With the aim of providing a deeper insight into possible mechanisms of biological self-organization, this thesis presents new approaches to describe the process of self-assembly and the impact of spatial organization on the function of membrane proteins, from a statistical physics point of view. It focuses on three important scenarios: the assembly of membrane proteins, the collective response of mechanosensitive channels and the function of the twin arginine translocation (Tat) system. Using methods from equilibrium and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, general conclusions were drawn that demonstrate the importance of the protein-protein interactions. Namely, in the first part a general aggregation dynamics model is formulated, and used to show that fragmentation crucially affects the efficiency of the self-assembly process of proteins. In the second part, by mapping the membrane-mediated forces into a simplified many-body system, the dynamic and equilibrium behaviour of interacting mechanosensitive channels is derived, showing that protein agglomeration strongly impacts its desired function. The final part develops a model that incorporates both the agglomeration and transport function of the Tat system, thereby providing a comprehensive description of this self-organizing process.

1. Paradigmatische Konstruktionen.- Unser heutiges Wirklichkeits-Verstandnis.- Wirklichkeits-Pluralismus.- Entstehen von Wirklichkeiten.- Lebendiger Vollzug von Wirklichkeiten.- Fruchtbare Vielfalt.- Simultane und sequenzielle Wirklichkeiten in der Lebenswelt.- Okkulte Wirklichkeiten und andere Geheimlehren.- Gefahrliche Verabsolutierungen.- 2. Farbe als Wirklichkeit.- Goethes Farbenlehre.- Physiologische Farben.- Farblose Bilder.- Farbige Bilder.- Farbige Schatten.- Schwach wirkende Lichter, subjektive Hoefe, pathologische Farben.- Physische Farben.- Dioptrische Farben der 1. Klasse.- Dioptrische Farben der 2. Klasse.- Das Phanomen der Refraktion.- Refraktion ohne Farberscheinung.- Farberscheinungen bei Linsen.- Grundzuge refraktionsbedingter Farberscheinungen.- Farberscheinungen bei Prismen.- Farberscheinungen an gro?en und kleinen wei?en Bildern.- Farberscheinungen an gro en und kleinen schwarzen Bildern.- Farberscheinungen sind nie statisch.- Zum Wesen von Licht und Farbe aus Goetheseher Sieht.- Wichtige, ganz allgemeine Begriffe.- Die Polaritat.- Die Steigerung.- Phanomen und Urphanomen.- Farbenkreis und Spektrogramm.- Newtons Farben des Liehts.- Newtons Experimente.- 1. Experiment.- 2. Experiment.- 3. Experiment.- 4. Experiment.- 5. Experiment.- Das We sen der Farbe.- Einfache Farbmetrik.- Das Auge.- Der Spektralfarbenzug.- Zwei Wirklichkeiten.- 3. Heilkundliche Wirkliehkeiten.- Chinesische Lebenswirkliehkeit.- Das Schafgarbenorakel.- Das Yin-Yang-Prinzip.- Shen und Kuei. Qi und Jing.- Die funf Elemente.- Chinesische Medizin.- Yin-Yang-Theorie.- Lebenssubstanzen.- Qi.- Blut und Safte.- Jing.- Shen.- Die Funktion der inneren Organe.- Die Leitbahnen oder die Meridiane.- Wie kommt es zur Disharmonie?.- Die Sechs UEbel.- Die sieben Emotionen.- Die Lebensweise.- Das Dishannoniemuster.- Ein Beispiel.- Ein simultanes Massenphanomen.- 4. Mikro-Wirklichkeiten.- Spiele als Mikro-Wirklichkeiten.- Definition des Spielbegriffes.- Die Vielfalt der Spiele.- Mikro-Wirklichkeiten im weiteren Sinn.- 5. Wirklichkeit eines Verbrechens.- Ein Beispiel aus der japanischen Literatur.- Eine neue Erzlihlung des Rashomon-Textes.- Die Aussage eines Holzfallers.- Die Aussage eines Wandergeistlichen.- Die Aussage eines Gerichtsdieners.- Die Aussage einer alten Frau.- Das Gestandnis des Raubers.- Die Aussage eines Gefahrten des Raubers.- Bericht eines Waldbewohners.- Die Beichte der Ehefrau in einem Kloster.- Der Geist des Toten spricht durch den Mund einer Wahrsagerin.- Vergewaltigung und Tod.- 6. Verwandlung von Wirklichkeiten.- Siddhartha. Eine indische Dichtung.- Die Brahmana-Welt.- Die Samana-Welt.- Die Buddha-Welt.- Die Menschenkinder-Welt.- Am Flu?.- 7. Magie und Damonie.- Weissagung.- Wirksarnkeit von Weissagungen.- Kassandra.- Die delphische Seherin.- Andere Fonnen der Weissagung.- Zauber und Damonen.- Magische Praktikep in der Volkskunst.- Magische Praktiken' der Antike.- Kirke verzaubert Manner.- Hexen morden Knaben.- Fluche verandern das Leben.- Fluchtafeln.- Ovids Ibis.- Schamanen.- Spuren des Schamanismus in der Neuzeit.- Antike Schamanen.- Orpheus.- Pythagoras.- Empedokles.- Vespasian.- Nekromantie.- Die Macht des Okkulten.- Magie und Damonie als Wirklichkeit?.- 8. Totalitare Wirklichkeiten.- Wahnsinn als totalitare Wirklichkeit.- Das Entstehen eines Wahnes.- Der logische Zusammenhang von Wahnideen.- Die weitgehende Unkorrigierbarkeit.- Gro?en und Verfolgungswahn.- Groe?enwahn.- Verfolgungswahn.- Paranoia erotica.- Eifersuchtsparanoia.- Religioeser Wahn mit erotischer Komponente.- Kraftentfaltung in totalitaren Wirklichkeiten.- Der Kriegstanz der Maori.- Atomare Bedrohung.- Extremsituationen in totalitaren Wirklichkeiten.- Der Tag des Blutes.- Der spontane Volkszorn.- Entgleisung einer Hochtechnologie.- Die Eigendynamik und die Hilflosigkeit.- 9. Chance und Bedrangnis.- Wirklichkeit ist eine Konstruktion. Der Urgrund ist ohne Eigenschaften.- Wirklichkeiten als Gewordenes.- Die Lebenswirklichkeit als Ausgangsbasi

