This book collects a series of review articles summarizing the outcomes of collaborative research projects on the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake and the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, two of the largest and most disastrous earthquakes in Asia in the last two decades. The articles cover a broad range of aspects,including these earthquakes' fundamental mechanisms, kinematics, and the geological and geophysical background of their fracture faults. Presenting comprehensive coverage, the book offers a valuable reference guide to these two devastating earthquakes.

Provides a description of the thermodynamic model, data treatment procedures and the thermodynamic constants for hydrous ferric oxide. Includes detailed coverage of the model and the parameter extraction procedure.

The germ plasm of numerous plant species, especially those of forest trees, some agricultural crops, and medicinal plants, is endangered and threatened with extinction. This depletion of germplasm pools and the shrinkage of naturally occurring genetic resources have caused international concern. Conventionally, the germplasm of plants is conserved through seeds, tubers, roots, corms, rhizomes, bulbs, cuttings, etc. However, the germ plasm of a number of trees and plantation crops (such as coconut, cocao, coffee, oil palm, rubber, mango, horse chestnut, etc. ) cannot be preserved since their seed are short-lived (recalcitrant). Likewise, germplasm of vegetatively propagated crops (such as potato and cassava) cannot be stored on a long term basis and has to be grown and multiplied periodically in nurseries and fields. The plants are thus exposed to unpredictable weather conditions and diseases, with the result that instances are known where entire genetic stocks are lost. Therefore, unconventional methods are being developed for the storage and international exchange of germplasm. For this purpose in vitro cultures have been employed, but they can only enable short-to medium term preservation; moreover, cell cultures upon repeated subculture undergo genetic erosion. In view of the recent developments in the in vitro induction of genetic variability through somaclonal variation, somatic hybridization, recombinant DNA technology, etc., new methods need to be employed for the storage of desirable cultures. In this regard freeze preservation of cells in liquid nitrogen (-196 0q, like that of semen, enables long-term storage, theoretically, for an indefinite period of time."

This book describes origin and characteristics of the Earth's thermal field, thermal flow propagation and some thermal phenomena in the Earth. Description of thermal properties of rocks and methods of thermal field measurements in boreholes, underground, at near-surface conditions enables to understand the principles of temperature field acquisition and geothermal model development. Processing and interpretation of geothermal data are shown on numerous field examples from different regions of the world. The book warps, for instance, such fields as analysis of thermal regime of the Earth's crust, evolution and thermodynamic conditions of the magma-ocean and early Earth atmosphere, thermal properties of permafrost, thermal waters, geysers and mud volcanoes, methods of Curie discontinuity construction, quantitative interpretation of thermal anomalies, examination of some nonlinear effects, and integration of geothermal data with other geophysical methods. This book is intended for students and researchers in the field of Earth Sciences and Environment studying thermal processes in the Earth and in the subsurface. It will be useful for specialists applying thermal field analysis in petroleum, water and ore geophysics, environmental and ecological studies, archaeological prospection and climate of the past.

Remote Sensing from a New Perspective The idea for this book began many years ago, when I was asked to teach a course on remote sensing. Not long before that time, I had been part of the effort to develop the first database for planetary data with a common digital array format and interactive processing capabilities to correlate those data easily: the lunar consortium. All the available lunar remote sensing data were included, orbital and ground-based, ranging across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. I had used this powerful tool extensively, and, in that spirit, I was determined to create a course which covered the entire spectrum and a variety of targets. As I looked around for the equivalent of a textbook, which I was willing to pull together from several sources, I realized that available material was very heavily focused on the visual and near visual spectrum and on the Earth as a target. Even The Surveillant Science, edited by Edward Holz and published in 1973, which broke new ground in having diverse articles on most of the spectrum when it was created, focused entirely on the Earth. My personal favorite, the exceedingly well written book on remote sensing by Floyd Sabins first published in 1978, covered the visual, infrared, and microwave portions of the spectrum beautifully but focused on the Earth as well. Unhindered, I developed what I called 'packets' of material for each part of the spectrum.

This book is a collection of original papers presented at the International Conference on Computational Mathematics in Nanoelectronics and Astrophysics (CMNA 2018) held at the Indian Institute of Technology Indore, India, from 1 to 3 November 2018. It aims at presenting recent developments of computational mathematics in nanoelectronics, astrophysics and related areas of space sciences and engineering. These proceedings discuss the most advanced innovations, trends and real-world challenges encountered and their solutions with the application of computational mathematics in nanoelectronics, astrophysics and space sciences. From focusing on nano-enhanced smart technological developments to the research contributions of premier institutes in India and abroad on ISRO's future space explorations-this book includes topics from highly interdisciplinary areas of research. The book is of interest to researchers, students and practising engineers working in diverse areas of science and engineering, ranging from applied and computational mathematics to nanoelectronics, nanofabrications and astrophysics.

