Natural philosophy encompassed all natural phenomena of the physical world. It sought to discover the physical causes of all natural effects and was little concerned with mathematics. By contrast, the exact mathematical sciences – such as astronomy, optics, and mechanics – were narrowly confined to various computations that did not involve physical causes. Natural philosophy and the exact sciences functioned independently of each other. Although this began slowly to change in the late Middle Ages, a much more thoroughgoing union of natural philosophy and mathematics occurred in the seventeenth century and thereby made the Scientific Revolution possible. The title of Isaac Newton’s great work, The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, perfectly reflects the new relationship. Natural philosophy became the “Great Mother of the Sciences,” which by the nineteenth century had nourished the manifold chemical, physical, and biological sciences to maturity, thus enabling them to leave the “Great Mother” and emerge as the multiplicity of independent sciences we know today.

This resource is for those who have switched or will be switching to Linux; it avoids tech-talk, but focuses on subjects appealing to the average Joe--installation, playing CDs, the Internet, games, printing, and more

Increasing numbers of ISPs have begun implementing multicast infrastructure. Soon the Internet will provide multicast connectivity between any two points on the Internet the way it provides for unicast traffic today. Long-evolving protocols are reaching maturity, and enterprise networks and ISPs around the world are ramping up their multicast infrastructure. Now, more than ever, network engineers must be ready to deal with new applications that capitalize on the simultaneous, efficient delivery of data and imagery to multiple recipients.

The United Nations began as an alliance during World War II. Eventually, however, the UN came to approximate a universal organization - i.e., open to and aspiring to include all States. This presents a legal question, for Article 4 of the Charter contains substantive criteria to limit admission of States to the UN and no formal amendment has touched that part of the Charter. This book gives an up-to-date account of admission to the UN, from the 1950s ‘logjam’ through on-going controversies like Kosovo and Taiwan. With reference to Charter law, the book considers how Article 4 came to accommodate universality and what the future of a universal organization in a world of politically diverse States might be.

With 150 accessible articles written by more than 130 leading experts, this essential reference provides authoritative introductions to some of the most important and talked-about topics in American history and politics, from the founding to today. Abridged from the acclaimed Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History, this is the only single-volume encyclopedia that provides comprehensive coverage of both the traditional topics of U.S. political history and the broader forces that shape American politics--including economics, religion, social movements, race, class, and gender. Fully indexed and cross-referenced, each entry provides crucial context, expert analysis, informed perspectives, and suggestions for further reading. Contributors include Dean Baker, Lewis Gould, Alex Keyssar, James Kloppenberg, Patricia Nelson Limerick, Lisa McGirr, Jack Rakove, Nick Salvatore, Stephen Skowronek, Jeremi Suri, Julian Zelizer, and many more.