Dictionary of Scientific Principles E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 1633

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

Dictionary of Scientific Principles presents a unique and timeless collection of (almost) all known rules or laws commonly called principles, identified throughout the history of scientific development, their definition, and use. Exploring a broad range of disciplines, the book first lists more than 2,000 principles organized in a standard alphabetical order, then provides a list of subject headings for which related principles are identified. A staple addition to every library, the dictionary will also be of interest to scientists and general readers.

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Half Title page

Title page

Copyright page

Dedication

Preface

Acknowledgments

Notes to the Reader

Principles-Definitions

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

H

Z

Principles-Applications

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Z

DICTIONARY OF SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES

Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750–8400, fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748–6011, fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permission.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Dictionary of scientific principles / by Stephen Marvin.p. cm.Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-470-14680-4 (cloth) 1. Science–Dictionaries. I. Marvin, Stephen. Q123.D537 2010 503—dc22 2010003426

To E. E. Barnes,with long overdue thanksforsharing ideas, concepts, and challengesin the way we seek and organize information

PREFACE

The Dictionary of Scientific Principles is an attempt to compile the language of art used for various known rules or laws applied to a broad category of topics, including mathematics, medicine, sciences, psychology, management, and even philosophy and art. This project has taken over 6 years to develop to this point. I have consulted with scientists and colleagues on the development of this dictionary and had some help in organizing the files from an MS Excel spreadsheet. There are approximately 2000 + principles that form the language of art. Some are rewording of the same principle; For instance, the principle of maximum entropy is also listed as the maximum entropy principle. I exerted a great deal of effort to have this work prepared in time for the new millennium and to call it Millennial Principles. However, the myriad new discoveries in scientific and other disciplines necessitated the continual addition of new entries and cross-references to similar-context or related entries already listed in this volume. In creating this dictionary, I consulted many encyclopedias, dictionaries, books, indexes, and journal articles. There is no single source containing the breadth of coverage of all principles listed in this work. The references listed in footnotes are some of the many resources that I consulted. I hope that this will be an ongoing project, in order that new principles may be added in future editions or enhancements can be made in the applications listed. Many of the entries in this dictionary are excerpts from journal articles, summaries from other literature sources, or information obtained from unique Internet sources or available content definitions from patent files.

The Dictionary of Scientific Principles was prepared to provide information about basic fundamental properties, systems, activities, or phenomena that have become terms in common use, including eponyms, among various fields of study. It provides a brief description of the individual principle, a variety of definitions applied to the principle, and alternate names used to describe the principle in “see also” attachments to the name, with definitions of over 2000 terms, both current and historical. About 85% of these terms cannot be found in any other source such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, or other collected printed (hardcopy) or electronic works. The footnoted references are included to help the reader find further in-depth information as needed. The Dictionary of Scientific Principles neither attempts nor intends to exhaust the entire spectrum of meaning and potential intention with historical connections for each principle.

The principles included may be factual, historical, fictitious, or comical. Abbreviations are included [e.g., TNSTAAFL principle]. Some surname-based eponyms containing the term law, (e.g., Newton’s law), are also described as Newton’s principle and thus are included.

Principles have been included regardless of their frequency of use or the manner in which they were created. The polyuronid principle, for example, was found in only one single reference. Occasionally, names are in formative or transitional stages of development, which legitimately justifies the compiler’s reasons for assigning different names to the same or very similar principles. The inclusion of a name as part of a term in no way depends on how well the person is or was known at the time, nor does it mean that this person will become well known in the future because of the principle with which she or he may be affiliated or associated. Many of the principles include names of famous persons, while a very large number include the names of people who were modest practitioners of their trades and who lived and died in anonymity. Such people could not be included in professional and membership directories, biographical listings, or national newspaper obituaries. Biographical information, as explained earlier, for many of the principles, is incomplete. Selection was made to include and focus on the principle, not the individual for whom it was named. Literary, historical, and mythological names are included. Many of the biographical resources on these names can be found in commonly available biographical sources.

A surname-based eponym contains both a proper noun (the name of the person after whom something is named) and a generic term. The eponym need not contain the person’s real name (e.g., the Dilbert principle); a pseudonym can become an eponym, such as the Tinkerbell principle. Names may appear in multiple forms and they are included with cross-reference’s to alternate forms including spelling variations. Associating names with specific individuals is often difficult since the names are coined not by the persons who first described the concept but by someone else, often many years later.

The entries in this Dictionary of Scientific Principles are arranged in alphabetic order with cross-references to alternate terms applied. The listing depends on the manner in which the principle was described. For a hypothetical example, the term principle of XYZ and its variation, XYZ principle, are both listed. Only usage dictates whether the name includes a possessive “s” (e.g., Einstein’s theory of relativity). Principles containing more than one personal (e.g., Borwein—Price principle) name are followed by brief biographic notes regarding the people in the order to in which their names appear in the term.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to thank my wife for being so supportive in encouraging me to continue. I want to thank my children for their interest and of apparent understanding my need to sacrifice some of our time together while this work was being completed. I wish to also thank Samantha Richardson for many patient days of editing and correcting spelling errors. Tracie Meloy helped with with organizing many text records into a single standard format. I must thank many members of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Special Library Association for their encouragement. I have to thank Barbara and Bruce, who thought I was crazy but persistent. I must thank the various companies who provided additional support, including the Dialog Corporation, NewsNet, MNIS and Telebase. I would like to express special appreciation for support and encouragement from friends at Penn State University Great Valley campus and West Chester University.

