MARKOV CHAINS WERE first formulated as a stochastic model1 by Russian mathematician Andrei Andreevich Markov. Markov spent most of his professional career at St. Petersburg University and the Imperial Academy of Science. During this time, he specialized in the theory of numbers, mathematical analysis, and probability theory. His work on Markov chains utilized finite square matrices (stochastic matrices) to show that the two classical results of probability theory, namely, the weak law of large numbers and the central limit theorem, can be extended to the case of sums of dependent random variables. Markov chains have wide scientific and engineering applications in statistical mechanics, financial engineering, weather modeling, artificial intelligence, and so on. In this chapter, we will look at a few applications as we build the concepts of Markov chains. Additionally, we will also implement a technique (using Markov chains) to solve a simple and practical engineering problem related to aircraft control and automation.

3.1 Chapter objectives

The chapter objectives are listed as follows.

• 1. Students will learn the definition and applications of Markov processes.

• 2. Students will learn the definition of the stochastic matrix (also known as the probability transition matrix) and perform simple matrix calculations to compute conditional probabilities.

• 3. Students will learn to solve engineering and scientific problems based on discrete time Markov chains (DTMCs) using multi-step transition probabilities.

• 4. Students will learn to compute return times and hitting times to Markov states.

• 5. Students will learn to classify different Markov states.

• 6. Students will learn to use the techniques of DTMCs introduced in this chapter to solve a complex engineering problem related to flight control operations.

This chapter covers all forms of neuronal communication, from neuron-to-neuron signaling to communication with the body and external world. It begins with an overview of electrophysiology, focusing on how action potentials and ion channels drive electrical signaling in neurons. It then explains neurotransmission, detailing how neurotransmitters are synthesized, released, and regulated through processes like reuptake and degradation. The chapter then expands upon the concept of neuronal communication to include how neurons control body functions, such as muscle movement and hormone release, and how they process sensory input like light, sound, and touch through specialized receptors. Finally, the chapter incorporates plasticity, describing how neuronal communication affects synaptic restructuring via processes like long-term potentiation.

In this chapter, we will examine the Old Testament’s role in religious communities as an authoritative revelation from God – the concept of “scripture” common to the three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These texts hardly began as the books that now comprise the Bible; rather, what we will discover is a lengthy, complex development of authoritative texts from oral to written to canon.

This chapter will take us inside the ancient world of the Old Testament’s formation. Words, considered powerful, were painstakingly preserved through centuries in the hands of anonymous authors and editors, scribes and scholars. Texts were collected into books and went through a process of use and standardization by the ancient Israelites, beginning as early as the tenth century bceand lasting through the Babylonian exile and beyond – emerging finally in the canonical form we know today as the Old Testament.

This chapter explores the development and use of speech prosthetic technologies, from early devices like sip-and-puff systems to modern brain–computer interfaces. It reviews fundamental research on language lateralization, Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas, and the distributed representation of word meanings in the brain. The chapter also assesses the status of speech neuroprosthetics, focusing on technologies that decode covert and intended speech from brain activity. Future advancements, such as inferring thought directly through neural recordings, are explored, including the ethical considerations of such breakthroughs.

In the books of Joshua and Judges, God’s gift of land to Israel takes center stage. The first book recounts Israel’s conquest and division of the land under the leadership of Moses’ successor, Joshua. Judges highlights governance in the land by a succession of twelve leaders. Connected by a recurring cycle – Israel’s disobedience to Yahweh, foreign oppression, repentance, and deliverance – the Judges stories narrate the end of one era in Israel’s history and serve as introduction to the next.

Alongside these Primary History accounts, we will consider archaeological evidence for a significant population increase in Canaan during Iron Age I and look at three theories that attempt to explain the appearance of new populations in the region at that time. In addition to observing the nature of religion during Israel’s early history in the land, we will address the difficult subject of the land today. Jewish, Christian, and Muslim readers all have varying responses. Joshua and Judges should not and need not be used in the debate, but they remind us how very ancient is the issue of land.

