Linear Systems Control : Deterministic and Stochastic Methods
Modern control theory and in particular state space or state variable methods can be adapted to the description of many different systems because it depends strongly on physical modeling and physical intuition. The laws of physics are in the form of differential equations and for this reason, this book concentrates on system descriptions in this form. This means coupled systems of linear or nonlinear differential equations. The physical approach is emphasized in this book because it is most natural for complex systems. It also makes what would ordinarily be a difficult mathematical subject into one which can straightforwardly be understood intuitively and which deals with concepts which engineering and science students are already familiar.
Linear Systems
Linear systems theory plays a broad and fundamental role in electrical, mechanical, chemical and aerospace engineering, communications, and signal processing. A thorough introduction to systems theory with emphasis on control is presented in this self-contained textbook. The book examines the fundamental properties that govern the behavior of systems by developing their mathematical descriptions. Linear time-invariant, time-varying, continuous-time, and discrete-time systems are covered. Rigorous development of classic and contemporary topics in linear systems, as well as extensive coverage of stability and polynomial matrix/fractional representation, provide the necessary foundation for further study of systems and control.
Lie Algebras and Applications
This book, designed for advanced graduate students and post-graduate researchers, provides an introduction to Lie algebras and some of their applications to the spectroscopy of molecules, atoms, nuclei and hadrons. In the first part, a concise exposition is given of the basic concepts of Lie algebras, their representations and their invariants. The second part contains a description of how Lie algebras are used in practice in the treatment of bosonic and fermionic systems. Physical applications considered include rotations and vibrations of molecules (vibron model), collective modes in nuclei (interacting boson model), the atomic shell model, the nuclear shell model, and the quark model of hadrons. One of the key concepts in the application of Lie algebraic methods in physics, that of spectrum generating algebras and their associated dynamic symmetries, is also discussed. The book contains many examples that help to elucidate the abstract algebraic definitions. It provides a summary of many formulas of practical interest, such as the eigenvalues of Casimir operators and the dimensions of the representations of all classical Lie algebras.
Leonardo´s Lost Robots
Reinterprets Leonardo's legacy of notes, showing that apparently unconnected fragments from dispersed manuscripts actually comprise cohesive designs for functioning automata. Using the rough sketches scattered throughout almost all of Leonardo's notebooks, the author has reconstructed Leonardo's programmable cart, which was the platform for other automata: a Robot Lion, a Robot Knight, and a hydraulically powered automaton for striking a bell.
Learning Languages, Learning Life-skills : Autobiographical reflexive approach to teaching and learning a foreign language
Learning Languages, Learning Life Skills offers an autobiographical reflexive approach to foreign language education. The orientation of the book is practical, containing rich descriptions of language learning situations including authentic language use and student stories.
Laser-Tissue Interactions : Fundamentals and Applications
This essential work provides a thorough description of the fundamentals and applications in the field of laser-tissue interactions. Concepts such as the optical and thermal properties of tissue, and optical breakdown and its related effects, are treated in detail.
L’osservazione delle stelle variabili = The observation of variable stars
The observation of variable stars is one of the main contributions that amateur astronomers can offer to science and this book provides all the information necessary to pursue it profitably. In the first part the different classes of variables are presented in detail, with examples, light curves and physical descriptions. The second section, on the other hand, covers all the practical aspects of observation: from preparation and planning, to observation techniques, up to the management and processing of data.
Kramers-Kronig Relations in Optical Materials Research
This is the first one-volume work to provide a thorough and comprehensive description of the physical background, rigorous theory and applications of Kramers-Kronig relations in the fields of linear and nonlinear optical spectroscopy. Currently, Kramers-Kronig relations have become basic tools in the investigation of the optical properties of materials. A brief presentation of the related data-retrieval technique, the maximum entropy method, is also given. The contents and style potentially make this a standard text for physicists, chemists and engineers interested in optical-materials research and development.
Knowledge-Driven Computing : Knowledge Engineering and Intelligent Computations
Knowledge-Driven Computing constitutes an emerging area of intensive research located at the intersection of Computational Intelligence and Knowledge Engineering with strong mathematical foundations. It embraces methods and approaches coming from diverse computational paradigms, such as evolutionary computation and nature-inspired algorithms, logic programming and constraint programming, rule-based systems, fuzzy sets and many others. The use of various knowledge representation formalisms and knowledge processing and computing paradigms is oriented towards the efficient resolution of computationally complex and difficult problems.
Journeys to a Graveyard : Perceptions of Europe in Classical Russian Travel Writing
Journeys to a Graveyard examines the descriptions provided by eight Russian writers of journeys made to western European countries between 1697 and 1880. The descriptions reveal the mentality and preoccupations of the Russian social and intellectual elites during this period. The travellers' perceptions of western European countries are treated here as an ambivalent response to a civilization with which Russia was belatedly coming into close contact as a result of the imperial ambition of the Russian state and the westernization of the Russian elites. The travellers perceived the most advanced European countries as superior to Russia in terms of material achievement and the maturity and refinement of their cultures, but they also promoted a view of Russia as in other respects superior to the western nations. Heavily influenced from the late eighteenth century by Romanticism and by the rise of nationalism in the west, they tended to depict European civilization as moribund. By this means they managed to define their own emergent nation in a contrastive way as having youth and promising futurity.
