Ontologies : A Handbook of Principles, Concepts and Applications in Information Systems
The primary objective of ONTOLOGIES: A Handbook of Principles, Concepts and Applications in Information Systems is to mobilize a collective awareness in the research community to the leading and emerging developments in ODIS, and consequently, highlight the enormous potential of ODIS research to both fundamentally transform and create innovative solutions to several problems in various domains. This book is a compilation of 32 leading-edge chapter contributions from some of the top researchers in the community working in various fundamental and applied disciplines related to ODIS. These chapters are organized into four broad themes: Foundations of ODIS, Ontological Engineering, ODIS Architectures, and ODIS Applications.
Offshore Risk Assessment : Principles, Modelling and Applications of QRA Studies
This updated and expanded second edition has been informed by a major R&D programme on offshore risk assessment in Norway (2002–2006), and reflects the trend of expanded use of floating production installations. It starts with a thorough discussion of risk metrics and risk analysis methodology with subsequent chapters devoted to analytical approaches to escalation, escape, evacuation and rescue analysis of safety and emergency systems. Separate chapters analyse the main hazards of offshore structures: fire, explosion, collision and falling objects. Risk mitigation and control are discussed, as well as an illustration of how the results from quantitative risk assessment studies should be presented. The second edition has a stronger focus on the use of risk assessment techniques in the operation of offshore installations. Also decommissioning of installations is covered.
Numerical partial differential equations for environmental scientists and engineers : A first practical course
This book concerns the practical solution of Partial Differential Equations (PDEs). It reflects an interdisciplinary approach to problems occurring in natural environmental media: the hydrosphere, atmosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere, biosphere and ionosphere. It assumes the reader has gained some intuitive knowledge of PDE solution properties and now wants to solve some for real, in the context of practical problems arising in real situations. The practical aspect of this book is the infused focus on computation. It presents two major discretization methods - Finite Difference and Finite Element. The blend of theory, analysis, and implementation practicality supports solving and understanding complicated problems. It is divided into three parts. Part I is an overview of Finite Difference Methods. Part II focuses on Finite Element Methods, including an FEM tutorial. Part III deals with Inverse Methods, introducing formal approaches to practical problems which are ill-posed.
Numerical Optimization
Numerical Optimization presents a comprehensive and up-to-date description of the most effective methods in continuous optimization. It responds to the growing interest in optimization in engineering, science, and business by focusing on the methods that are best suited to practical problems.The book has been thoroughly updated throughout. There are new chapters on nonlinear interior methods and derivative-free methods for optimization, both of which are used widely in practice and the focus of much current research. Because of the emphasis on practical methods, as well as the extensive illustrations and exercises.
Numerical Mathematics and Advanced Applications ; Proceedings of ENUMATH 2007, the 7th European Conference on Numerical Mathematics and Advanced Applications, Graz, Austria, September 2007
The European Conference on Numerical Mathematics and Advanced Applications (ENUMATH) is a series of meetings held every two years to provide a forum for discussion on recent aspects of numerical mathematics and their applications. These proceedings contain a selection of invited plenary lectures, papers presented in minisymposia and contributed papers. Topics include theoretical aspects of new numerical techniques and algorithms as well as of applications in engineering and science. The book will be useful for a wide range of readers, giving them an excellent overview of the most modern methods, techniques, algorithms and results in numerical mathematics, scientific computing and their applications.
Numerical Continuation Methods for Dynamical Systems : Path following and boundary value problems
The book opens with a foreword by Herbert B. Keller and lecture notes by Sebius Doedel himself that introduce the basic concepts of numerical bifurcation analysis. The other chapters by leading experts discuss continuation for various types of systems and objects and showcase examples of how numerical bifurcation analysis can be used in concrete applications. Topics that are treated include: interactive continuation tools, higher-dimensional continuation, the computation of invariant manifolds, and continuation techniques for slow-fast systems, for symmetric Hamiltonian systems, for spatially extended systems and for systems with delay. Three chapters review physical applications: the dynamics of a SQUID, global bifurcations in laser systems, and dynamics and bifurcations in electronic circuits.
