An Introduction to the Relativistic Theory of Gravitation
The geometric interpretation of gravitation is one of the major foundations of modern theoretical physics. This primer introduces classical general relativity with emphasis on the clarity of conceptual structure and on the basic mathematical methods to build up systematically application skills. The wealth of physical phenomena entailed by the Einstein‘s equations is revealed with the help of specific models describing gravitomagnetism, gravitational waves, cosmology, gravitational collapse and black holes. End-of-chapter exercises complete the main text.
An Introduction to Structural Optimization
This textbook gives an introduction to all three classes of geometry optimization problems of mechanical structures: sizing, shape and topology optimization. The style is explicit and concrete, focusing on problem formulations and numerical solution methods. The treatment is detailed enough to enable readers to write their own implementations. On the book's homepage, programs may be downloaded that further facilitate the learning of the material covered.
An introduction to relativistic processes and the standard model of electroweak interactions
The first part of the volume is devoted to the description of scattering processes in the context of relativistic quantum field theory. The use of the semi-classical approximation allows us to illustrate the relevant computation techniques in a reasonably small amount of space. Our approach to relativistic processes is original in many respects. The second part contains a detailed description of the construction of the standard model of electroweak interactions, with special attention to the mechanism of particle mass generation. The extension of the standard model to include neutrino masses is also described. We have included a number of detailed computations of cross sections and decay rates of pedagogical and phenomenological relevance.
An Introduction to Quantum and Vassiliev Knot Invariants
Provides an accessible introduction to knot theory, focussing on Vassiliev invariants, quantum knot invariants constructed via representations of quantum groups, and how these two apparently distinct theories come together through the Kontsevich invariant. Consisting of four parts, the book opens with an introduction to the fundamentals of knot theory, and to knot invariants such as the Jones polynomial. The second part introduces quantum invariants of knots, working constructively from first principles towards the construction of Reshetikhin-Turaev invariants and a description of how these arise through Drinfeld and Jimbo's quantum groups. Its third part offers an introduction to Vassiliev invariants, providing a careful account of how chord diagrams and Jacobi diagrams arise in the theory, and the role that Lie algebras play. The final part of the book introduces the Konstevich invariant. This is a universal quantum invariant and a universal Vassiliev invariant, and brings together these two seemingly different families of knot invariants. The book provides a detailed account of the construction of the Jones polynomial via the quantum groups attached to sl(2), the Vassiliev weight system arising from sl(2), and how these invariants come together through the Kontsevich invariant.
An introduction to pharmacovigilance ; 2nd ed.
Designed to aid the rapid understanding of the key principles of pharmacovigilance. Packed full of examples illustrating drug safety issues it not only covers the processes involved, but the regulatory aspects and ethical and societal considerations of pharmacovigilance. Covering the basics step-by-step, this book is perfect for beginners and is essential reading for those new to drug safety departments and pharmaceutical medicine students. The second edition is thoroughly revised and updated throughout and includes a new chapter on clinical aspects of pharmacovigilance.
An Introduction to Number Theory
An Introduction to Number Theory provides an introduction to the main streams of number theory. Starting with the unique factorization property of the integers, the theme of factorization is revisited several times throughout the book to illustrate how the ideas handed down from Euclid continue to reverberate through the subject. In particular, the book shows how the Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic, handed down from antiquity, informs much of the teaching of modern number theory. The result is that number theory will be understood, not as a collection of tricks and isolated results, but as a coherent and interconnected theory. A number of different approaches to number theory are presented, and the different streams in the book are brought together in a chapter that describes the class number formula for quadratic fields and the famous conjectures of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer. The final chapter introduces some of the main ideas behind modern computational number theory and its applications in cryptography.
