As the first comprehensive and authoritative review of intra-seasonal variability (ISV), this multi-author work balances coverage of observation, theory and modeling and provides a single source of reference for all those interested in this important, multi-faceted natural phenomenon and its relation to major short-term climatic variations. Commencing with an overview of ISV and observations from an historical perspective, the book offers successive chapters that deal with the role of ISV in monsoon variability on the monsoon regions of South Asia, East Asia and South America, in North America, and in the oceans. The coupling between ocean and atmosphere is considered, together with the function of angular momentum and Earth rotation. Later chapters deal with modeling ISV in the atmosphere and oceans, and the connection between the Madden and Julian Oscillations, and El Nino/Southern Oscillation with short-term climate are considered.

This book presents new mathematics for the description of structure and dynamics in molecular and cellular biology. On an exponential scale it is possible to combine functions describing inner organisation, including finite periodicity, with functions for outside morphology into a complete definition of structure. This mathematics is particularly fruitful to apply at molecular and atomic distances. The structure descriptions can then be related to atomic and molecular forces and provide information on structural mechanisms. The calculations have been focussed on lipid membranes forming the surface layers of cell organelles. Calculated surfaces represent the mid-surface of the lipid bilayer. Membrane dynamics such as vesicle transport are described in this new language. Periodic membrane assemblies exhibit conformations based on the standing wave oscillations of the bilayer, considered to reflect the true dynamic nature of periodic membrane structures. As an illustration the structure of an endoplasmatic reticulum has been calculated. The transformation of such cell membrane assemblies into cubosomes seems to reflect a transition into vegetative states. The organisation of the lipid bilayer of nerve cells is analyzed, taking into account an earlier observed lipid bilayer phase transition associated with the depolarisation of the membrane. Evidence is given for a new structure of the alveolar surface, relating the mathematical surface defining the bilayer organisation to new experimental data. The surface layer is proposed to consist of a coherent phase, consisting of a lipid-protein bilayer curved according to a classical surface - the CLP surface. Without employing this new mathematics it would not be possible to give an analytical description of this structure and its deformation during the respiration cycle. In more general terms this mathematics is applied to the description of the structure and dynamic properties of motor proteins, cytoskeleton proteins, and RNA/DNA. On a macroscopic scale the motions of cilia, sperm and flagella are modelled.
This mathematical description of biological structure and dynamics, biomathematics, also provides significant new information in order to understand the mechanisms governing shape of living organisms.

This book delves into the recent developments in the microscale and microfluidic technologies that allow manipulation at the single and cell aggregate level. Expert authors review the dominant mechanisms that manipulate and sort biological structures, making this a state-of-the-art overview of conventional cell sorting techniques, the principles of microfluidics, and of microfluidic devices. All chapters highlight the benefits and drawbacks of each technique they discuss, which include magnetic, electrical, optical, acoustic, gravity/sedimentation, inertial, deformability, and aqueous two-phase systems as the dominant mechanisms utilized by microfluidic devices to handle biological samples. Each chapter explains the physics of the mechanism at work, and reviews common geometries and devices to help readers decide the type of style of device required for various applications. This book is appropriate for graduate-level biomedical engineering and analytical chemistry students, as well as engineers and scientists working in the biotechnology industry.

Acoustics of Layered Media II presents the theory of sound propagation and reflection of spherical waves and bounded beams in layered media. It is mathematically rigorous but at the same time care is taken that the physical usefulness in applications and the logic of the theory are not hidden. Both moving and stationary media, discretely and continuously layered, including a range-dependent environment, are treated for various types of acoustic wave sources. Detailed appendices provide further background on the mathematical methods.This second edition reflects the notable recent progress in the field of acoustic wave propagation in inhomogeneous media.

This book presents simple interdisciplinary stochastic models meant as a gentle introduction to the field of non-equilibrium statistical physics. It focuses on the analysis of two-state models with cooperative effects, which are versatile enough to be applied to many physical and social systems. The book also explores a variety of mathematical techniques to solve the master equations that govern these models: matrix theory, empty-interval methods, mean field theory, a quantum approach, and mapping onto classical Ising models. The models discussed are at the confluence of nanophysics, biology, mathematics, and the social sciences and provide a pedagogical path toward understanding the complex dynamics of particle self-assembly with the tools of statistical physics.

