Barry Smith

An introduction to the field of applied ontology with examples derived particularly from biomedicine, covering theoretical components, design practices, and practical applications.In the era of "big data," science is increasingly information driven, and the potential for computers to store, manage, and integrate massive amounts of data has given rise to such new disciplinary fields as biomedical informatics. Applied ontology offers a strategy for the organization of scientific information in computer-tractable form, drawing on concepts not only from computer and information science but also from linguistics, logic, and philosophy. This book provides an introduction to the field of applied ontology that is of particular relevance to biomedicine, covering theoretical components of ontologies, best practices for ontology design, and examples of biomedical ontologies in use.After defining an ontology as a representation of the types of entities in a given domain, the book distinguishes between different kinds of ontologies and taxonomies, and shows how applied ontology draws on more traditional ideas from metaphysics. It presents the core features of the Basic Formal Ontology (BFO), now used by over one hundred ontology projects around the world, and offers examples of domain ontologies that utilize BFO. The book also describes Web Ontology Language (OWL), a common framework for Semantic Web technologies. Throughout, the book provides concrete recommendations for the design and construction of domain ontologies.

The Farming Handbook is a unique and comprehensive book that deals with a wide range of agricultural subjects and enterprises in one easy-to-use volume. Although the focus is mainly on conditions in South Africa, the agricultural principles and practices can be applied easily elsewhere. Throughout his career, Barry Smith has formulated and collected thumb rules, working on the premise that it is better to be roughly right than to be precisely wrong. There are 150 of these thumb rules presented here, which can save time and effort and are easy to remember and apply. Here is an essential guide to natural resources (climate, vegetation, soil and water), and useful information on veld management, land assessment, agricultural engineering (soil erosion, land preparation and building) and irrigation. Barry Smith's extensive knowledge and experience are revealed in the practical resources given for livestock production (beef, dairy, pigs, sheep, goats, poultry and wildlife), pastures, field crops, orchard crops, vegetables, and timber. He was given the Top Management award by the Department of Agriculture for producing 28 prediction yield models for field crops, pasture, orchards, vegetables and timber trees. These models are included in ""The Farming Handbook"" and will prove indispensable for farmers, students and agricultural advisers.

This book presents an easy-to-read discussion of domain decomposition algorithms, their implementation and analysis. The relationship between domain decomposition and multigrid methods is carefully explained at an elementary level, and discussions of the implementation of domain decomposition methods on massively parallel super computers are also included. All algorithms are fully described and explained, and a mathematical framework for the analysis and complete understanding of the methods is also carefully developed. In addition, numerous numerical examples are included to demonstrate the behaviour of this important class of numerical methods. This book is ideal for graduate students about to embark on a career in computational science. It will also be a valuable resource for all those interested in parallel computing and numerical computational methods.

In these proceedings of the 1992 Budapest "Monist" Colloquium, leading philosophers of Eastern Europe and the West examine the past and future of philosophy in the formerly socialist countries.