An Introduction to Meshfree Methods and Their Programming
This book aims to present meshfree methods in a friendly and straightforward manner, so that beginners can very easily understand, comprehend, program, implement, apply and extend these methods. It provides first the fundamentals of numerical analysis that are particularly important to meshfree methods. Typical meshfree methods, such as EFG, RPIM, MLPG, LRPIM, MWS and collocation methods are then introduced systematically detailing the formulation, numerical implementation and programming. Many well-tested computer source codes developed by the authors are attached with useful descriptions. The application of the codes can be readily performed using the examples with input and output files given in table form. These codes consist of most of the basic meshfree techniques, and can be easily extended to other variations of more complex procedures of meshfree methods. Readers can easily practice with the codes provided to effective learn and comprehend the basics of meshfree methods.
An Introduction to Language Processing with Perl and Prolog : An Outline of Theories, Implementation, and Application with Special Consideration of English, French, and German
This book teaches the principles of natural language processing, first covering linguistics issues such as encoding, entropy, and annotation schemes; defining words, tokens and parts of speech; and morphology. It then details the language-processing functions involved, including part-of-speech tagging using rules and stochastic techniques; using Prolog to write phase-structure grammars; parsing techniques and syntactic formalisms; semantics, predicate logic and lexical semantics; and analysis of discourse, and applications in dialog systems. The key feature of the book is the author's hands-on approach throughout, with extensive exercises, sample code in Prolog and Perl, and a detailed introduction to Prolog. The reader is supported with a companion website that contains teaching slides, programs, and additional material.
An Introduction to Knowledge Engineering
Knowledge Engineering refers to the development of systems that use knowledge, rather than data, to solve many novel computing problems. This is achieved by the application of computing techniques, closely associated with human cognitive processes, for transforming data into knowledge. An Introduction to Knowledge Engineering presents a simple but detailed exploration of current and established work in the field.
An Introduction to Ethics in Robotics and AI
This book provides an introduction into the ethics of robots and artificial intelligence. The book was written with university students, policy makers, and professionals in mind but should be accessible for most adults. The book is meant to provide balanced and, at times, conflicting viewpoints as to the benefits and deficits of AI through the lens of ethics. As discussed in the chapters that follow, ethical questions are often not cut and dry. Nations, communities, and individuals may have unique and important perspectives on these topics that should be heard and considered. While the voices that compose this book are our own, we have attempted to represent the views of the broader AI, robotics, and ethics communities.
An Introduction to Efficiency and Productivity Analysis
It is designed to be a "first port of call" for people wishing to study efficiency and productivity analysis. The book provides an accessible introduction to the four principal methods involved: econometric estimation of average response models; index numbers; data envelopment analysis (DEA); and stochastic firontier analysis (SFA). For each method, we provide a detailed introduction to the basic concepts, give some simple numerical examples, discuss some of the more important extensions to the basic methods, and provide references for further reading. In addition, we provide a number of detailed empirical applications using real-world data.
An Introduction to Difference Equations
The book integrates both classical and modern treatments of difference equations. It contains the most updated and comprehensive material, yet the presentation is simple enough for the book to be used by advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students. This third edition includes more proofs, more graphs, and more applications. The author has also updated the contents by adding a new chapter on Higher Order Scalar Difference Equations, along with recent results on local and global stability of one-dimensional maps, a new section on the various notions of asymptoticity of solutions, a detailed proof of Levin-May Theorem, and the latest results on the LPA flour-beetle model
An Interactive Multimedia Introduction to Signal Processing
A didactic concept is undertaken for microelectronics, computer technology and communication engineering, which deals with the visualization of signals and processes in addition to graphical programming of signal processing systems. Through the utilization of a professional and globally supported software for metrology and control engineering, DasyLab, useful applications can be developed, modified and optimized. Computer supported processing of real signals is made possible over the sound card and the parallel port. Over two hundred pre-programmed signal engineering systems and design transparencies are provided. Pictures also play a dominant rule in this book: there are numerous introduction-videos, one for every chapter, more than 250 high-quality pictures and - most important – all the "living" experiments and their results are visualized. With this learning system, readers can now make use of "equipment" and software, which was practically unaffordable for individuals in the past. What's more, here is a very new concept for learning Signal Processing, not only from the physically-based scientific fundamentals, but also from the didactic perspective, based on modern results of brain research.