In Bilayer Lipid Membranes. Structure and Mechanical Properties the authors use new methods of measurement, which they have themselves developed, to present an analysis of the relation between membrane structure and viscoelastic properties, in particular in the transversal direction. Hianik and Passechnik's approach is fundamentally different from the usual one, in that they analyze lipid bilayer dynamics during various modes of deformation, arriving at a new, three-layer' model that accounts for the great heterogeneity of biomembranes. The macroscopic parameters of membranes have been measured using a wide variety of methods, leading to a discussion of the correlations between the parameters. There is also an extensive discussion of the dynamic changes in mechanical properties of lipid bilayers in the course of conformational transition of integral proteins. During the conformational changes of proteins, the structure of a bilayer undergoes a transition, reaching a new, stable membrane state. The book is the first to present a comprehensive analysis of long-distance interaction in lipid bilayers and of molecular mechanisms of mechanoreception. Audience: Scientists and graduate students working in biophysics, membranology, physiology, medicine, pharmacology, bioelectronics, electrochemistry, and colloid chemistry.

This book demonstrates the usefulness of tools from statistical mechanics for biology. It includes the new tendencies in topics like membranes, vesicles, microtubules, molecular motors, DNA, protein folding, phase transitions in biological systems, evolution, population dynamics, neural systems and biological oscillators, with special emphasis on the importance of statistical mechanics in their development. The book addresses researchers and graduate students.

Der bekannte Astronom Karl Schwarzschild (1873-1916) gilt als der Begrunder der Astrophysik und als hervorragender Forscher mit einer erstaunlichen Bandbreite seiner Interessen. Arbeiten zur Himmelsmechanik, Elektrodynamik und Relativitatstheorie weisen ihn als vorzuglichen Mathematiker und Physiker auf der Hohe seiner Zeit aus. Untersuchungen zur Photographischen Photometrie, Optik und Spektroskopie zeigen den versierten Beobachter, der sein Messinstrumentarium beherrscht, und schliesslich arbeitete Schwarzschild als Astrophysiker an Sternatmospharen, Kometen, Struktur und Dynamik von Sternsystemen. Die in seinem kurzen Leben entstandene Fulle an wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten ist in drei Banden der Gesamtausgabe gesammelt, erganzt durch biographisches Material, Annotationen von Fachleuten und einen Essay des Nobelpreistragers S. Chandrasekhar."

Many important observational clues about our understanding of how stars and planets form in the interior of molecular clouds have been amassed using recent technological developments. ESO's very large telescope promises to be a major step forward in the investigation of stellar nurseries and infant stars. This volume collects papers from the leaders in this very timely field of astrophysical research. It presents theoretical and a host of observational results and many papers show the plans for future observations.

This timely book presents an overview of the galaxies within the Local Volume, including the Local Group and our closest neighbours, the Andromeda Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds. Presented here are the latest results from radio, infrared and optical surveys as well as detailed multi-wavelength studies of individual galaxies. The book aims to provide a vibrant forum for presentations and discussions across a broad range of astrophysical topics.

Multifrequency Electromagnetic Data Interpretation for Subsurface Characterization focuses on the development and application of electromagnetic measurement methodologies and their interpretation techniques for subsurface characterization. The book guides readers on how to characterize and understand materials using electromagnetic measurements, including dielectric permittivity, resistivity and conductivity measurements. This reference will be useful for subsurface engineers, petrophysicists, subsurface data analysts, geophysicists, hydrogeologists, and geoscientists who want to know how to develop tools and techniques of electromagnetic measurements and interpretation for subsurface characterization.

The study of planet formation has been revolutionized by recent observational breakthroughs, which have allowed the detection and characterization of extrasolar planets, the imaging of protoplanetary disks, and the discovery of the Solar System's Kuiper Belt. Written for beginning graduate students, this textbook provides a basic understanding of the astrophysical processes that shape the formation of planetary systems. It begins by describing the structure and evolution of protoplanetary disks, moves on to the formation of planetesimals, terrestrial and gas giant planets, and concludes by surveying new theoretical ideas for the early evolution of planetary systems. Covering all phases of planet formation - from protoplanetary disks to the dynamical evolution of planetary systems - this introduction can be understood by readers with backgrounds in planetary science, and observational and theoretical astronomy. It highlights the physical principles underlying planet formation and the areas where more research and new observations are needed.