Intended for undergraduate non-science majors, satisfying a general education requirement or seeking an elective in natural science, this is a physics text, but with the emphasis on topics and applications in astronomy. The perspective is thus different from most undergraduate astronomy courses: rather than discussing what is known about the heavens, this text develops the principles of physics so as to illuminate what we see in the heavens. The fundamental principles governing the behaviour of matter and energy are thus used to study the solar system, the structure and evolution of stars, and the early universe. The first part of the book develops Newtonian mechanics towards an understanding of celestial mechanics, while chapters on electromagnetism and elementary quantum theory lay the foundation of the modern theory of the structure of matter and the role of radiation in the constitution of stars. Kinetic theory and nuclear physics provide the basis for a discussion of stellar structure and evolution, and an examination of red shifts and other observational data provide a basis for discussions of cosmology and cosmogony.

This volume contains the proceedings of The Second Polish-US Conf- ence on High Temperature Superconductivity which was held August 18-21, 1998 in Karpacz, Poland. The conference followed The First Polish-US C- ference on High Temperature Superconductivity organized in 1995, proce- ings of which were published by Springer-Verlag in 1996 (Recent Devel- ments in High Temperature Superconductivity, Lecture Notes in Physics 475). High Temperature Superconductivity (HTSC) in complex copper oxides has become a household name after twelve years of intense research following its discovery in 1986 by J. G. Bednorz and K. A. Miiller. Because of the rapid growth of the HTSC field, there is a need for periodic summary and conden- tion both for scientists working in the field and, especially, for young resear- ers entering the field of oxide materials. Following the First Conference, it was recognized that an extended format of lectures perfectly satisfied that need, providing adequate time for experts from the international community to fully introduce and develop complex ideas. Thus, the format of the Second Conference brought together by cooperating scientists from the Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research of the Polish Academy of Science at Wroctaw, Northern Illinois University, and Argonne National Laboratory remained mostly unchanged. Again, we were delighted to receive enthusiastic responses from distinguished US and Polish scientists who were invited to p- ticipate.

Scope and ideas of the workshop The workshop which took place at the University of Giessen from Oct. 3 to Oct. 7, 2002 and whose proceedings are collected in this volume started from the idea to convene a number of scientists with the aim to outline their "visions" for the future of radiation research on the basis of their expertise. As radiation research is a very wide field restrictions were unavoidable. It was decided to concentrate this time mainly on molecular and cellular biology because it was felt that here action is par-ticularly needed. This did not exclude contributions from neighbouring fields as may be seen from the table of contents. It was clearly not planned to have a c- prehensive account of the present scientif fic achievements but the results presented should only serve as a starting point for the discussion of future lines of research, with the emphasis on the "outreach" to other parts of life sciences. If you are interested in the future ask the young - we attempted, therefore, to invite mainly younger colleagues (with a few exceptions) who had, however, already left their marks in the field. They were asked to describe what they felt is important in radiation research and may have significant influences on other branches of life sciences. They were given the task to demonstrate what is lost for science "if we do no longer exist".

The second edition of Solar System Astrophysics: Background Science and the Inner Solar System provides new insights into the burgeoning field of planetary astronomy. As in the first edition, this volume begins with a rigorous treatment of coordinate frames, basic positional astronomy, and the celestial mechanics of two and restricted three body system problems. Perturbations are treated in the same way, with clear step-by-step derivations. Then the Earth's gravitational potential field and the Earth-Moon system are discussed, and the exposition turns to radiation properties with a chapter on the Sun. The exposition of the physical properties of the Moon and the terrestrial planets are greatly expanded, with much new information highlighted on the Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars. All of the material is presented within a framework of historical importance. This book and its sister volume, Solar System Astrophysics: Background Science and the Inner Solar system, are pedagogically well written, providing clearly illustrated explanations, for example, of such topics as the numerical integration of the Adams-Williamson equation, the equations of state in planetary interiors and atmospheres, Maxwell's equations as applied to planetary ionospheres and magnetospheres, and the physics and chemistry of the Habitable Zone in planetary systems. Together, the volumes form a comprehensive text for any university course that aims to deal with all aspects of solar and extra-solar planetary systems. They will appeal separately to the intellectually curious who would like to know how just how far our knowledge of the solar system has progressed in recent years.

