"The thesis of Philipp Antrett is focused on reservoir properties, petrography, lithofacies and sedimentology, core analysis and nanoporosity studies. It will be of major interest for colleagues involved in the exploration and production of tight gas reservoirs in Northern Europe and elsewhere." - Francois Roure, August 2012 This thesis describes a multidisciplinary, multiscale approach to the analysis of tight gas reservoirs. It focused initially on the facies architecture of a Permian tight gas field in the Southern Permian Basin (SPB), East Frisia, northern Germany. To improve field development, 3D seismic data, wireline and core data were compared to a reservoir analogue in the Panamint Valley, California, United States. In addition to the large scale approach, a work flow that investigates microporosity by combining Scanning Electron Microscopy-Broad Ion Beam (SEM-BIB) and optical microscopy was developed. For a better understanding of the depositional environment and reservoir rock distribution in the SPB, a sedimentary facies analysis of four cores from the tight gas field in East Frisia was compared to a second study area in northern central Germany. This study demonstrates that tight gas exploration and production requires multidisciplinary, multiscale approaches beyond standard seismic interpretation work flows to better understand the temporal and spatial evolution of these complex reservoirs.

These proceedings comprise invited and contributed papers presented at PLMMP-2014, addressing modern problems in the fields of liquids, solutions and confined systems, critical phenomena, as well as colloidal and biological systems. The book focuses on state-of-the-art developments in contemporary physics of liquid matter. The papers presented here are organized into four parts: (i) structure of liquids in confined systems, (ii) phase transitions, supercritical liquids and glasses, (iii) colloids, and (iv) medical and biological aspects and cover the most recent developments in the broader field of liquid state including interdisciplinary problems.

This book describes the unique characean experimental system, which provides a simplified model for many aspects of the physiology, transport and electrophysiology of higher plants. The first chapter offers a thorough grounding in the morphology, taxonomy and ecology of Characeae plants. Research on characean detached cells in steady state is summarised in Chapter 2, and Chapter 3 covers characean detached cells subjected to calibrated and mostly abiotic types of stress: touch, wounding, voltage clamp to depolarised and hyperpolarised potential difference levels, osmotic and saline stress. Chapter 4 highlights cytoplasmic streaming, cell-to-cell transport, gravitropism, cell walls and the role of Characeae in phytoremediation. The book is intended for researchers and students using the characean system and will also serve as an invaluable reference resource for electrophysiologists working on higher plants.

A collection of papers edited by four experts in the field, this book sets out to describe the way solar activity is manifested in observations of the solar interior, the photosphere, the chromosphere, the corona and the heliosphere. The 11-year solar activity cycle, more generally known as the sunspot cycle, is a fundamental property of the Sun. This phenomenon is the generation and evolution of magnetic fields in the Sun's convection zone, the photosphere. It is only by the careful enumeration and description of the phenomena and their variations that one can clarify their interdependences. The sunspot cycle has been tracked back about four centuries, and it has been recognized that to make this data set a really useful tool in understanding how the activity cycle works and how it can be predicted, a very careful and detailed effort is needed to generate sunspot numbers. This book deals with this topic, together with several others that present related phenomena that all indicate the physical processes that take place in the Sun and its exterior environment. The reviews in the book also present the latest theoretical and modelling studies that attempt to explain the activity cycle. It remains true, as has been shown in the unexpected characteristics of the first two solar cycles in the 21st century, that predictability remains a serious challenge. Nevertheless, the highly expert and detailed reviews in this book, using the very best solar observations from both ground- and space based telescopes, provide the best possible report on what is known and what is yet to be discovered. Originally published in Space Science Reviews, Vol 186, Issues 1-4, 2014.

This thesis transforms satellite precipitation estimation through the integration of a multi-sensor, multi-channel approach to current precipitation estimation algorithms, and provides more accurate readings of precipitation data from space. Using satellite data to estimate precipitation from space overcomes the limitation of ground-based observations in terms of availability over remote areas and oceans as well as spatial coverage. However, the accuracy of satellite-based estimates still need to be improved. The approach introduced in this thesis takes advantage of the recent NASA satellites in observing clouds and precipitation. In addition, machine-learning techniques are also employed to make the best use of remotely-sensed "big data." The results provide a significant improvement in detecting non-precipitating areas and reducing false identification of precipitation.

