Med udgangspunkt i fysikeren Alan D. Sokals videnskabelige nonsens-artikel i det amerikanske tidsskrift Social text (Spring/Summer 1996) er her samlet et udvalg af artikler fra aviser og tidsskrifter.

In 1996, Alan Sokal, a Professor of Physics at New York University, wrote a paper for the cultural-studies journal Social Text, entitled 'Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a transformative hermeneutics of quantum gravity'. It was reviewed, accepted and published. Sokal immediately confessed that the whole article was a hoax - a cunningly worded paper designed to expose and parody the style of extreme postmodernist criticism of science. The story became front-page news around the world and triggered fierce and wide-ranging controversy. Sokal is one of the most powerful voices in the continuing debate about the status of evidence-based knowledge. In Beyond the Hoax he turns his attention to a new set of targets - pseudo-science, religion, and misinformation in public life. 'Whether my targets are the postmodernists of the left, the fundamentalists of the right, or the muddle-headed of all political and apolitical stripes, the bottom line is that clear thinking, combined with a respect for evidence, are of the utmost importance to the survival of the human race in the twenty-first century.' The book also includes a hugely illuminating annotated text of the Hoax itself, and a reflection on the furore it provoked.

In 1996 physicist Alan Sokal published an essay in Social Text--an influential academic journal of cultural studies--touting the deep similarities between quantum gravitational theory and postmodern philosophy. Soon thereafter, the essay was revealed as a brilliant parody, a catalog of nonsense written in the cutting-edge but impenetrable lingo of postmodern theorists. The event sparked a furious debate in academic circles and made the headlines of newspapers in the U.S. and abroad. In Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science, Sokal and his fellow physicist Jean Bricmont expand from where the hoax left off. In a delightfully witty and clear voice, the two thoughtfully and thoroughly dismantle the pseudo-scientific writings of some of the most fashionable French and American intellectuals. More generally, they challenge the widespread notion that scientific theories are mere "narrations" or social constructions.

Virtual Storage Access Method (VSAM) is one of the access methods used to process data. Many of us have used VSAM and work with VSAM data sets daily, but exactly how it works and why we use it instead of another access method is a mystery. This book helps to demystify VSAM and gives you the information necessary to understand, evaluate, and use VSAM properly. This book also builds upon the subject of Record Level Sharing and DFSMStvs. It clarifies VSAM functions for application programmers who work with VSAM. The practical, straightforward approach should dispel much of the complexity associated with VSAM. Wherever possible an example is used to reinforce a description of a VSAM function. This IBM® Redbooks® publication is intended as a supplement to existing product manuals. It is intended to be used as an initial point of reference for VSAM functions.

Simple random walks - or equivalently, sums of independent random vari ables - have long been a standard topic of probability theory and mathemat ical physics. In the 1950s, non-Markovian random-walk models, such as the self-avoiding walk,were introduced into theoretical polymer physics, and gradu ally came to serve as a paradigm for the general theory of critical phenomena. In the past decade, random-walk expansions have evolved into an important tool for the rigorous analysis of critical phenomena in classical spin systems and of the continuum limit in quantum field theory. Among the results obtained by random-walk methods are the proof of triviality of the cp4 quantum field theo ryin space-time dimension d (::::) 4, and the proof of mean-field critical behavior for cp4 and Ising models in space dimension d (::::) 4. The principal goal of the present monograph is to present a detailed review of these developments. It is supplemented by a brief excursion to the theory of random surfaces and various applications thereof. This book has grown out of research carried out by the authors mainly from 1982 until the middle of 1985. Our original intention was to write a research paper. However, the writing of such a paper turned out to be a very slow process, partly because of our geographical separation, partly because each of us was involved in other projects that may have appeared more urgent.

A majority of people now have a digital mobile device whether it be a cell phone, laptop, or blackberry. Now that we have the mobility we want it to be more versatile and dependable; RF power amplifiers accomplish just that. These amplifiers take a small input and make it stronger and larger creating a wider area of use with a more robust signal.Switching mode RF amplifiers have been theoretically possible for decades, but were largely impractical because they distort analog signals until they are unrecognizable. However, distortion is not an issue with digital signals—like those used by WLANs and digital cell phones—and switching mode RF amplifiers have become a hot area of RF/wireless design. This book explores both the theory behind switching mode RF amplifiers and design techniques for them.*Provides essential design and implementation techniques for use in cma2000, WiMAX, and other digital mobile standards*Both authors have written several articles on the topic and are well known in the industry*Includes specific design equations to greatly simplify the design of switchmode amplifiers

This IBM Redbooks publication provides information to help Systems Programmers plan for merging systems into a sysplex. zSeries systems are highly flexibile systems capable of processing many workloads. As a result, there are many things to consider when merging independent systems into the more closely integrated environment of a sysplex. This book will help you identify these issues in advance and thereby ensure a successful project.

When Intellectual Impostures was published in France, it sent shock waves through the Left Bank establishment. When it was published in Britain, it provoked impassioned debate. Sokal and Bricmont examine the canon of French postmodernists - Lacan, Kristeva, Baudrillard, Irigaray, Latour, Virilio, Deleuze and Guattari - and systematically expose their abuse of science. This edition contains a new preface analysing the reactions to the book and answering some of the attacks.

Combining solid theoretical discussions with practical design examples, this book is an essential reference on developing RF and microwave switchmode power amplifiers. With this book you will be able to: - Design high-efficiency RF and microwave power amplifiers on different types of bipolar and field-effect transistors using well-known and novel theoretical approaches, nonlinear simulation tools, and practical design techniques - Design any type of high-efficiency switchmode power amplifiers operating in Class D or E at lower frequencies and in Class E or F and their subclasses at microwave frequencies, with specified output power - Understand the theory and practical implementation of load-network design techniques based on lumped and transmission-line elements - Combine multi-stage Doherty architecture and switchmode power amplifiers to significantly increase efficiency of the entire radio transmitter - Learn the different types of predistortion linearization techniques required to improve the quality of signal transmission in a nonlinear amplifying system New to this edition: - Comprehensive overview of different Doherty architectures which are, and will be used in modern communication systems to save power consumption and reduce costs - A new chapter on analog and digital predistortion techniques - Coverage of broadband Class-F power amplifiers, high-power inverse Class-F power amplifiers for WCDMA systems, broadband Class-E techniques - Unique focus on switchmode RF and microwave power amplifiers that are widely used in cellular/wireless, satellite and radar communication systems and which offer major power consumption savings - Complete coverage of the new Doherty architecture which offers major efficiencies and savings on power consumption - Balances theory with practical implementatation, avoiding a cookbook approach, enabling engineers to develop better designs - Trusted content from leading figures in the field with a Foreword of endorsement by Zoya Popovic