Robert B. Laughlin is an American physicist known for his work in condensed matter physics, particularly in the area of quantum fluids and the quantum Hall effect. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1998, along with Horst Ludwig Störmer and Daniel C. Tsui, for their discovery of the fractional quantum Hall effect.
Robert Tycko is known as a prominent scientist in the field of biophysics and structural biology, particularly recognized for his work related to nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and its application to studying protein structures. He has contributed significantly to understanding protein dynamics, interactions, and mechanisms related to diseases.
Stanford R. Ovshinsky was an American physicist, inventor, and entrepreneur, known for his pioneering work in the field of energy and materials science. He was born on November 24, 1922, and passed away on October 17, 2022. Ovshinsky is particularly recognized for his contributions to the development of amorphous semiconductors, which have applications in various technologies, including solar energy, rechargeable batteries, and flat-panel displays.
Elisabeth Camp is a prominent philosopher known for her work in the fields of philosophy of language, epistemology, and ethics. She is particularly interested in the ways that language shapes our understanding of the world and influences our thoughts and beliefs. Camp's research often explores topics such as metaphors, imagination, and the nature of fictional discourse. She has published numerous articles and papers that contribute to these areas, and her work is recognized for its depth and originality.
Ferdinand Ebner (1882–1931) was an Austrian philosopher known for his work in the fields of philosophy of language and the philosophy of social interaction. He is often associated with the philosophical tradition of phenomenology and is noted for his insights into the nature of human communication and the interpersonal dimension of existence. One of his significant contributions is the idea of "the other," emphasizing the relationship between individuals and how meaning is created through interaction.
Paul Tillich (1886–1965) was a German-American theologian, philosopher, and Christian existentialist known for his influential work in theology, philosophy, and the relationship between religion and culture. He is best known for his concepts of "ultimate concern," "the courage to be," and the "God above God," which reflect his understanding of faith, existence, and the nature of the divine.
Xunzi (also spelled Hsün Tzu) was an ancient Chinese philosopher who lived during the Warring States period (around 310–235 BCE). He is considered one of the three significant figures in Confucianism, along with Confucius and Mencius. Xunzi's philosophical contributions primarily focus on human nature, ethics, and governance. One of Xunzi's central ideas is his view on human nature, which contrasts sharply with that of Mencius.
"Live, virtual, and constructive" (LVC) refers to a concept primarily used in the context of military training and simulation. Each component has a distinct role in enhancing training exercises and operational readiness. Here's a breakdown of each term: 1. **Live**: This component involves actual physical training with real equipment, personnel, and resources. It typically includes exercises conducted in real environments where troops and assets are actively engaged.
A pollination network refers to the interconnections between plants and their pollinators, illustrating the relationships and dependencies that exist within ecosystems. These networks show how various species of plants rely on specific pollinators (such as bees, butterflies, birds, bats, and other insects) to reproduce by transferring pollen from one flower to another. Pollination networks can be visualized as graphs where: - Nodes represent different species (plants and pollinators).
A **semantic network** is a knowledge representation method used in the fields of artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and linguistics. It consists of a graph structure where nodes represent concepts or entities, and edges (links) represent the relationships between these concepts. This model allows for the organization and representation of knowledge in a way that is more natural and intuitive, resembling human cognitive structures. ### Key Features of Semantic Networks: 1. **Nodes**: Each node represents a specific object, concept, or idea.
Industrial engineers are professionals who focus on optimizing complex processes, systems, or organizations by improving efficiency, productivity, quality, and sustainability. They apply principles from engineering, mathematics, and social sciences to analyze and enhance integrated systems that involve people, materials, information, equipment, and energy. Key responsibilities of industrial engineers can include: 1. **Process Optimization**: Analyzing workflows to identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies, and recommending improvements.
Lean thinking is a management philosophy and methodology that focuses on creating value for customers while minimizing waste and optimizing processes. It originated in the manufacturing sector, particularly from the Toyota Production System (TPS), but has since been applied across various industries, including service, healthcare, software development, and more. Key principles of Lean thinking include: 1. **Value**: Identify what constitutes value from the customer’s perspective and ensure that all activities associated with the production and delivery of that value are aligned with customer needs.
In formal languages, an **alphabet** is a finite set of symbols or characters used to construct strings and words. Each symbol in an alphabet is referred to as a "letter." For example: - The binary alphabet consists of two symbols: {0, 1}. - The alphabet for the English language can consist of 26 letters: {A, B, C, ..., Z}.
Extended Affix Grammar (EAG) is a formalism used in computational linguistics and syntax to describe the structure of languages, particularly in the context of natural language processing. It builds upon traditional context-free grammars but includes additional mechanisms to capture more complex syntactic phenomena.