A very special note of thanks to those who contributed their subject expertise as collaborators to this work. With deep thanks for her dedication and effort despite her terminal illness, Jennifer Papin-Kamcharan, Librarian III, Engineering & Physical Sciences Division, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, St. Augustine. Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies provided a very comprehensive review of mathematics and developed mathematical formulas to be included. She passed away September 9, 2009 and was a delightful tenacious supporter. She leaves to mourn, apart from her library family, her husband Oliver and four children, her mother and two sisters. A qualified engineer, University of Hong Kong and holder of B.Sc Math/Physics from the University of the West Indies, and Fulbright—LASPAU scholar, she served as the subject specialist for the Engineering and Physicial Sciences Division. She received her M.L.S. from the University at Buffalo, State University of New York and continued to serve the UWI and the Library with distinction. Her memorial service was held at the St. Stephen’s Anglican Church, High Street Princes with burial at the St. Nicholas Churchyard Cemetery.

I envy Gregory D. Mahlon, Science and Technology librarian, Penn State Mont Alto, Mont Alto, PA 17237–9799 and his steady, consistent, and well organized deliberations, comments, and humor regarding this project. There were many others who sent additions to be included and provided editing or content advise. Finally, I would like to personally thank the contributions from Eleanor Brown, Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, Assistant Professor, West Chester University of Pennsylvania and her student research assistant, Andrea Knorr. Ellie collaborated with colleagues and contributed several new entries from the field of psychology and medical related practice.

Very special thanks to E. E. Barnes for offering definitions and suggestions to the list.

NOTES TO THE READER

The Dictionary of Scientific Principles is an exercise in acquiring all known rules or laws commonly called principles and describing the language of art corresponding to usage. These principles cover all subjects ranging from science, to business, literature, philosophy, medicine, and society. Cross-references to other principles are listed with the definition. In addition to principle definitions, [denoted (D)], you will find applications [denotd (A)], which cover an equally broad field of multiple subject disciplines aiding in a search for principles as they relate to a certain subject.

PRINCIPLES-DEFINITIONS

A

AARON ANTONOVSKY’S COMFORT-THROUGH-DISCOMFORT PRINCIPLE [psychology] (AAron Antonovsky, 1923–1994, Israeli American Sociologist) Comfort, or well-being, arises through a process of making meaning out of discomfort, or distress, thereby arriving at a sense of coherence. When one’s sense of coherence is strong, the stimuli that impinge on one are perceived as comprehensible, as being manageable, and as being meaningful, or challenges worth engaging in.* See also PRINCIPLE OF SOMATOMENTAL BALANCE; PRINCIPLE OF THE SALUTOGENETIC TRIAD; SALUTOGENESIS PRINCIPLE.

ABSORPTION PRINCIPLE [physics, energy] (1) Light decreases exponentially with distance; fractional loss is the same for equal distances of penetration. Energy loss from the light appears as energy added to the medium.§ (2) Penetration of a substance into the body of another.¶ (3) Eigenfunction expansions for the self-adjoin operator governing the propagation of elastic waves in an unperturbed stratified media radiation.* See also LIMITING ABSORPTION PRINCIPLE; LIMITING AMPLITUDE PRINCIPLE.

ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLE [mathematics] A collection of rules and procedures and conventions that define accepted accounting practice; includes broad guidelines as well as detailed procedures. Governs current accounting practice and that is used as a reference to determine the appropriate treatment of complex transactions.† See also GENERALLY ACCEPTED ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLE (GAAP).

ACETYLENE CYCLOADDITION AROMATIC HETEROCYCLE INERTIA PRINCIPLE [chemistry] See INERTIA PRINCIPLE.

ACKERMAN PRINCIPLE [engineering] (Rudolp Ackermann, 1764–1834, anglo-german inventor) For any given corner, the outside wheel should have less turn angle than the inside one, because it is following a larger radius than the inside wheel. In order to minimize lateral skid while turning, the extensions of the center lines of the wheel axles must intersect at the center of the arc on which the vehicle turns.‡ (2) When a vehicle is steered, it follows a path that is part of the circumference of its turning circle, which will have a centerpoint somewhere along a line extending from the axis of the fixed axle. The steered wheels must be angled so that they are both at a 90° angle to a line drawn from the circle center through the center of the wheel. Since the wheel on the outside of the turn will trace a larger circle than will the wheel on the inside, the wheels need to be set at different angles.§

ACKNOWLEDGMENT CHAINING PRINCIPLE [engineering] The principle of acknowledgment chaining works by processes sending messages to the group of processes. Allows each message to be directly acknowledged only a few times, and through chains of acknowledgements, to be indirectly acknowledged by other processes. This leads to an efficient utilization of resources.¶

ACROPHONIC PRINCIPLE [linguistics] (from Greek αKρo-“tip” + ϕωvía, “voice,” “the initial sound”; Dr. Richard Venezky, linguistics, USA) Illuminating the nature of English writing by relating current spellings to the sounds, morphemic structure, and history of our language. As in telephone directory spelling, “A for apple,” “B for …,” and so on.||