An economic feasibility study of extracting electrical energy from solar panels
The research is a case that study depends on both secondary and primary data. Secondary data should be collected from the firms producing the photo panels(local and foreign) and those that working in this field in addition to the data of the ministry of electricity in Syria and the national center of power, while primary data should be collected by interviews with the persons working in electricity field .Then the traditional steps of commercial profitability analysis should be followed starting in pre-feasibility study passing the detailed feasibility study steps which, in turn, consists of the following phases : market study , technical study , financial study in order to reach the estimated net cash flows that should be used in analyzing the project feasibility depending on all criteria both traditional " payback-period . Simple rate of return" and economic criteria " net present value and the internal rate of return”.
An ecological and societal approach to biological control
Biological control is among the most promising methods for control of pests (including vectors), diseases and weeds. In this book ecological and societal aspects are for the first time treated together. In an ecological approach the aim is to evaluate the significance of certain biological properties like biodiversity and natural habitats. Also, it is important to see biological control from an organic (or ecological) farming point of view. In a societal approach terms like ‘consumer’s attitude’, ‘risk perception’, ‘learning and education’ and ‘value triangle’ are recognised as significant for biological production and human welfare.
Amino acid biosynthesis : Pathways, regulation and metabolic engineering
Amino Acids Biosynthesis presents the current knowledge of fundamental as well as applied microbiology of amino acids. Topics discussed are the amino acid biosynthetic pathways, their genetic and biochemical regulation, transport of amino acids and genomics of producing microorganisms. The characterization of the control mechanisms of amino acid biosynthesis has revealed insights into principles of genetic and biochemical regulation, such as transcriptional regulators and a new class of regulatory elements, the riboswitch. The volume further deals with the metabolic engineering of microorganisms for the biotechnological production of amino acids for use as pharmaceuticals and, particularly, as food and feed additives.
Ambiguities in Decision-oriented Life Cycle Inventories: The Role of Mental Models and Values
Shows for the first time how mental models and values influence this attribution in the life cycle inventory step of LCA. One of the key findings is that the different management rules for a sustainable use of materials must be taken into account for the attribution of material and energy flows to a product. Otherwise, improvement options recommended by an LCA might turn out to even worsen the environmental situation if reassessed from a meta-perspective. As a consequence of this book, the claim of unambiguitiy (‘objectivity’) of the life cycle inventory must be abandoned. A group-model building process for LCA is developed that allows one to grasp the decision makers' mental models and values in the inventory analysis on a case- and situation-specific basis. Only by this, LCA results will become relevant in a decision-making process. Two case studies on the modelling of recycling and other end-of-life options of aluminium windows and beech wood railway sleepers in LCA complement the methodological part.
Ambient Intelligence ; European Conference, AmI 2008, Nuremberg, Germany, November 19-22, 2008. Proceedings
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Second European Conference on Ambient Intelligence, AmI 2008, held in Nuremberg, Germany, in November 2008.
Ambient Intelligence ; European Conference, AmI 2007, Darmstadt, Germany, November 7-10, 2007, Proceedings
This book presented sections on mobility and sensing, applications of AmI, activity and location sensing, AmI and artificial intelligence, AmI middleware and infrastructure, and interaction with the environment. The book is rounded off by a section on case studies and lessons learned, presenting a high level selection of current research reports and papers that reflect the most important activities of current ambient intelligence research.
Amazing numbers in biology
With hundreds of tables and over 10,000 entries anyone who works or studies in the life sciences or those with a curious mind will find exact answers to many questions requiring comparative data. This book is a clearly laid out presentation of the plain facts of life from all areas of biology. None of those figures or superlatives that might seem exotic to the layman is left out. Biology comes alive by this comprehensive references work.



















