Since its inaugural issue in the spring of 1977, each issue of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine has contained a puzzle from Martin Gardner, dressed up as a brief science ction tale. This book collects the rst thirty-six. Most of them are mathematical, covering a variety of topics | numbers, geometry, games of strategy, combinatorics, simple logic | but a few involve word play and trivia ...

In this paper models for claim frequency and average claim size in non-life insurance are considered. Both covariates and spatial random effects are included allowing the modelling of a spatial dependency pattern. We assume a Poisson model for the number of claims, while claim size is modelled using a Gamma distribution. However, in contrast to the usual compound Poisson model, we allow for dep...

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First we derive theoretically, using appropriate transformation on x(n), the closed-form solution of the nonlinear difference equation x(n+1) = 1/(±1 + x(n)), n ∈ N_0. The form of solution of this equation, however, was first obtained in [10] but through induction principle. Then, with the solution of the above equation at hand, we prove a case ...

This article reviews concepts of classical logic and induction, with special attention to the controversies surrounding Popperian claims that induction is impossible and does not exist. I argue that some of the controversy is semantic, and hence Popperian criticisms of induction must be translated carefully into ordinary language to be appreciated by inductively oriented epidemiologists. With t...

Law360, New York (November 17, 2015, 10:53 AM ET) -Nuisance has increasingly become the “tort of choice” for plaintiffs in environmental and toxic tort litigation. In addition to other tort claims at their disposal (e.g., strict liability, negligence, trespass), plaintiffs consistently tack on nuisance claims because of the perception that such claims are subject to less stringent legal standar...

1. Maniatis claims that a unified explanation of lightness contrast and lightness constancy is not possible. But there is only one visual system and it exhibits both lightness contrast and lightness constancy. So obviously a unified theory is possible. 2. Maniatis claims there is ultimately no distinction between framework and layer theories, arguing that both theories acknowledge the existence...