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), this book presents more than 50 chapters highlighting results of the institute s research.

The book provides an up-to-date, in-depth survey across the entire field of atmospheric science, including atmospheric dynamics, radiation, cloud physics, chemistry, climate, numerical simulation, remote sensing, instruments and measurements, as well as atmospheric acoustics.

The authors have provided a readily comprehensible and self-contained presentation of the complex field of atmospheric science. The topics are of direct relevance for aerospace science and technology. Future research challenges are identified."

Evolutionary biomechanics is the study of evolution through the analysis of biomechanical systems. Its unique advantage is the precision with which physical constraints and performance can be predicted from first principles. Instead of reviewing the entire breadth of the biomechanical literature, a few key examples are explored in depth as vehicles for discussing fundamental concepts, analytical techniques, and evolutionary theory. Each chapter develops a conceptual theme, developing the underlying theory and techniques required for analyses in evolutionary biomechanics. Examples from terrestrial biomechanics, metabolic scaling, and bird flight are used to analyse how physics constrains the design space that natural selection is free to explore, and how adaptive evolution finds solutions to the trade-offs between multiple complex conflicting performance objectives. Evolutionary Biomechanics is suitable for graduate level students and professional researchers in the fields of biomechanics, physiology, evolutionary biology and palaeontology. It will also be of relevance and use to researchers in the physical sciences and engineering.

This thesis describes the experimental work that finally led to a successful measurement of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering-a process proposed forty-three years ago. The experiment was performed at the Spallation Neutron Source facility, sited at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in Tennessee. Of all known particles, neutrinos distinguish themselves for being the hardest to detect, typically requiring large multi-ton devices for the job. The process measured here involves the difficult detection of very weak signals arising from nuclear recoils (tiny neutrino-induced "kicks" to atomic nuclei), but leads to a much larger probability of neutrino interaction when compared to all other known mechanisms. As a result of this, "neutrino technologies" using miniaturized detectors (the author's was handheld and weighed only 14 kg) become a possibility. A large community of researchers plans to continue studying this process, facilitating an exploration of fundamental neutrino properties that is presently beyond the sensitivity of other methods.