This book was written with many people in mind, but none more than future scientists. The Preface to this text posed a question: How can psychological research progress when our most powerful neurotechnologies are too invasive for widespread human use?

The first eleven chapters of Genesis – and of the Old Testament – constitute the Primeval History. This carefully arranged collection of traditions detail God’s good creation of the cosmos, the nature of humanity in the created order of the universe, and God’s relationship with humans. In this chapter, we will explore various genres such as cosmogony, theogony, myth, and history, all of which will help to demonstrate ways in which Israel’s Primeval History resembled the traditions of its ancient neighbors and ways in which Israel’s form and content were unique.

Importantly, Genesis 1–11 prepare the reader for the rest of the Bible. They also function as an explanation for Israelite readers of why things are the way they are. Furthermore, they introduce themes that will be important throughout the remainder of the Old Testament: the concept of creation, the unchallenged sovereignty of God, the central importance of humanity, and the first mention of covenant.

The three major sections of Genesis 12–50 focus on the ancestral narratives of Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph. We know little of the historical details, although archaeological data suggests a plausible context for these stories in the Middle Bronze Age. We will see that the narratives themselves hint at even earlier traditions, suggestive of oral traditions preserved and woven into the texts. In these narratives we will also encounter the social structure of kinship-based tribal societies. The “father’s house” and the larger clan formed the subunits of the geographically based organization of the tribe.

This portion of Genesis narrates Yahweh’s provision of hope for the divine–human relationship so tragically marred by human rebellion (Genesis 1–11). Moreover, God chooses an individual, Abraham, to partner in a covenant. This covenant, shaped by God’s promises of land, descendants, and worldwide blessing, is the lasting hallmark of Israelite religion. Abraham’s descendants include not only those named in the Old Testament but those in the three monotheistic religions for which Abraham is acknowledged as the “father of faith.”

We will now focus our attention on the final book of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy. We will discover that, even as the book recounts what has come before for the sake of Israel poised to enter the promised land, it does so in a new setting, in an innovative literary format, and with distinctive emphases that speak to generations present and yet to come.

Deuteronomy consists of four collections of speeches given by Moses, set off by literary superscriptions. Scholars have determined that the book is organized in the form of an ancient international treaty. Following a historical prologue, the speeches reiterate and affirm Torah instruction, institute a covenant renewal that links blessings with covenant fidelity, and detail provisions for Israel after Moses’ death (recounted in the final chapter of the book). Deuteronomy is distinctive in the Pentateuch for its focus on the centralization of Israel’s religious cult at the place where Yahweh will cause his name to dwell, the great statement of faith known as the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4), and the first explicit statements of monotheism in the Old Testament.

This chapter explores the role of drugs in understanding neurotransmitter systems and addressing behavioral problems. It begins by discussing drug administration methods such as oral, intravenous, and inhalation, explaining how these routes influence pharmacokinetics, including drug absorption and metabolism. Like Chapter 6, the chapter then covers several practical applications, including in depression, anxiety and trauma, eating behavior (obesity), addiction, cognitive enhancement, and sleep. These examples underscore the progress that neuroscience has made (e.g., psychiatric medication), the progress that it continues to make (e.g., in psychedelic medicine), and the ongoing need for research and technological innovation. Furthermore, each example illustrates the complex and often ambiguous relationship between neurotransmitters and behavior, where neurotransmitters can influence multiple behaviors, and behaviors can be influenced by multiple neurotransmitter systems.

All historiography or history writing is done with a purpose, and the purpose of Israel as expressed in the Old Testament was clearly religious and theological. The Israelites sought to record their relationship with God in the past – to relate their unique understanding of God, his universe, and his relationship to Israel. Additionally significant is the fact that Israel was among the first nations in the ancient world to write history.

This chapter will take us into the library of ancient Israel to get a better look at how the books of the Old Testament narrate history and how these books have been organized. Specifically, we will investigate the sources that appear to have been interwoven to create the so-called Primary History. These sources are characterized by their distinctive ways of referring to God and by their themes and literary techniques. We will observe that the Old Testament presents the Primary History in such a way as to provide a framework for understanding the historical contexts of all the rest of the Old Testament books.