity of disciplines. Langmuir and Hall (1989) should be required reading for everyone who pursues a career in scientific research.

Methods to improve text mining of molecular biology interactions are needed to capture a richer information space and qualify the quality of extraction. Simple interaction models fail to describe contextual and confidence information that would help with more fine-grained analyses. Herein a method is presented to streamline curation of text-mined data and a way to improve text mining of biomedical terms that can be adapted to other domains using different machine learning techniques. These advances can be integrated into more powerful text-mining systems to meet user demand and to further promote the adoption of text-mining tools. Additionally, three studies on the nature of biomedical publications are presented: their novelty hinges on the fact that each asks questions that had not been posed before. They cover the phenomena of retraction, ways to improve the impact of research, and the writing style used in biomedical literature. Retraction is a hot topic in recent times

Abstract. A learning approach and associated experiments are described that allow robotic devices to learn the relationship between control actions and sensory feedback, to acquire skills, and to adapt to a changing environment. The approach frames the motor skill learning problem as one involving the co-evolution of perceptual and actuation structures. A memorybased learning approach is taken and a Cached Event String Automata (CESA) is introduced. The approach supports the learning of complex sensory-motor skills from a very small number of trials with incremental skill refinement. A key aspect of the learning approach advocated in this paper is the use of self-motivated exploration to refine the learning of sensory-motor skills.

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