Lithium niobate, LiNbO , is an oxide ferroelectric with various kinds of pro- 3 nouncedphysicalproperties. Thisversatilityhaspromoteditscareerinscience anddevices. Ithasbeenparticularlyfruitfulintheopticalregime,wheremany e?ects have been found in LiNbO and devices introduced using it as a host. 3 One of the few big drawbacks, namely the low level laser damage threshold based on photorefraction due to extrinsic defects was discovered very early. A relatively new topic, not involved so far in any general description, is a fundamental dependence of the optical properties of LiNbO on intrinsic de- 3 fects. Their importance has been realised out due to the development of varies growthtechniquesintherecentpast. Theprogressinthegrowthandstudiesof LiNbO crystals with di?erent composition, particularly almost stoichiomet- 3 ric ones, has revealed a signi?cant and sometimes decisive role of the intrinsic defects. For example, the photoinduced charge transport, and therefore the photorefractive properties governing the recording of the phase gratings in LiNbO , are strongly controlled by the content of intrinsic defects. The re- 3 cently found impact of intrinsic defects on the coercive ?eld in LiNbO is 3 of fundamental importance for the creation of periodically poled structures (PPLN) aimed at the optical-frequency conversion in the quasi-phase mat- ing (QPM) mode of operation. As a consequence of these results, an idea of the intrinsic defects in LiNbO has been developed during the last decade 3 and involves microscopic studies on defects, photorefraction and ferroelectric switching using spectroscopic and structure methods.

This volume contains the proceedings of an international conference on Shocks in Astrophysics held at UMIST, Manchester, England from January 9-12, 1995. The study of interstellar and circumstellar gas dynamics has a long and distinguished history in Manchester and has been almost entirely concentrated in the school founded by Franz Kahn in the Astronomy Department, University of Manchester. In January 1993, one of us (AR) was appointed to the faculty of the Astrophysics Group in the Department of Mathematics at UMIST and astrophysical gas dynam ics became a major interest of the Group. The subject of this conference was chosen partly for the topicality of the subject matter and partly to help synthesise this expertise with the expertise in interstellar chemistry already present in the Group. The first fruits of this synthesis are contained in this volume. As it happened, this conference celebrated, not so much the beginnings of a long and fruitful collabo ration, but rather gave many of Alex's friends the chance to say a fond farewell as he departed UMIST at the end of January 1995 to take up a chair at UNAM, Mexico City. The core of this volume consists of twelve review articles, marked (R) in the list of contents, incorporating observational and theoretical studies of shock waves in a variety of situations from Herbig-Haro objects to Supernova Remnants to Active Galactic Nuclei. We have also included the contributed (C) and poster (P) papers."

The first section of this volume corresponds to courses on the cytoskeleton, its various structures and its dynamics, especially during the cell cycle. The reductionist approach is favoured in this field and considerable effort is spent on finding out how these structures are built up from their component molecules, how they grow or decrease in size, how they interact with each other and with other cell components. The second section describes the endo membrane system of a eukaryotic cell and the regulated protein traffic that flows through it. Part III deals with the onset of higher levels of organization. Topics covered include the development of the central nervous system, the role of time in biology and theoretical models to describe biochemical and cellular oscillations. The volume concludes with a reflection on physics and biology and the author shares some of his thoughts on the different ways in which physicists and biologists tackle problems in their respective fields.

Many large-scale projects for detecting gravitational radiation are currently being developed, all with the aim of opening a new window onto the observable Universe. As a result, numerical relativity has recently become a major field of research, and Elements of Numerical Relativity and Relativistic Hydrodynamics is a valuable primer for both graduate students and non-specialist researchers wishing to enter the field.

A revised and significantly enlarged edition of LNP 673 Elements of Numerical Relativity, this book starts with the most basic insights and aspects of numerical relativity before it develops coherent guidelines for the reliable and convenient selection of each of the following key aspects: evolution formalism; gauge, initial, and boundary conditions; and various numerical algorithms. And in addition to many revisions, it includes new, convenient damping terms for numerical implementations, a presentation of the recently-developed harmonic formalism, and an extensive, new chapter on matter space-times, containing a thorough introduction to relativistic hydrodynamics.

While proper reference is given to advanced applications requiring large computational resources, most tests and applications in this book can be performed on a standard PC.