This book, which is a reworked and updated version of Steven Bloemen's original PhD thesis, reports on several high-precision studies of compact variable stars. Its strength lies in the large variety of observational, theoretical and instrumentation techniques that are presented and used and paves the way towards new and detailed asteroseismic applications of single and binary subdwarf stars. Close binary stars are studied using high cadence spectroscopic datasets collected with state of the art electron multiplying CCDs and analysed using Doppler tomography visualization techniques. The work touches upon instrumentation, presenting the calibration of a new fast, multi-colour camera installed at the Mercator Telescope on La Palma. The thesis also includes theoretical work on the computation of the temperature range in which stellar oscillations can be driven in subdwarf B-stars. Finally, the highlight of the thesis is the measurement of velocities of stars using only photometric data from NASA's Kepler satellite. Doppler beaming causes stars to appear slightly brighter when they move towards us in their orbits, and this subtle effect can be seen in Kepler's brightness measurements. The thesis presents the first validation of such velocity measurements using independent spectroscopic measurements. Since the detection and validation of this Doppler beaming effect, it has been used in tens of studies to detect and characterize binary star systems, which are key calibrators in stellar astronomy.

The influence of size effects on the properties of nanostructures is subject of this book. Size and interfacial effects in oxides, semiconductors, magnetic and superconducting nanostructures, from very simple to very complex, are considered. The most general meaning is assumed for size effects, including not only the influence of a reduced dimension/dimensionality, but also specific interfacial effects. Preparation and characterization tools are explained for various nanostructures. The specific applications are discussed with respect to size-related properties. A logic implication of type phenomenon-property-material-application is envisaged throughout this work.

This two-part book is devoted to classic fundamentals and current practices and perspectives of modern plasma astrophysics. This second part discusses the physics of magnetic reconnection and flares of electromagnetic origin in space plasmas in the solar system, single and double stars, relativistic objects, accretion disks and their coronae. More than 25% of the text is updated from the first edition, included the additions of new figures, equations and entire sections on topics such as topological triggers for solar flares and the magnetospheric physics problem. This book is aimed at professional researchers in astrophysics, but it will also be useful to graduate students in space sciences, geophysics, applied physics and mathematics, especially those seeking a unified view of plasma physics and fluid mechanics.

Assuming foundational knowledge of special and general relativity, this book guides the reader on issues surrounding black holes, wormholes, cosmology, and extra dimensions. Its first part is devoted to local strong field configurations (black holes and wormholes) in general relativity and the most relevant of alternative theories: scalar-tensor, f(R) and multidimensional theories. The second part is on cosmology, including inflation and a unified description of the whole evolution of the universe. The third part concerns multidimensional theories of gravity and contains a number of original results obtained by the authors. Expository work is conducted for a mechanism of symmetries and fundamental constants formation, while the original approach to nonlinear multidimensional gravity that is able to construct a unique perspective describing different phenomena is highlighted.Much of the content is new in book publications, because it was previously found only in journal publications, e.g. regarding regular black holes, various scalar field solutions, wormholes and their stability, and multidimensional gravity.

This book provides a premier resource on understanding the ribosome's essential nature and how it interacts with other proteins and nucleic acids to control protein synthesis. As one of the central foundations in our understanding of the biology at the molecular level, this topic appeals to a wide audience, from bench researcher to clinician. With the advent of atomic scale structures, methods to visualize and separate individual molecules, and the computational power to model the complex interactions of over a million atoms at once, our understanding of how gene expression is controlled at the level of protein translation is now deeply ensconced in the biophysical realm."

Molecular Electronic Junction Transport: Some Pathways and Some Ideas, by Gemma C. Solomon, Carmen Herrmann and Mark A. Ratner Unimolecular Electronic Devices, by Robert M. Metzger and Daniell L. Mattern Active and Non-Active Large-Area Metal Molecules Metal Junctions, by Barbara Branchi, Felice C. Simeone and Maria A. Rampi Charge Transport in Single Molecular Junctions at the Solid/Liquid Interface, by Chen Li, Artem Mishchenko and Thomas Wandlowski Tunneling Spectroscopy of Organic Monolayers and Single Molecules, by K. W. Hipps Single Molecule Logical Devices, by Nicolas Renaud, Mohamed Hliwa and Christian Joachim"

This book, authored by a well-known researcher and expositor in meteorology, focuses on the direct link between molecular dynamics and atmospheric variation. Uniting molecular dynamics, turbulence theory, fluid mechanics and non equilibrium statistical mechanics, it is relevant to the fields of applied mathematics, physics and atmospheric sciences, and focuses on fluid flow and turbulence, as well as on temperature, radiative transfer and chemistry. With extensive references and glossary this is an ideal text for graduates and researchers in meteorology, applied mathematics and physical chemistry.