The ongoing thread in this volume of Physics of Lakes is the presentation of different methods of investigation for processes taking place in real lakes with a view to understanding lakes as components of the geophysical environment. It is divided into three parts. Part I is devoted to numerical modeling techniques and demonstrates that (i) wind-induced currents in depth-integrated models can only adequately predict current fields for extremely shallow lakes, and (ii) that classical multi-layered simulation models can only adequately reproduce current and temperature distributions when the lake is directly subjected to wind, but not the post-wind oscillating response. This makes shock capturing discretization techniques and Mellor-Yamada turbulence closure schemes necessary, as well as extremely high grid resolution to reduce the excessive numerical diffusion. Part II is devoted to the presentation of principles of observation and laboratory experimental procedures. It details the principles of operation for current, temperature, conductivity and other sensors applied in the field. It also discusses the advantages and limitations of common measuring methods like registration from stationary or drifting buoys, sounding and profiling from a boat, etc. Questions of data accuracy, quality, and reliability are also addressed. The use of laboratory experiments on a rotating platform is based on an exposition of dimensional analysis and model theory and illustrated using Lake Constance as an example. Part III gives an account of the dynamics of lake water as a particle-laden fluid, which, coupled with the transport of the bottom sediments, leads to morphodynamic changes of the bathymetry in estuarine and possibly whole lake regions. An elegant spatially one-dimensional theory makes it possible to derive analytic solutions of deltaic formations which are corroborated by laboratory experiments. A full three-dimensional description of the evolution of the alluvial bathymetry under prescribed tributary sediment input indicates a potential subject for future research.

The book is divided in 4 parts. In the first one, the importance of the analysis of the cardiac dynamics using the ambulatory monitoring technique is presented. The second part contains the description of foundations of impedance cardiography (ICG), the models used to describe the ICG technique and the description of available systems for ambulatory monitoring of cardiac hemodynamics. The third part is devoted to the validation of the ambulatory ICG method, the verification of the quality of long term ICG recordings and the discussion of the limitations of this technique. In the last part, some clinical and research applications of the ICG ambulatory monitoring are presented. The simultaneous recordings of electrocardiogram (ECG) and ICG in the transient cardiac arrhythmia events illustrate the potential applications of that method for quantitative analysis of hemodynamics when the implementation of the stationary methods would be either difficult or not possible to do. The book is followed by references, alphabetical index and appendices containing the technical data of the available systems for portable monitoring of cardiac hemodynamics.

This book reports the majority of lectures given during the NATO Advanced Study Institute ASI-982996, which was held at the European Scientific Institute of Archamps (ESI, Archamps - France) from November 15 to November 27, 2007. The ASI course was structured in two parts: the first was dedicated to what is often called "teletherapy", i. e. radiotherapy with external beams, while the second focused on internal radiotherapy, also called "brachytherapy" or "curietherapy" in honour of Madame Curie who initiated the technique about a century ago. This ASI took place after the European School of Medical Physics, which devoted a 3 week period to medical imaging, a subject complementary to the topics of this book. Courses devoted to nuclear medicine and digital imaging techniques are collected in two volumes of the NATO Science Series entitled "Physics for Medical Imaging Applications" (ISBN 978-1-4020-5650-5) and "Molecular imaging: computer reconstruction and practice" (ISBN 978-1-4020- 8751-6). Every year in autumn ESI organises the European School of Medical Physics, which covers a large spectrum of topics ranging from Medical Imaging to Radiotherapy, over a period of 5 weeks. Thanks to the Cooperative Science and Technology sub-programme of the NATO Science Division, weeks four and five were replaced this year by the ASI course dedicated to "Physics of Modern Radiotherapy & Brachytherapy". This allowed the participation of experts and students from 20 different countries, with diverse cultural background and p- fessional experience.