The high accuracy of modern astronomical spatial-temporal reference systems has made them considerably complex. This book offers a comprehensive overview of such systems. It begins with a discussion of 'The Problem of Time', including recent developments in the art of clock making (e.g., optical clocks) and various time scales. The authors address the definitions and realization of spatial coordinates by reference to remote celestial objects such as quasars. After an extensive treatment of classical equinox-based coordinates, new paradigms for setting up a celestial reference system are introduced that no longer refer to the translational and rotational motion of the Earth. The role of relativity in the definition and realization of such systems is clarified. The topics presented in this book are complemented by exercises (with solutions). The authors offer a series of files, written in Maple, a standard computer algebra system, to help readers get a feel for the various models and orders of magnitude. Beyond astrometry, the main fields of application of high-precision astronomical spatial-temporal reference systems and frames are navigation (GPS, interplanetary spacecraft navigation) and global geodynamics, which provide a high-precision Celestial Reference System and its link to any terrestrial spatial-temporal reference system. Mankind's urgent environmental questions can only be answered in the context of appropriate reference systems in which both aspects, space and time, are realized with a sufficiently high level of accuracy. This book addresses all those interested in high-precision reference systems and the various techniques (GPS, Very Long Baseline Interferometry, Satellite Laser Ranging, Lunar Laser Ranging) necessary for their realization, including the production and dissemination of time signals.

This book gives a much needed explanation of the basic physical principles of radiative transfer and remote sensing, and presents all the instruments and retrieval algorithms in a homogenous manner. The editors provide, for the first time, an easy path from theory to practical algorithms in one easily accessible volume, making the connection between theoretical radiative transfer and individual practical solutions to retrieve aerosol information from remote sensing, and providing the specifics and intercomparison of all current and historical retrieval methods.

Audouin Dollfus Observatoire de Paris, Section de Meudon, 92195 Meudon, FRfu CE The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and, in particular, its Department of Scientific Affairs headed by Dr. C. Sinclair, actively supports new fields of science. The recent exploration of the outer parts of the Solar System by spacecraft focused the attention of a large community of scientists on the problem of ices, which playa major role in the accretionary processes in space except for the close neighborhood of the Sun and of other stars. NATO responded to this new interest by agreeing to sponsor an Advanced Research Workshop "Ices in the Solar System," provided a proper organizing body could be set up. It was a pleasure to organize such a workshop jointly with Profes sor Roman Smoluchowski who had earlier organized similar conferences. I knew from the experience of others who managed such meetings in the past that there would be much work, but the opportunity of cooperating with Smoluchowski was very attractive and convinced me to agree. If well organized, the whole project promised to be more than rewarding for a large community of scientists, both in the short run and in the long run, by clarifying certain outstanding questions in astrophysics. It became clear that a well-organized international conference would attract top scientists and help unravel many fundamental problems."

This thesis explores the possibility of searching for new effects of dark matter that are linear in g, an approach that offers enormous advantages over conventional schemes, since the interaction constant g is very small, g<<1. Further, the thesis employs an investigation of linear effects to derive new limits on certain interactions of dark matter with ordinary matter that improve on previous limits by up to 15 orders of magnitude. The first-ever limits on several other interactions are also derived. Astrophysical observations indicate that there is five times more dark matter-an 'invisible' form of matter, the identity and properties of which still remain shrouded in mystery-in the Universe than the ordinary 'visible' matter that makes up stars, planets, dust and interstellar gases. Conventional schemes for the direct detection of dark matter involve processes (such as collisions with, absorption by or inter-conversion with ordinary matter) that are either quartic (g4) or quadratic (g2) in an underlying interaction constant g.

The Andromeda Galaxy, or M31, is an attractive galaxy for astronomers. It is close to us, it is of about the size of our galaxy, it provides some intriguing observational puzzles because the galaxy is nearly edge-on, and many objects can be studied in detail, because they are still sufficiently bright. With the current developments in instrumentation with which increasingly detailed studies of the Andromeda Galaxy can be made, this book provides a solid foundation for the start of new observations. This book is a mine of information about M31. It can be used as a reference by insiders, and at the same time it provides easy access for newcomers to the field.

The PUILS series delivers up-to-date reviews of progress in Ultrafast Intense Laser Science, a newly emerging interdisciplinary research field spanning atomic and molecular physics, molecular science and optical science which has been stimulated by the recent developments in ultrafast laser technologies. Each volume compiles peer-reviewed articles authored by researchers at the forefront of each their own subfields of UILS. Every chapter opens with an overview of the topics to be discussed, so that researchers unfamiliar to the subfield as well as graduate students can grasp the importance and attractions of the research topic at hand. These are followed by reports of cutting-edge discoveries. This eighth volume covers a broad range of topics from this interdisciplinary research field, focusing on molecules interacting with ultrashort and intense laser fields, advanced technologies for the characterization of ultrashort laser pulses and their applications, laser plasma formation and laser acceleration.