Jacopo da Firenze’s Tractatus Algorismi and Early Italian Abbacus Culture
In the city republics of Renaissance Italy, it was a common practice among the merchant class to send sons for a two-year course of study at an "abbacus school", where they learned practical, mostly commercial mathematics, known as abbaco. From this school institution, several hundred manuscripts survive, all in Italian, often containing not only what the masters needed in their teaching but also algebra or other advanced mathematical material. A signal feature of the book by Jens Høyrup is the first translation of one of these abbacus manuscripts into English.
Composite Systems Decisions
Composite decisions consist of interconnected parts or subdecisions and correspond to a composite (composable, modular, decomposable) system. Composite Systems Decisions describes an educational approach that is based on systems engineering and considered modular design of composite decisions. Divided into four parts, this book contains descriptions of basic systems approaches and examines basic ‘technological’ problems for composite systems, including: modular hierarchical design; multistage design; multistage planning; redesign/improvement/adaptation; evaluation; and, combinatorial evolution/development.
Complexity in chemistry, biology, and ecology
This book, written by an international team of experts, introduces the reader to various aspects of complexity theory and its applications. It illustrates the latest trends in science to go beyond the mechanistic Newtonian view of the world by shifting the focus to self-organization, adaptation, and emergent phenomena. The authors discuss these properties of complex systems in biology, ecology and chemistry along with the structure and interconnectedness of the "layers" of complexity. The qualitative description is complemented by a discussion of methods for complexity quantification. Networks are covered in detail as a universal language of the complex world.
Complex Inorganic Solids : Structural, Stability, and Magnetic Properties of Alloys
One the key aspects of this volume is to cut across the traditional taxonomy of disciplines in the study of alloys. Hence there has been a deliberate attempt to integrate the different approaches taken towards alloys as a class of materials in different fields, ranging from geology to metallurgical engineering. The emphasis of this book is to highlight commonalities between different fields with respect to how alloys are studied. The topics in this book fall into several themes, which suggest a number of different classification schemes. We have chosen a scheme that classifies the papers in the volume into the categories Microstructural Considerations, Ordering, Kinetics and Diffusion, Magnetic Considerations and Elastic Considerations. The book has juxtaposed apparently disparate approaches to similar physical processes, in the hope of revealing a more dynamic character of the processes under consideration. This monograph will invigorate new kinds of discussion and reveal challenges and new avenues to the description and prediction of properties of materials in the solid state and the conditions that produce them
Chemical Genomics ; Vol.58 : Small Molecule Probes to Study Cellular Function
Chemical genomics is a highly interdisciplinary and very exciting field of research both in academics and in the life sciences industry.Various aspects of the interface between chemistry and biology are covered in this volume, such as chemogenomics efforts in the pharmaceutical industry, diversity-oriented synthesis, chemogenomic approaches to the study of cell function, screening technologies, and natural products as tools in chemical biology.
Charged Particle Traps : Physics and Techniques of Charged Particle Field Confinement
This book provides an introduction and guide to modern advances in charged particle (and antiparticle) confinement by electromagnetic fields. Confinement in different trap geometries, the influence of trap imperfections, classical and quantum mechanical description of the trapped particle motion, different methods of ion cooling to low temperatures, and non-neutral plasma properties (including Coulomb crystals) are the main subjects. They form the basis of such applications of charged particle traps as high-resolution optical and microwave spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, atomic clocks, and, potentially, quantum computing.
Cell Motility
Cell motility is a fascinating example of cell behavior which is fundamentally important to a number of biological and pathological processes. It is based on a complex self-organized mechano-chemical machine consisting of cytoskeletal filaments and molecular motors. In general, the cytoskeleton is responsible for the movement of the entire cell and for movements within the cell. The main challenge in the field of cell motility is to develop a complete physical description on how and why cells move. For this purpose new ways of modeling the properties of biological cells have to be found. This long term goal can only be achieved if new experimental techniques are developed to extract physical information from these living systems and if theoretical models are found which bridge the gap between molecular and mesoscopic length scales. Cell Motility gives an authoritative overview of the fundamental biological facts, theoretical models, and current experimental developments in this fascinating area.
CDMA Radio with Repeaters
This book analyzes the interaction of the CDMA system within a mobile channel environment, emphasizing repeaters, diversities, and other performance-enhancing means. The authors provide a unique and clear description of repeater-embedded networks’ planning, design, and optimization in different scenarios. Simple physically-based expressions are developed and supported by extensive field experience, and provide insight into the network dynamics. CDMA Radio with Repeaters is intended for wireless RF engineers and system architects, and for researchers working on advanced wireless networks, including MIMO systems. The material also provides insight for helping cellular managers and business assess costs and risks. This book is also suitable as a reference book for graduate courses.
Care Poverty : When Older People’s Needs Remain Unmet
This book turns the research attention of social policy scholars and long-term care researchers from comparative descriptions of care systems, focusing mostly on expenditures and volumes of long-term care services, to outcomes, and in particular to the question whether older people really receive the support that they need. Without knowledge about which needs and which social groups are currently inadequately covered, it is impossible to guide policy development.
Carbonate Reservoir Characterization : An Integrated Approach
One principal need in petroleum recovery from carbonate reservoirs is the description of the three-dimensional distribution of petrophysical properties in order to improve performance predictions by means of fluid-flow computer simulations. The book focuses on a rock based approach for the integration of geological, petrophysical, and geostatistical methods to construct a reservoir model suitable to input into flow simulation programs. This second edition includes a new chapter on model construction and new examples of limestone, dolostone, and touching-vug reservoir models as well as improved chapters on basic petrophysical properties, rock-fabric/petrophysical relationships, calibration of wireline logs, and sequence stratigraphy.



