General circulation models (GCMs), which define the fundamental dynamics of atmospheric circulation, are nowadays used in various fields of atmospheric science such as weather forecasting, climate predictions and environmental estimations. The Second Edition of this renowned work has been updated to include recent progress of high resolution global modeling. It also contains for the first time aspects of high-resolution global non-hydrostatic models that the author has been studying since the publication of the first edition. Some highlighted results from the Non-hydrostatic ICosahedral Atmospheric Model (NICAM) are also included. The author outlines the theoretical concepts, simple models and numerical methods for modeling the general circulation of the atmosphere. Concentrating on the physical mechanisms responsible for the development of large-scale circulation of the atmosphere, the book offers comprehensive coverage of an important and rapidly developing technique used in the atmospheric science. Dynamic interpretations of the atmospheric structure and their aspects in the general circulation model are described step by step.

This book addresses the possibilities and challenges in mimicking biological membranes and creating membrane-based sensor and separation devices. Recent advances in developing biomimetic membranes for technological applications will be presented with focus on the use of integral membrane protein mediated transport for sensing and separation. It describes the fundamentals of biosensing as well as separation and shows how the two processes are working in a cooperative manner in biological systems. Biomimetics is a truly cross-disciplinary approach and this is exemplified using the process of forward osmosis will be presented as an illustration of how advances in membrane technology may be directly stimulated by an increased understanding of biological membrane transport. In the development of a biomimetic sensor/separation technology, both channels (ion and water channels) and carriers (transporters) are important. An ideal sensor/separation device requires the supporting biomimetic matrix to be virtually impermeable to anything but the solute in question. In practice, however, a biomimetic support matrix will generally have finite permeabilities to water, electrolytes, and non-electrolytes. These non-protein mediated membrane transport contributions will be presented and the implications for biomimetic device construction will be discussed. New developments in our understanding of the reciprocal coupling between the material properties of the biomimetic matrix and the embedded proteins will be presented and strategies for inducing biomimetic matrix stability will be discussed. Once reconstituted in its final host biomimetic matrix the protein stability also needs to be maintained and controlled. Beta-barrel proteins exemplified by the E. Coli outer membrane channels or small peptides are inherently more stable than alpha-helical bundle proteins which may require additional stabilizing modifications. The challenges associated with insertion and stabilization of alpha-helical bundle proteins including many carriers and ligand and voltage gated ion (and water) channels will be discussed and exemplified using the aquaporin protein. Many biomimetic membrane applications require that the final device can be used in the macroscopic realm. Thus a biomimetic separation device must have the ability to process hundred of liters of permeate in hours - effectively demanding square-meter size membranes. Scalability is a general issue for all nano-inspired technology developments and will be addressed here in the context biomimetic membrane array fabrication. Finally a robust working biomimetic device based on membrane transport must be encapsulated and protected yet allowing massive transport though the encapsulation material. This challenge will be discussed using microfluidic design strategies as examples of how to use microfluidic systems to create and encapsulate biomimetic membranes. The book provides an overview of what is known in the field, where additional research is needed, and where the field is heading.

Dynamical and vibratory systems are basically an application of mathematics and applied sciences to the solution of real world problems. Before being able to solve real world problems, it is necessary to carefully study dynamical and vibratory systems and solve all available problems in case of linear and nonlinear equations using analytical and numerical methods. It is of great importance to study nonlinearity in dynamics and vibration; because almost all applied processes act nonlinearly, and on the other hand, nonlinear analysis of complex systems is one of the most important and complicated tasks, especially in engineering and applied sciences problems.
There are probably a handful of books on nonlinear dynamics and vibrations analysis. Some of these books are written at a fundamental level that may not meet ambitious engineering program requirements. Others are specialized in certain fields of oscillatory systems, including modeling and simulations. In this book, we attempt to strike a balance between theory and practice, fundamentals and advanced subjects, and generality and specialization. None of the books in this area have completely studied and analyzed nonlinear equation in dynamical and vibratory systems using the latest analytical and numerical methods, so that the user can solve the problems without the need of studying too many different references. Thereby in this book, by the use of the latest analytic, numeric laboratorial methods and using more than 300 references like books, papers and the researches done by the authors and by considering almost all possible processes and situation, new theories has been proposed to encounter applied problems in engineering and applied sciences. In this way, the user (bachelor's, master's and PhD students, university teachers and even in research centers in different fields of mechanical, civil, aerospace, electrical, chemical, applied mathematics, physics, and etc.) can encounter such systems confidently. In the different chapters of the book, not only are the linear and especially nonlinear problems with oscillatory form broadly discussed, but also applied examples are practically solved by the proposed methodology.