Radiation from spectral lines can be absorbed and re- emitted many times in atomic vapours before it reaches the boundaries of the container encasing the vapour. This effect is known as radiation trapping. It plays an important role practically everywhere where atomic vapours occur, e.g. in spectroscopy, in gas lasers, in atomic line filters, in the determination of atomic lifetimes, in measurements of atomic interaction potentials, and in electric discharge lamps. This book for the first time assembles all the information necessary for a treatment of practical problems, emphasizing both physical insights and mathematical methods. After an introduction that reviews resonance radiation and collisional processes in atomic vapours, physical effects and mathematical methods for various types of problems (e.g. with or without saturation, particle diffusion, reflecting cell walls, etc.) are explained in detail. The last part of the book describes the applications of these methods to a variety of practical problems like cross-section measurements or the design of discharge lamps.

This book provides an excellent overview on the most recent results on the industrial applications of Mossbauer spectroscopy attained on the fields of nanotechnology, metallurgy, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, applied mineralogy, energy production industry (coal, oil, nuclear, solar, etc.), computer industry, space technology, electronic and magnetic devices technology, ion implantation technology, including topics like characterization of novel construction materials, electronic components and magnetic materials, composite materials, colloids, amorphous and nanophase materials, small particles, coatings, interfaces, thin films and multilayers, catalysis, corrosion, tribology, surface modification, hydrogen storage, ball milling, radiation effects, electrochemistry, batteries, etc. From the various reports a broad overview emerges illustrating that the method can successfully be applied in a wide variety of topics.
Previously published in the journal Hyperfine Interactions."

This volume represents the most important deliverable of the European-funded project Radio-Past (www.radiopast.eu). It is intended to disseminate the key results achieved in the form of methodological guidelines for the application of non-destructive approaches in order to understand, visualize and manage complex archaeological sites, in particular large multi-period settlements whose remains are still mostly buried. The authors were selected from among the project research staff but also from among leading international specialists who served as speakers at the two international events organized in the frameworkof the project (the Valle Giulia Colloquium of Rome 2009 and the Colloquium of Ghent 2013) and at the three Specialization Fora, the high formation training activities organized in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

As such, the book offers contributions on diverse aspects of the research process (data capture, data management, data elaboration, data visualization and site management), presenting the state of the art and drafting guidelines for good practice in each field.

Terrestrial mass movements (i.e. cliff collapses, soil creeps, mudflows, landslides etc.) are severe forms of natural disasters mostly occurring in mountainous terrain, which is subjected to specific geological, geomorphological and climatological conditions, as well as to human activities. It is a challenging task to accurately define the position, type and activity of mass movements for the purpose of creating inventory records and potential vulnerability maps. Remote sensing techniques, in combination with Geographic Information System tools, allow state-of-the-art investigation of the degree of potential mass movements and modeling surface processes for hazard and risk mapping. Similarly, through statistical prediction models, future mass-movement-prone areas can be identified and damages can to a certain extent be minimized. Issues of scale and selection of morphological attributes for the scientific analysis of mass movements call for new developments in data modeling and spatio-temporal GIS analysis.
The book is a product of a cooperation between the editors and several contributing authors, addressing current issues and recent developments in GI technology and mass movements research. Its fundamental treatment of this technology includes data modeling, topography, geology, geomorphology, remote sensing, artificial neural networks, binomial regression, fuzzy logic, spatial statistics and analysis, and scientific visualization. Both theoretical and practical issues are addressed.

