CLAUDEJEANRENAUD NILS SOGUEL Smoking is a very common habit all over the world. The prevalence rate ranges from 20% - 40% in industrialised countries, and is dramatically increasing in the developing world. Smoking is risky and there is ample scientific evidence to support this statement. We know that smoking is a major cause of disease and premature death, in view of the fact that 3 million people die each year worldwide as a result of their smoking habit. Twenty years ago, the U. S. Surgeon General identified smoking as the single most important cause of morbidity and premature death...

One of the most enjoyable experiences in science is hearing a simple but novel idea which instantly rings true, and whose consequences then begin to unfold in unforeseen directions. For me, this book presents such an idea and several of its ramifications. This book is concerned with machine learning. It focuses on a ques tion that is central to understanding how computers might learn: "how can a computer acquire the definition of some general concept by abstracting from specific training instances of the concept?" Although this question of how to automatically generalize from examples has...

The Conference on "Utility: Theories, Measurements, and Applications" met at the Inn at Pasatiempo in Santa Cruz, California, from June II to 15, 1989. The all-star cast of attendees are listed as authors in the Table of Contents of this book (see p. V), except for Soo Hong Chew and Amos Tversky. The purpose of the conference, and of National Science Foundation Grant No. SES-8823012 that supported it, was to confront proponents of new generalized theories of utility with leading decision analysts com mitted to the implementation, in practice, of the more traditional theory that these new...

The intense drive for signal integrity has been at the forefront ofrapid and new developments in CAD algorithms. Thousands ofengineers, intent on achieving the best design possible, use SPICE on a daily basis for analog simulation and general circuit analysis. But the strained demand for high data speeds, coupled with miniaturizationon an unprecedented scale, has highlighted the previously negligible effects of interconnects; effects which are not always handled appro priately by the present levels of SPICE. Signals at these higher speeds may be degraded by long interconnect lengths compared...

This volume represents a contribution to the philosophy of economics with a distinctive point of view -- the contributors have selected particular areas of economics and have probed these areas for the philosophical and methodological issues that they raise. The primary essays are written by philosophers concentrating on philosophical issues that arise at the level of the everyday theoretical practice of working economists. Commentary essays are provided by working economists responding to the philosophical arguments from the standpoint of their own disciplines. The volume thus represents...

Ion implantation offers one of the best examples of a topic that starting from the basic research level has reached the high technology level within the framework of microelectronics. As the major or the unique procedure to selectively dope semiconductor materials for device fabrication, ion implantation takes advantage of the tremendous development of microelectronics and it evolves in a multidisciplinary frame. Physicists, chemists, materials sci- entists, processing, device production, device design and ion beam engineers are all involved in this subject. The present monography deals with...

This book explores siting dilemmas - situations in which an "authority" (e.g., Congress, a consortium of utilities) deems it in the best interest of society to build a facility such as an incinerator, but opponents living near the proposed site thwart the plan. Facility developers typically attribute local opposition to selfishness or radically inaccurate views of the risks posed by the facility. We examine the validity of these conclusions by looking in depth at the psychological response that arises when residents are faced with the prospect of living near waste disposal facilities. The...

Decisions, Games and Markets is designed to stimulate new developments in decision theory, game theory and general equilibrium theory, as well as in their applications to economics. The book is divided into three parts - Decision Theory, Game Theory, and the Theory of Markets. Though its orientation is primarily methodological, some articles are more applied. The consistent use of formal analysis and methodological individualism constitutes the unifying theme of the book. Decisions, Games and Markets will be of considerable interest to both students and teachers of...

Can insurance be used as a means to obtain compliance with environmental policy? Answering this question requires examination of a broad mosaic of academic issues, including current systems available for providing compensation and deterrence, use of contracts (including insurance) as substitutes for tort law, limitations of regulatory policy-making by government agencies, pre-conditions for creation of insurance products, and market mechanisms necessary for insurance to be purchased or sold. The purpose of Managing Environmental Risk Through Insurance is to highlight the...

Economic values are increasingly used in policy analysis and legal settings. With the growing recognition that many of the things that benefit or harm people are outside the market system, have come increasing efforts to develop nonmarket valuation techniques. One such technique is the contingent valuation method (CVM). CVM seeks to value environmental and other nonmarket goods and services by asking individuals about their values using survey methods. These procedures are different from the revealed-preference' methods that economists have historically employed to estimate economic values....