Increasing interest in mitochondrial bioenergetics is being driven by the impact of drug and environmental chemical-induced disturbances of mitochondrial function as well as hereditary deficiencies and the progressive deterioration of bioenergetic performance with age. These initiatives have fostered the investigation of genetic and environmental influences on bioenergetics. In Mitochondrial Bioenergetics: Methods and Protocols, researchers in the field detail the practical principles and assays designed to derive quantitative assessment of each set of parameters that reflect different aspects of mitochondrial bioenergetics. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and key tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls Authoritative and practical, Mitochondrial Bioenergetics: Methods and Protocols helps elevate the quality and rate of investigative discoveries regarding disease states associated with environmental or genetic influences on mitochondrial bioenergetics.

This book represents the first comprehensive overview over amorphous nano-optical and nano-photonic systems. Nanophotonics is a burgeoning branch of optics that enables many applications by steering the mould of light on length scales smaller than the wavelength with devoted nanostructures. Amorphous nanophotonics exploits self-organization mechanisms based on bottom-up approaches to fabricate nanooptical systems. The resulting structures presented in the book are characterized by a deterministic unit cell with tailored geometries; but their spatial arrangement is not controlled. Instead of periodic, the structures appear either amorphous or random. The aim of this book is to discuss all aspects related to observable effects in amorphous nanophotonic material and aspects related to their design, fabrication, characterization and integration into applications. The book has an interdisciplinary nature with contributions from scientists in physics, chemistry and materials sciences and sheds light on the topic from many directions.

Laser shock processing (LSP) is a new and promising surface treatment technique for improving the fatigue durability, corrosion, wear resistance and other mechanical properties of metals and alloys. During LSP, the generated shock wave can introduce a deep compressive residual stress into the material, due to its high-pressure (GPa-TPa), ultra-fast (several tens nanoseconds), ultra-high strain-rate and high-energy. The overall properties and behavior of metal materials subjected to LSP were significantly improved because a refined surface layer was successfully obtained. Nevertheless, up to now, a clear scenery between micro-structure and macro-property of the refined surface layer, especially formation of sub-micrometer grains from coarse grains during severe plastic deformation, is still pending. Therefore, the basic studies of the underlying mechanism for grain refinement by ultra-high strain-rate presented in this book becomes more and more crucial.

With his Ph.D. thesis, presented here in the format of a "Springer Theses", Paul Fulda won the 2012 GWIC thesis prize awarded by the Gravitational Wave International Committee. The impact of thermal noise on future gravitational wave detectors depends on the size and shape of the interrogating laser beam. It had been known since 2006 that, in theory, higher-order Laguerre-Gauss modes could reduce thermal noise. Paul Fulda's research brings Laguerre-Gauss modes an enormous step forward. His work includes analytical, numerical and experimental work on table-top setups as well as experiments at the Glasgow 10m prototype interferometer. Using numerical simulations the LG33 mode was selected as the optical mode to be tested. Further research by Paul and his colleagues since then concentrated on this mode. Paul has developed and demonstrated simple and effective methods to create this mode with diffractive optics and successfully demonstrated its compatibility with the essential building blocks of gravitational wave detectors, namely, optical cavities, Michelson interferometers and opto-electronic sensing and control systems. Through this work, Laguerre-Gauss modes for interferometers have been transformed from an essentially unknown entity to a well understood option with an experimental basis.