Ferroelectric memories have changed in 10 short years from academic curiosities of the university research labs to commercial devices in large-scale production. This is the first text on ferroelectric memories that is not just an edited collection of papers by different authors. Intended for applied physicists, electrical engineers, materials scientists and ceramists, it includes ferroelectric fundamentals, especially for thin films, circuit diagrams and processsing chapters, but emphazises device physics. Breakdown mechanisms, switching kinetics and leakage current mechanisms have lengthly chapters devoted to them. The book will be welcomed by research scientists in industry and government laboratories and in universities. It also contains 76 problems for students, making it particularly useful as a textbook for fourth-year undergraduate or first-year graduate students.

Learn about the many biological and medical applications of ultrashort laser pulses. The authors highlight and explain how the briefness of these laser pulses permits the tracing of even the fastest processes in photo-active bio-systems. They also present a variety of applications that rely on the high peak intensity of ultrashort laser pulses. Easy-to-follow examples cover non-linear imaging techniques, optical tomography, and laser surgery.

The introduction of spin is believed to be a necessary tool if one wishes to quantize general relativity. Then the main problem is to see if the introduction of spin generalizing the general relativity from a geometric point of view, i.e. through the concept of torsion, can be experimentally verified.

The reader can find in this book both theoretical and experimental arguments which show the necessity for the introduction of spin, and then of torsion, in gravity. In fact, torsion constitutes the more natural and simple way to introduce spin in general relativity. For that reason it is of fundamental importance to see if there are some experiences that indicate -- if not directly, then at least indirectly -- the presence of torsion. This book presents a discussion on experiments with a polarized-mass torsion pendulum, the search for galactic dark matter interacting with a spin pendulum, a description of a space-based method for determination of the gravitational constant and space-based measurements of spin in gravity, as well as a discussion on theoretical arguments, for instance the nature of torsion and nonmetricity, the viability of gravitational theories with spin -- torsion and spin-spin interaction, many-dimensional gravitational theories with torsion, spinors on curved spaces, the spinors in real space -- time, etc.

We know that until now there has been no evidence for torsion, but this fact cannot prevent us from considering in some detail this implement of research that seems to be important from both a geometrical and a physical point of view.

Musical Sound, Instruments, and Equipment offers a basic understanding of sound, musical instruments and music equipment, geared towards a general audience and non-science majors. The book begins with an introduction of the fundamental properties of sound waves, and the perception of the characteristics of sound. The relation between intensity and loudness, and the relation between frequency and pitch are discussed. The basics of propagation of sound waves, and the interaction of sound waves with objects and structures of various sizes are introduced. Standing waves, harmonics and resonance are explained in simple terms, using graphics that provide a visual understanding.

Neutron stars are the most compact astronomical objects in the universe which are accessible by direct observation. Studying neutron stars means studying physics in regimes unattainable in any terrestrial laboratory.

Understanding their observed complex phenomena requires a wide range of scientific disciplines, including the nuclear and condensed matter physics of very dense matter in neutron star interiors, plasma physics and quantum electrodynamics of magnetospheres, and the relativistic magneto-hydrodynamics of electron-positron pulsar winds interacting with some ambient medium. Not to mention the test bed neutron stars provide for general relativity theories, and their importance as potential sources of gravitational waves. It is this variety of disciplines which, among others, makes neutron star research so fascinating, not only for those who have been working in the field for many years but also for students and young scientists.

The aim of this book is to serve as a reference work which not only reviews the progress made since the early days of pulsar astronomy, but especially focuses on questions such as: "What have we learned about the subject and how did we learn it?," "What are the most important open questions in this area?" and "What new tools, telescopes, observations, and calculations are needed to answer these questions?."

All authors who have contributed to this book have devoted a significant part of their scientific careers to exploring the nature of neutron stars and understanding pulsars. Everyone has paid special attention to writing educational comprehensive review articles with the needs of beginners, students and young scientists as potential readers in mind. This book will be a valuable source of information for these groups.

This is the third volume in the series, in which the topic of the effects of radio frequencies on human tissue, now increasingly a concern with the prevalence of cell phones, is explored by Prof. Lin and other researchers. The impact of electromagnetics on imaging and cardiology, both very keen areas of research at present, is also explored.