The discovery of the earth's radiation belts in 1957 marked the beginning of what is now known as magnetospheric physics. The field has evolved normally from an early discovery phase through a period of exploration and into an era of quantitative studies of the dynamics of magnetized plasmas as they occur in nature. Such environments are common throughout the universe and have been studied in varying detail at the sun, the planets, pulsars, and certain radio galaxies. The purpose of this book is to describe basic quantitative aspects of magnetospheric physics. We use selected examples from the earth's magnetosphere to show how theory and data together form a quantitative framework for magnetospheric research. We have tried to organize the material along the philosophy of starting simply and adding com plexity only as necessary. We have avoided controversial and relatively new research topics and have tried to use as examples physical processes generally accepted as important within the earth's magnetospheric system. However, even in some of our examples, the question of whether the physical process applied to a particular problem is the dominant process, has yet to be answered."

"Dynamics of Soft Matter: Neutron Applications" provides an overview of neutron scattering techniques that measure temporal and spatial correlations simultaneously, at the microscopic and/or mesoscopic scale. These techniques offer answers to new questions arising at the interface of physics, chemistry, and biology. Knowledge of the dynamics at these levels is crucial to understanding the soft matter field, which includes colloids, polymers, membranes, biological macromolecules, foams, emulsions towards biological & biomimetic systems, and phenomena involving wetting, friction, adhesion, or microfluidics.

Emphasizing the complementarities of scattering techniques with other spectroscopic ones, this volume also highlights the potential gain in combining techniques such as rheology, NMR, light scattering, dielectric spectroscopy, as well as synchrotron radiation experiments. Key areas covered include polymer science, biological materials, complex fluids and surface science.

This textbook is a basic introduction to kinetic plasma phenomena in solar and stellar coronae. The author unifies observations and theory which gives a wide perspective to the subject. An important feature is the lucidly written presentation of the fundamentals of plasma physics. The basic theory developed is then extended to some exemplary and important observations of coronal dynamics, such as coronal current, particle acceleration, propagation of particle beams, and shocks. The book has grown from the author's introductory courses on plasma astrophysics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technnology (ETH). It is aimed at advanced undergraduates and first-year graduate students without a background in plasma physics. It should also be of interest to more senior research workers involved in coronal physics, solar/stellar winds, and various other fields of plasma astrophysics. Problems suitable for class use are included at the end of each chapter.

IAU Symposium No. 134 on Active Galactic Nuclei was hosted by the Lick Observatory, as part of the celebration of its centennial, for the Observatory went into operation as part of the University of California on June 1, 1888. Twenty years later, in 1908, Lick Observatory graduate student Edward A. Fath recognized the unusual emission-line character of the spectrum of the nucleus of the spiral "nebula" NGC 1068, an object now well-known as one of the nearest and brightest Seyfert galaxies and active galactic nuclei. Ten years after that, and seventy years before this Symposium, Lick Observatory faculty member Heber D. Curtis published his description of the "curious straight ray" in M 87, "apparently connected with the nucleus by a thin line of matter," which we now recognize as an example of one of the jets which are the subject of so much current AGN research. The symposium was held at Kresge College on the campus of the University of California, Santa Cruz, only a short walk through the redwood groves to the Lick Observatory offices. A total of 232 astronomers and astrophysicists from 24 countries attended and took part in the Symposium. About 200 more had applied to come, but could not be accepted in order to keep the meeting at a reasonable size. Most of the participants lived in the Kresge College apartments immediately adjacent to the Kresge Town Hall in which the oral sessions took place.

Over the past two decades auroral science has developed from a somewhat mysterious and imprecise specialty into a discipline central in the study of the ionosphere and magnetosphere. The investigation of aurora unites scientists with very different backgrounds and interests so that it is difficult to write a self-contained account of the field in a book of reasonable length. In this work I have attempted to include those aspects of theory which I have found valuable in predicting the effects on the atmosphere of auroral particle precipitation. In addition I have attempted to describe the techniques of observation with particular emphasis on optical methods which have been useful. While the aeronomy of aurora has been regarded as central, the mechanisms by which particles are accelerated and precipitated into the atmosphere is of no less interest. This aspect of the subject has however been treated in a briefer fashion since it is a part of the immense and rapidly developing field of magnetospheric science. Generally I have attempted to provide a coherent introduction to auroral science with an emphasis on relatively simple physical interpretations and models. References are given to enable the reader to find more extensive or rigorous discussions of particular topics. A fairly complete, quantitative atlas of the auroral spectrum is included.