Together, the volumes in this series present all of the data needed at various length scales for a multidisciplinary approach to modeling and simulation of flows in the cardiovascular and ventilatory systems, especially multiscale modeling and coupled simulations. The cardiovascular and respiratory systems are tightly coupled, as their primary function is to supply oxygen to and remove carbon dioxide from the body's cells. Because physiological conduits have deformable and reactive walls, macroscopic flow behavior and prediction must be coupled to nano- and microscopic events in a corrector scheme of regulated mechanism. Therefore, investigation of flows of blood and air in anatomical conduits requires an understanding of the biology, chemistry, and physics of these systems together with the mathematical tools to describe their functioning in quantitative terms. The present volume focuses on macroscopic aspects of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems in pathological conditions, i.e., diseases of the cardiac pump, blood vessels, and airways, as well as their treatments. Only diseases that have a mechanical origin or are associated with mechanical disorders are covered. Local flow disturbances can trigger pathophysiological processes or, conversely, result from diseases of conduit walls or their environment. The ability to model these phenomena is essential to the development and manufacturing of medical devices, which incorporate a stage of numerical tests in addition to experimental procedures.

Fragility functions constitute an emerging tool for the probabilistic seismic risk assessment of buildings, infrastructures and lifeline systems. The work presented in this book is a partial product of a European Union funded research project SYNER-G (FP7 Theme 6: Environment) where existing knowledge has been reviewed in order to extract the most appropriate fragility functions for the vulnerability analysis and loss estimation of the majority of structures and civil works exposed to earthquake hazard. Results of other relevant European projects and international initiatives are also incorporated in the book. In several cases new fragility and vulnerability functions have been developed in order to better represent the specific characteristics of European elements at risk. Several European and non-European institutes and Universities collaborated efficiently to capitalize upon existing knowledge. State-of-the-art methods are described, existing fragility curves are reviewed and, where necessary, new ones are proposed for buildings, lifelines, transportation infrastructures as well as for utilities and critical facilities. Taxonomy and typology definitions are synthesized and the treatment of related uncertainties is discussed.

A fragility function manager tool and fragility functions in electronic form are provided on extras.springer.com.

Audience

The book aims to be a standard reference on the fragility functions to be used for the seismic vulnerability and probabilistic risk assessment of the most important elements at risk. It is of particular interest to earthquake engineers, scientists and researchers working in the field of earthquake risk assessment, as well as the insurance industry, civil protection and emergency management agencies.

Treatise on Geophysics: Mineral Physics, Volume 2, provides a comprehensive review of the current state of understanding of mineral physics. Each chapter demonstrates the significant progress that has been made in the understanding of the physics and chemistry of minerals, and also highlights a number of issues which are still outstanding or that need further work to resolve current contradictions. The book first reviews the current status of our understanding of the nature of the deep Earth. These include the seismic properties of rocks and minerals; problems of the lower mantle and the core-mantle boundary; and the state of knowledge on mantle chemistry and the nature and evolution of the core. The discussions then turn to the theory underlying high-pressure, high-temperature physics, and the major experimental methods being developed to probe this parameter space. The remaining chapters explain the specific techniques for measuring elastic and acoustic properties, electronic and magnetic properties, and rheological properties; the nature and origin of anisotropy in the Earth; the properties of melt; and the magnetic and electrical properties of mantle phases.

Realistically representing our three-dimensional world has been the subject of many (philosophical) discussions since ancient times. While the recognition of the globular shape of the Earth goes back to Pythagoras' statements of the sixth century B. C. , the two-dimensional, circular depiction of the Earth's surface has remained prevailing and also dominated the art of painting until the late Middle Ages. Given the immature technological means, objects on the Earth's surface were often represented in academic and technical disciplines by two-dimensional cross-sections oriented along combinations of three mutually perpendicular directions. As soon as computer science evolved, scientists have steadily been improving the three-dimensional representation of the Earth and developed techniques to analyze the many natural processes and phenomena taking part on its surface. Both computer aided design (CAD) and geographical information systems (GIS) have been developed in parallel during the last three decades. While the former concentrates more on the detailed design of geometric models of object shapes, the latter emphasizes the topological relationships between geographical objects and analysis of spatial patterns. Nonetheless, this distinction has become increasingly blurred and both approaches have been integrated into commercial software packages. In recent years, an active line of inquiry has emerged along the junctures of CAD and GIS, viz. 3D geoinformation science. Studies along this line have recently made significant inroads in terms of 3D modeling and data acquisition.

