Handbook of Practical Logic and Automated Reasoning

by John Harrison

2009 · Cambridge University Press

The sheer complexity of computer systems has meant that automated reasoning, i.e. the ability of computers to perform logical inference, has become a vital component of program construction and of programming language design. This book meets the demand for a self-contained and broad-based account of the concepts, the machinery and the use of automated reasoning. The mathematical logic foundations are described in conjunction with practical application, all with the minimum of prerequisites. The approach is constructive, concrete and algorithmic: a key feature is that methods are described with reference to actual implementations (for which code is supplied) that readers can use, modify and experiment with. This book is ideally suited for those seeking a one-stop source for the general area of automated reasoning. It can be used as a reference, or as a place to learn the fundamentals, either in conjunction with advanced courses or for self study.

The Boundaries of Jewishness in the Southern Levant 200 BCE–132 CE

by John Van Maaren

2022 · Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Recent research has considered how changing imperial contexts influence conceptions of Jewishness among ruling elites (esp. Eckhardt, Ethnos und Herrschaft, 2013). This study integrates other, often marginal, conceptions with elite perspectives. It uses the ethnic boundary making model, an empirically based sociological model, to link macro-level characteristics of the social field with individual agency in ethnic construction. It uses a wide range of written sources as evidence for constructions of Jewishness and relates these to a local-specific understanding of demographic and institutional characteristics, informed by material culture. The result is a diachronic study of how institutional changes under Seleucid, Hasmonean, and Early Roman rule influenced the ways that members of the ruling elite, retainer class, and marginalized groups presented their preferred visions of Jewishness. These sometimes-competing visions advance different strategies to maintain, rework, or blur the boundaries between Jews and others. The study provides the next step toward a thick description of Jewishness in antiquity by introducing needed systematization for relating written sources from different social strata with their contexts.