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Mid-Infrared Coherent Sources and Applications
Coherent sources of mid-infrared (mid-IR) radiation are of great interest for a wide range of scienti?c and technological applications from spectroscopy and frequency metrology to information technology, industrial process control, pho- chemistry, photobiology and photomedicine. The mid-IR spectrum, which may be de?ned as wavelengths beyond ?2µm, covers important atmospheric windows, and numerous molecular gases, toxic agents, air, water, and soil pollutants, c- ponents of human breath, and several explosive agents have strong absorption ?ngerprints in this region. The development of practical coherent solid-state sources in the mid-IR can thus provide indispensable tools for a variety of - plications in environmental monitoring and pollution control, detection of water and soil contaminants, food quality control, agriculture and life sciences, and n- invasive disease diagnosis and therapy through breath analysis.
Hamiltonian dynamical systems and applications
This volume is the collected and extended notes from the lectures on Hamiltonian dynamical systems and their applications that were given at the NATO Advanced Study Institute in Montreal in 2007. Many aspects of the modern theory of the subject were covered at this event, including low dimensional problems as well as the theory of Hamiltonian systems in infinite dimensional phase space; these are described in depth in this volume. Applications are also presented to several important areas of research, including problems in classical mechanics, continuum mechanics, and partial differential equations. These lecture notes cover many areas of recent mathematical progress in this field, including the new choreographies of many body orbits, the development of rigorous averaging methods which give hope for realistic long time stability results, the development of KAM theory for partial differential equations in one and in higher dimensions, and the new developments in the long outstanding problem of Arnold diffusion.
Evolution from Cellular to Social Scales
Evolution is a critical challenge for many areas of science, technology and development of society. The book reviews general evolutionary facts such as origin of life and evolution of the genome and clues to evolution through simple systems. Emerging areas of science such as "systems biology" and "bio-complexity" are founded on the idea that phenomena need to be understood in the context of highly interactive processes operating at different levels and on different scales. This is where physics meets complexity in nature, and where we must begin to learn about complexity if we are to understand it. Similarly, there is an increasingly urgent need to understand and predict the evolutionary behavior of highly interacting man-made systems, in areas such as communications and transport, which permeate the modern world. The same applies to the evolution of human networks such as social, political and financial systems, where technology has tended to vastly increase both the complexity and speed of interaction, which is sometimes effectively instantaneous.
Engineering of Crystalline Materials Properties ; State of the Art in Modeling, Design and Applications
This volume collects the lecture notes delivered by the main speakers at the Erice 2007 International School of Crystallography, generously selected by NATO as an Advanced Study Institute (# 982582). The aim of the school was to discuss the state-of-the-art in molecular materials design, that is, the rational analysis and fabrication of crystalline solids showing a predefined structural organization of their component molecules and ions, which results in the manifestation of a specific collective property of technological interest.
Detection of Liquid Explosives and Flammable Agents in Connection with Terrorism
The organization of an Advanced Research Workshop with the title “Detection and Disposal of Liquid Explosives and Flammable Agents in Connection with Terrorism” was motivated by international findings about activities in this field of application. This ARW followed a meeting about the “Detection of Disposal Improvised Explosives” (St. Petersburg, 2005). Both items show the logistic problems as one of the lessons, terrorists have to overcome. These problems are connected with the illegal supply and transport of explosives and fuels and as counter-measure the detection of these materials. The invention of liquid explosives goes back to the middle of the 19th century and was used for special purposes in the commercial field of application. Because of the high sensitivity of liquid explosives against mechanical shock, caused by adiabatic compression of air-bobbles producing “hot spots” as origin of initiation the commercial application was not very successful. Because of this high risk, liquid explosives are not used in military or commercial application with some exceptions. In the commercial field explosives as slurries or emulsions consisting of suitable salts (Ammoniumnitrate etc.) and water are used to a large extend because of their high insensitivity. In many cases these slurries or emulsions were unfit for terrorist actions, because of their low sensitivity, large critical diameter and using in confinement. In the military field liquid explosives are used in World War I and II as bomb-fillings.
Detection and Disposal of Improvised Explosives
It including: Methods of detection of Improvised Explosives (IE). Methods of detection of Improvised explosives devices (IED). Disposal and safe handling of ID and IED. The treatment of detection methods may be divided in the following groups: Overview about the different methods; Trace- and vapor detection; Electromagnetic methods; Neutron methods; Laser techniques. Because of different definitions of Improvised Explosives the parti- pants of the workshop agreed after some discussions with the following definition: An Improvised Explosive (IE) can be any chemical compound or mixture capable of an explosive reaction. They are normally easily prepared by a knowledgeable layman under simple conditions. Components of IE are typically inorganic salts containing molecular bound oxygen like nitrates, chlorates or perchlorates etc. or organic compounds with nitro-, nitami- or nitrate-groups or peroxides. Admixtures of military or commercial explosive materials are also used. From the chemical point of view IE can be divided into the following types: Salts containing chemical groups with oxygen (like nitrates, chlorates or perchlorates etc.) in mixtures with combustible substances like carbon-hydrogen compounds.