Numerical analysis
Introduces readers to the theory and application of modern numerical approximation techniques. Providing an accessible treatment that only requires a calculus prerequisite, the authors explain how, why, and when approximation techniques can be expected to work-and why, in some situations, they fail. A wealth of examples and exercises develop readers' intuition, and demonstrate the subject's practical applications to important everyday problems in math, computing, engineering, and physical science disciplines.
Notions of Convexity
The first two chapters of this book are devoted to convexity in the classical sense, for functions of one and several real variables respectively. This gives a background for the study in the following chapters of related notions which occur in the theory of linear partial differential equations and complex analysis such as (pluri-)subharmonic functions, pseudoconvex sets, and sets which are convex for supports or singular supports with respect to a differential operator. In addition, the convexity conditions which are relevant for local or global existence of holomorphic differential equations are discussed, leading up to Trépreau’s theorem on sufficiency of condition (capital Greek letter Psi) for microlocal solvability in the analytic category.
Nonstandard Analysis
The book is an introduction with emphasis on those more advanced applications in analysis which are hardly accessible by other methods. Examples of such topics are a deeper analysis of certain functionals like Hahn-Banach limits or of finitely additive measures: From the viewpoint of classical analysis these are strange objects whose mere existence is even hard to prove. From the viewpoint of nonstandard analysis, these are rather 'explicit' objects.
Non-spectral Asymptotic Analysis of One-Parameter Operator Semigroups
In this book, non-spectral methods are presented and discussed that have been developed over the last two decades for the investigation of asymptotic behavior of one-parameter operator semigroups in Banach spaces. This concerns in particular Markov semigroups in L1-spaces, motivated by applications to probability theory and dynamical systems. Recently many results on the asymptotic behaviour of Markov semigroups were extended to positive semigroups in Banach lattices with order-continuous norm, and to positive semigroups in non-commutative L1-spaces. Related results, historical notes, exercises, and open problems accompany each chapter.
Nonsmooth Vector Functions and Continuous Optimization
A recent significant innovation in mathematical sciences has been the progressive use of nonsmooth calculus, an extension of the differential calculus, as a key tool of modern analysis in many areas of mathematics, operations research, and engineering. Focusing on the study of nonsmooth vector functions, this book presents a comprehensive account of the calculus of generalized Jacobian matrices and their applications to continuous nonsmooth optimization problems and variational inequalities in finite dimensions.
Nonsmooth Mechanics and Analysis : Theoretical and Numerical Advances
Nonsmooth mechanics concerns mechanical situations with possible nondifferentiable relationships, eventually discontinuous, as unilateral contact, dry friction, collisions, plasticity, damage, and phase transition. The basis of the approach consists in dealing with such problems without resorting to any regularization process. Indeed, the nonsmoothness is due to simplified mechanical modeling; a more sophisticated model would require too large a number of variables, and sometimes the mechanical information is not available via experimental investigations. Therefore, the mathematical formulation becomes nonsmooth; regularizing would only be a trick of arithmetic without any physical justification. Nonsmooth analysis was developed, especially in Montpellier, to provide specific theoretical and numerical tools to deal with nonsmoothness. It is important not only in mechanics but also in physics, robotics, and economics.
Nonsmooth Analysis
The book treats various concepts of generalized derivatives and subdifferentials in normed spaces, their geometric counterparts (tangent and normal cones) and their application to optimization problems. It starts with the subdifferential of convex analysis, passes to corresponding concepts for locally Lipschitz continuous functions and finally presents subdifferentials for general lower semicontinuous functions. All basic tools are presented where they are needed; this concerns separation theorems, variational and extremal principles as well as relevant parts of multifunction theory. The presentation is rigorous, with detailed proofs. Each chapter ends with bibliographic notes and exercises.
Nonparametric Functional Data Analysis : Theory and Practice
Modern apparatuses allow us to collect samples of functional data, mainly curves but also images. On the other hand, nonparametric statistics produces useful tools for standard data exploration. This book links these two fields of modern statistics by explaining how functional data can be studied through parameter-free statistical ideas. This book starts from theoretical foundations including functional nonparametric modeling, description of the mathematical framework, construction of the statistical methods, and statements of their asymptotic behaviors. It proceeds to computational issues including R and S-PLUS routines. Several functional datasets in chemometrics, econometrics, and pattern recognition are used to emphasize the wide scope of nonparametric functional data analysis in applied sciences. The companion Web site includes R and S-PLUS routines, command lines for reproducing examples presented in the book, and the functional datasets. Rather than set application against theory, this book is really an interface of these two features of statistics. A special effort has been made in writing this book to accommodate several levels of reading.