This book describes the design, development, characterisation and application of two novel fluorescence imaging instruments based on spectrally resolved detector arrays (SRDAs). The simplest SRDA is the standard colour camera, which integrates a Bayer filter array of red, green and blue colour filters to replicate the colour sensing capability of the human eye. The SRDAs used in this book contain many more colours, ranging from 16 to over 100 colour channels. Using these compact, robust and low-cost detectors for biomedical applications opens new avenues of exploration that were not possible before, in particular, the use of spectral imaging in endoscopy. The work presented shows for the first time that not only can this new type of camera be used for fluorescence imaging, but also that it is able to resolve signals from up to 7 different dyes - a level of multiplexing not previously achieved in tissue with such compact and robust equipment. Furthermore, it reports the application of a bimodal endoscope performing both reflectance and fluorescence imaging using these cameras in an ex vivo pig oesophagus model.

Winner of the 2021 Donald E. Osterbrock Book Prize for Historical Astronomy In Decoding the Stars, Ileana Chinnici offers an account of the life of the Jesuit scientist Angelo Secchi (1818-1878). In addition to providing an invaluable account of Secchi's life and work-something that has been sorely lacking in the English-language scholarship-this biography will be especially stimulating for those interested in the evolution of astrophysics as a discipline from the nineteenth century onward. Despite his eclecticism, reminiscent of the natural philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Secchi was in many ways a very modern scientist: open to innovation and cooperation, and a promoter of popularization and citizen science. Secchi also appears fully inserted in the cultural context of his time: he participated in philosophical and scientific debates, spread new theories and ideas, but also suffered the consequences of political events that marked those years and impacted on his life and activities.

This book addresses two fundamental issues of motor control for both humans and robots: kinematic redundancy and the posture/movement problem. It blends traditional robotic constrained-optimal approaches with neuroscientific and evidence-based principles, proposing a "Task-space Separation Principle," a novel scheme for planning both posture and movement in redundant manipulators. The proposed framework is first tested in simulation and then compared with experimental motor strategies displayed by humans during redundant pointing tasks. The book also shows how this model builds on and expands traditional formulations such as the Passive Motion Paradigm and the Equilibrium Point Theory. Lastly, breaking with the neuroscientific tradition of planar movements and linear(ized) kinematics, the theoretical formulation and experimental scenarios are set in the nonlinear space of 3D rotations which are essential for wrist motions, a somewhat neglected area despite its importance in daily tasks.

This book provides a general introduction to the rapidly developing astrophysical frontier of stellar tidal disruption, but also details original thesis research on the subject. This work has shown that recoiling black holes can disrupt stars far outside a galactic nucleus, errors in the traditional literature have strongly overestimated the maximum luminosity of "deeply plunging" tidal disruptions, the precession of transient accretion disks can encode the spins of supermassive black holes, and much more. This work is based on but differs from the original thesis that was formally defended at Harvard, which received both the Roger Doxsey Award and the Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award from the American Astronomical Society.

Researchers in the field of exploration geophysics have developed new methods for the acquisition, processing and interpretation of gravity and magnetic data, based on detailed investigations of bore wells around the globe. "Fractal Models in Exploration Geophysics" describes fractal-based models for characterizing these complex subsurface geological structures.

The authors introduce the inverse problem using a fractal approach which they then develop with the implementation of a global optimization algorithm for seismic data: very fast simulated annealing (VFSA). This approach provides high-resolution inverse modeling results-particularly useful for reservoir characterization.

* Serves as a valuable resource for researchers studying the application of fractals in exploration, and for practitioners directly applying field data for geo-modeling * Discusses the basic principles and practical applications of time-lapse seismic reservoir monitoring technology-application rapidly advancing topic * Provides the fundamentals for those interested in reservoir geophysics and reservoir simulation study * Demonstrates an example of reservoir simulation for enhanced oil recovery using CO2 injection

This book presents an analysis of our current knowledge on the origin of the Earth's continental crust. There are two aspects to consider: tectonic and igneous processes. Tectonic aspects include sedimentary accretion, terrane accretion, and continental collision at continental margins, in association with plate subduction. These processes result in the formation of large mountain belts, the building up of which literally grows the continents. However, these tectonic aspects are concerned with material recycling within the crust, and hence do not contribute to volumetric growth of continental crust. Igneous processes concern separation of continental crust from the mantle and result in the volumetric growth of continental crust. Therefore, the main focus of this book is to systematically examine why and how the Earth's continental crust forms, by evaluating magmatic processes at island arcs where new continental crust forms.