This book is devoted to the scientific legacy of Professor Victor Ambartsumian - one of the distinguished scientists of the last century. He obtained very essential results not only in astrophysics, but also in mathematics and theoretical physics. One can recall his fundamental results concerning the Sturm-Liouville inverse problem, quantum field theory, structure of atomic nuclei etc. Nevertheless, his revolutionary ideas in astrophysics and corresponding results are known more widely and have predetermined the further development of this science. The concept about the activity phenomena and objects' evolution, particularly, determination of the age of our Galaxy, ideas about the stars' formation nowadays in stellar associations, the activity of galactic nuclei appeared to be exceptionally fruitful. These directions are being elaborated at many astronomical centers all over the world.

Optical screening of excessive and potentially harmful solar radiation is an important photoprotective mechanism, though it has received much less attention in comparison with other systems preventing photooxidative damage to photoautotrophic organisms. This photoprotection in the form of screening appears to be especially important for juvenile and senescing plants as well as under environmental stresses-i.e. in situations where the efficiency of enzymatic ROS elimination, DNA repair and other classical' photoprotective systems could be impaired. This book represents an attempt to develop an integral view of optical screening-based photoprotection in microalgae and higher plants. Towards this end, the key groups of pigments involved in the screening of ultraviolet and visible components of solar radiation in microalgae and higher plants, and the patterns of their accumulation and distribution within plant cells and tissues, are described. Special attention is paid to the manifestations of screening pigment accumulation in the optical spectra of plants. It is also demonstrated that understanding these effects and their relationships to screening pigments' makeup and spectroscopy in plants provides valuable insights into the state of plants' long-term photoacclimation, as well as ample opportunities for the non-destructive quantification of screening pigments and the assessment of the efficiency of photoprotection providing by these pigments in situ.

Accretionary prisms in convergent margins are natural laboratories for exploring initial orogenic processes and mountain building episodes. They are also an important component of continental growth both vertically and laterally. Accretionary prisms are seismically highly active and their internal deformation via megathrusting and out-of-sequence faulting are a big concern for earthquake and tsunami damage in many coastal cities around the Pacific Rim. The geometries and structures of modern accretionary prisms have been well imaged seismically and through deep drilling projects of the Ocean Drilling Program (and recently IODP) during the last 15 years. Better understanding of the spatial distribution and temporal progression of accretionary prism deformation, structural and hydrologic evolution of the decollement zone (tectonic interface between the subducting slab and the upper plate), chemical gradients and fluid flow paths within accretionary prisms, contrasting stratigraphic and deformational framework along-strike in accretionary prisms, and the distribution and ecosystems of biological communities in accretionary prism settings is most important in interpreting the evolution of ancient complex sedimentary terrains and orogenic belts in terms of subduction-related processes. This book is a collection of interdisciplinary papers documenting the geological, geophysical, geochemical, and paleontological features of modern accretionay prisms and trenches in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, based on many submersible dive cruises, ODP drilling projects, and geophysical surveys during the last 10 years. It also includes several papers presenting the results of systematic integrated studies of recent to ancient on-land accretionary prisms in comparison to modern analogues. The individual chapters are data and image rich, providing a major resource of information and knowledge from these critical components of convergent margins for researchers, faculty members, and graduate and undergraduate students. As such, the book will be a major and unique contribution in the broad fields of global tectonics, geodynamics, marine geology and geophysics, and structural geology and sedimentology.

Treatise on Geophysics: Mantle Dynamics, Volume 7 aims to provide both a classical and state-of-the-art introduction to the methods and science of mantle dynamics, as well as survey leading order problems (both solved and unsolved) and current understanding of how the mantle works. It is organized around two themes: (1) how is mantle convection studied; and (2) what do we understand about mantle dynamics to date. The first four chapters are thus concerned with pedagogical reviews of the physics of mantle convection; laboratory studies of the fluid dynamics of convection relevant to the mantle; theoretical analysis of mantle dynamics; and numerical analysis and methods of mantle convection. The subsequent chapters concentrate on leading issues of mantle convection itself, which include the energy budget of the mantle; the upper mantle and lithosphere in and near the spreading center (mid-ocean ridge) environment; the dynamics of subducting slabs; hot spots, melting anomalies, and mantle plumes; and finally, geochemical mantle dynamics and mixing.