Greibach's theorem is a result in formal language theory, particularly in the context of context-free grammars and the equivalence of certain classes of grammars. Named after Sheila Greibach, the theorem states that for every context-free language, there exists a context-free grammar in Greibach normal form (GNF). A grammar is in Greibach normal form if the right-hand side of every production rule consists of a single terminal symbol followed by zero or more nonterminal symbols.
Formal languages and literal strings are fundamental concepts in the fields of computer science, linguistics, and mathematics. Below is a list of topics related to formal languages and literal strings: ### Formal Language Topics: 1. **Alphabets**: The basic building blocks of formal languages, usually defined as finite sets of symbols. 2. **Strings**: Finite sequences of symbols drawn from an alphabet.
A **nested word** is a concept from formal language theory and computer science, specifically related to the study of formal grammars and automata. Nested words extend the traditional notion of words (linear sequences of symbols) to capture hierarchical structures, such as those found in programming languages or nested constructs in natural languages.
An **ω-regular language** is a type of formal language that is particularly used in the context of infinite sequences or infinite words. Unlike regular languages, which are defined over finite strings and can be recognized by finite automata, ω-regular languages specifically deal with infinite sequences, making them suitable for applications in areas such as formal verification, automata theory, and model checking.
Regulated rewriting is a formalism used in the study of formal languages and systems, particularly in the fields of computer science and mathematical logic. It refers to a specific type of rewriting system where certain conditions or rules (regulations) control how and when the rewriting rules can be applied. In traditional rewriting systems, a set of rewriting rules defines how strings or terms can be transformed into one another.
Splicing rules generally refer to guidelines or principles used in various fields, such as genetics, computer science, and linguistics. Here are a few contexts where the term "splicing rule" is commonly applied: 1. **Genetics**: In the context of molecular biology, splicing refers to the process by which introns (non-coding regions) are removed from pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) and exons (coding regions) are joined together to form mature mRNA.

Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project

Welcome to the OurBigBook Project! Our goal is to create the perfect publishing platform for STEM subjects, and get university-level students to write the best free STEM tutorials ever.
Everyone is welcome to create an account and play with the site: ourbigbook.com/go/register. We belive that students themselves can write amazing tutorials, but teachers are welcome too. You can write about anything you want, it doesn't have to be STEM or even educational. Silly test content is very welcome and you won't be penalized in any way. Just keep it legal!
We have two killer features:
  1. topics: topics group articles by different users with the same title, e.g. here is the topic for the "Fundamental Theorem of Calculus" ourbigbook.com/go/topic/fundamental-theorem-of-calculus
    Articles of different users are sorted by upvote within each article page. This feature is a bit like:
    • a Wikipedia where each user can have their own version of each article
    • a Q&A website like Stack Overflow, where multiple people can give their views on a given topic, and the best ones are sorted by upvote. Except you don't need to wait for someone to ask first, and any topic goes, no matter how narrow or broad
    This feature makes it possible for readers to find better explanations of any topic created by other writers. And it allows writers to create an explanation in a place that readers might actually find it.
    Figure 1.
    Screenshot of the "Derivative" topic page
    . View it live at: ourbigbook.com/go/topic/derivative
  2. local editing: you can store all your personal knowledge base content locally in a plaintext markup format that can be edited locally and published either:
    This way you can be sure that even if OurBigBook.com were to go down one day (which we have no plans to do as it is quite cheap to host!), your content will still be perfectly readable as a static site.
    Figure 2.
    You can publish local OurBigBook lightweight markup files to either https://OurBigBook.com or as a static website
    .
    Figure 3.
    Visual Studio Code extension installation
    .
    Figure 4.
    Visual Studio Code extension tree navigation
    .
    Figure 5.
    Web editor
    . You can also edit articles on the Web editor without installing anything locally.
    Video 3.
    Edit locally and publish demo
    . Source. This shows editing OurBigBook Markup and publishing it using the Visual Studio Code extension.
    Video 4.
    OurBigBook Visual Studio Code extension editing and navigation demo
    . Source.
  3. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook-media/master/feature/x/hilbert-space-arrow.png
  4. Infinitely deep tables of contents:
    Figure 6.
    Dynamic article tree with infinitely deep table of contents
    .
    Descendant pages can also show up as toplevel e.g.: ourbigbook.com/cirosantilli/chordate-subclade
All our software is open source and hosted at: github.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook
Further documentation can be found at: docs.ourbigbook.com
Feel free to reach our to us for any help or suggestions: docs.ourbigbook.com/#contact