The application to Biology of the methodologies developed in Physics is attracting an increasing interest from the scientific community. It has led to the emergence of a new interdisciplinary field, called Physical Biology, with the aim of reaching a better understanding of the biological mechanisms at molecular and cellular levels. Statistical Mechanics in particular plays an important role in the development of this new field.

For this reason, the XXth session of the famous Sitges Conference on Statistical Physics was dedicated to "Physical Biology: from Molecular Interactions to Cellular Behavior." As is by now tradition, a number of lectures were subsequently selected, expanded and updated for publication as lecture notes, so as to provide both a state-of-the-art introduction and overview to a number of subjects of broader interest and to favor the interchange and cross-fertilization of ideas between biologists and physicists.

The present volume focuses on three main subtopics (biological water, protein solutions as well as transport and replication), presenting for each of them the on-going debates on recent results. The role of water in biological processes, the mechanisms of protein folding, the phases and cooperative effects in biological solutions, the thermodynamic description of replication, transport and neural activity, all are subjects that are revised in this volume, based on new experiments and new theoretical interpretations.

Paperback. This publication contains 36 papers presented at four symposia during the Thirty-first COSPAR Scientific Assembly held in Birmingham, UK during 1996. Papers reflect the following symposia themes: life science support system studies; production, processing and waste recycling in a CELSS (Controlled Ecological Life Support System); biological effects of closure and recycling in a CELSS; nutrition and productivity for bioregenerative life support; integration of bioregenerative and physical/chemical processes for space life support systems. Findings presented in this volume will be a valuable resource for CELSS researchers for many years to come.

This textbook on the nature of space and time explains the new theory of Space Dynamics, which describes the dynamics of gravity as the evolution of conformal 3-dimensional geometry. Shape Dynamics is equivalent to Einstein's General Relativity in those situations in which the latter has been tested experimentally, but the theory is based on different first principles. It differs from General Relativity in certain extreme conditions. Shape Dynamics allows us to describe situations in which the spacetime picture is no longer adequate, such as in the presence of singularities, when the idealization of infinitesimal rods measuring scales and infinitesimal clocks measuring proper time fails. This tutorial book contains both a quick introduction for readers curious about Shape Dynamics, and a detailed walk-through of the historical and conceptual motivations for the theory, its logical development from first principles and a description of its present status. It includes an explanation of the origin of the theory, starting from problems posed first by Newton more than 300 years ago. The book will interest scientists from a large community including all foundational fields of physics, from quantum gravity to cosmology and quantum foundations, as well as researchers interested in foundations. The tutorial is sufficiently self-contained for students with some basic background in Lagrangian/Hamiltonian mechanics and General Relativity.

In these lectures, I have discussed a number of basic concepts that provide the necessary background to the current studies of star formation. A ?rst partwas dedicatedto illustrate the conceptofa protostar, discussing con- tions and propertiesof the collapseof a molecular core. A secondpart deals with circumstellardisks. Disks areimportantnot only to the processofstar formation itself, but also because they are in all probability the site where planets form. The age range of pre-main-sequence stars coincides with the timescales for the formation of very large planetesimals, the building blocks of planets. Studies ofdisk properties in pre-main-sequencestars ofdi?erent age, located in star-forming regions of di?erent properties, may shed light on the characteristics of planet formation processes. ISO observations can provide important (in some cases, unique) inf- mation on the various stages of the star and planet formation. I have illustrated in detail some examples, when, to my knowledge, ISO data had been reduced and analyzed. Many other programs exist, and will certainly contribute to our understanding of star formation in the near future

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar - known simply as Chandra throughout the scientific world - has become a legendary figure for his prolific contributions to physics, astrophysics, and applied mathematics. Before his death in 1995, Chandra had forbidden a memorial of the conventional sort, celebrating his life. This book, which contains some thirty articles by his former students, his associates, and his colleagues, is in a sense a memorial volume. It says little about Chandra's great scientific achievements, but shows his human side and the various facets of his brilliant personality, his incredible memory, his wit, and the breadth of his knowledge of art, music, literature, and the humanities in general. The contributors to this highly interesting book are among the few who broke the seemingly forbidden barrier surrounding the very private Chandra and came to know him well in one context or another. They include Lalitha Chandrasekhar, Roger Penrose, Richard H Dalitz, J W Cronin, Robert G Sachs, Abhay Ashtekar, and Robert Wald.