Nonlinear Structural Engineering : With Unique Theories and Methods to Solve Effectively Complex Nonlinear Problems
This book is aiming to concentrate on the nonlinear static and dynamic analysis of structures and structural components that are widely used in everyday engineering applications. It approaches a nonlinear problem by mathematically converting it into an exact equivalent pseudolinear one, in contrast to commonly used approaches which are based on linear concepts. The new concepts, theories and methods introduced in this book, simplify a great deal the solution of the complex nonlinear problems, and also allow for the correct usage of the powerful existing linear methods of analysis.
Nonlinear Problems of Elasticity
This second edition is an enlarged, completely updated, and extensively revised version of the authoritative first edition. It is devoted to the detailed study of illuminating specific problems of nonlinear elasticity. The mathematical tools from nonlinear analysis are given self-contained presentations where they are needed. This book begins with chapters on (geometrically exact theories of) strings, rods, and shells, and on the applications of bifurcation theory and the calculus of variations to problems for these bodies. The book continues with chapters on tensors, three-dimensional continuum mechanics, three-dimensional elasticity, large-strain plasticity, general theories of rods and shells, and dynamical problems. Each chapter contains a wealth of interesting, challenging, and tractable exercises.
Nonlinear Elliptic and Parabolic Problems : A Special Tribute to the Work of Herbert Amann
The present volume is dedicated to celebrate the work of the renowned mathematician Herbert Amann, who had a significant and decisive influence in shaping Nonlinear Analysis. Most articles published in this book, which consists of 32 articles in total, written by highly distinguished researchers, are in one way or another related to the scientific works of Herbert Amann. The contributions cover a wide range of nonlinear elliptic and parabolic equations with applications to natural sciences and engineering. Special topics are fluid dynamics, reaction-diffusion systems, bifurcation theory, maximal regularity, evolution equations, and the theory of function spaces.
Nonlinear dynamics in complex systems via fractals and fractional calculus
Current advances in the knowledge of nonlinear dynamical networks, systems and processes, as well as their unified repercussions, allow us to include some typical complex natural phenomena, from the nanoscale to an extra-galactic scale, in an unitarian comprehensive manner. In other words, the physical, biological and financial data, as well as technological ones (mechanical or electronic devices), of complex systems available today can be managed by the same unique conceptual approach, both analytically and through a computer simulation, using effective nonlinear dynamics procedures. This volume collected some important advances in the fields of fractal curves, fractal analysis and fractional calculus, as well as new solutions of fractal differential equations.
Non-equilibrium Thermodynamics and the Production of Entropy: Life, Earth, and Beyond
The present volume studies the application of concepts from non-equilibrium thermodynamics to a variety of research topics. Emphasis is on the Maximum Entropy Production (MEP) principle and applications to Geosphere-Biosphere couplings. Written by leading researchers form a wide range of background, the book proposed to give a first coherent account of an emerging field at the interface of thermodynamics, geophysics and life sciences.
New Tools of Economic Dynamics
New Tools of Economic Dynamics gives an introduction and overview of recently developed methods and tools, most of them developed outside economics, to deal with the qualitative analysis of economic dynamics. It reports the results of a three-year research project by a European and Latin American network on the intersection of economics with mathematical, statistical, and computational methods and techniques. Focusing upon the evolution and manifold structure of complex dynamic phenomena, the book reviews and shows applications of a variety of tools, such as symbolic and coded dynamics, interacting agents models, microsimulation in econometrics, large-scale system analysis, and dynamical systems theory. It shows the potential of a comprehensive analysis of growth, fluctuations, and structural change along the lines indicated by pioneers like Harrod, Haavelmo, Hicks, Goodwin, Morishima, and it highlights the explanatory power of the qualitative approach they initiated.



















