The book's principal aim is to clarify fundamental concepts, decipher mathematical structures used to model space-time and relativistic worlds, and to disclose their physical meaning. After each chapter, philosophical implications of the presented material are commented upon.Both special and general theories of relativity are presented in the book with the stress on their global aspects. Although global mathematical methods are extensively used throughout the book, the definitions of new concepts, short comments and examples make reading smooth without the need to consult other textbooks or review papers.

Periodic magnetic structures (undulators) are widely used in accelerators to generate monochromatic undulator radiation (UR) in the range from far infrared to the hard X-ray region. Another periodic crystalline structure is used to produce quasimonochromatic polarized photon beams via the coherent bremsstrahlung mechanism (CBS). Due to such characteristics as monochromaticity, polarization and adjustability, these types of radiation is of large interest for applied and basic research of accelerator-emitted radiation. The book provides a detailed overview of the fundamental principles behind electromagnetic radiation emitted from accelerated charged particles (e.g. UR, CBS, radiation of fast electrons in Laser flash fields) as well as a unified description of relatively new radiation mechanisms which attracted great interest in recent years. This are the so-called polarization radiation excited by the Coulomb field of incident particles in periodic structures, parametric X-rays, resonant transition radiation and the Smith-Purcell effect. Characteristics of such radiation sources and perspectives of their usage are discussed. The recent experimental results as well as their interpretation are presented.

The theory of stochastic processes provides a huge arsenal of methods suitable for analyzing the influence of noise on a wide range of systems. Noise-induced, noise-supported or noise-enhanced effects sometimes offer an explanation for as yet open problems (information transmission in the nervous system and information processing in the brain, processes at the cell level, enzymatic reactions, etc.), or pave the way to novel technological applications. Noise can play a prominent role in structure formation in physics, chemistry and biology, e.g. current filaments in semiconductors, catalytic reactions on surfaces, complex dynamics of the heart, brain, or of ecosystems. The book reviews those aspects of applied stochastics addressing researchers as well as students.

This book is the proceedings of the 7th International Summer School on Biophysics: Supramolecular Structure and Function, held September 14-26, 2000, in Rovinj, Croatia. An enormous amount of new knowledge on the molecular basis of biological phenomena has emerged in the rapidly expanding field of biophysics. The principles and methods of modern biophysics now provide a strong foundation for all of the biosciences, and serve as a rational common language for scientists from various disciplines. The series of books on Supramolecular Structure and Function was inspired by the International Summer School on Biophysics, established under the sponsorship of IUPAB, UNESCO, and ICGEB, held in Rovinj, in 2001, and follows the successful interdisciplinary approach. This volume covers some powerful methods, such as analytical centrifugation, mass spectrometry, fluorescence spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, electron spin resonance and nuclear magnetic resonance, for the study of complex biological structures, and discusses useful physical concepts as applied to biological and biochemical systems. Case-orientated studies concentrating on particular methodologies are presented and examples are given, addressing some of the most important aspects of structure-function relationship in biological assemblies. Biophysics nowadays collaborates closely with molecular biology and bioinformatics as well as with neurosciences, and this is also demonstrated in this book. The book should be of interest both to experienced researchers wishing to widen their insight into molecular structure and function, and to younger scientists at the doctoral and postdoctoral level interested in the molecular nature offundamental biological entities and phenomena.

Since the discovery by J. E. Lovelock, R. J. Maggs and R. A. Rasmussen, in 1972, of its ubiquity in sea water, dimethyl sulphide (DMS) , a biologically produced sulphur compound, has been the subject of continuously increasing interest by the scientific community. DMS was immediately recognized as an important component of the biogeochemical sulphur cycle, and is now indicated as the second most important source of sulphur in the atmosphere, after anthropogenic so emission from fossil fuel combustion and 2 industry. DMS reacts rapidly in the atmosphere where it is oxidized to condensable acidic sulphur products; in fact, rainwater acidification, observed in remote areas, is attributed to DMS emissions. The hypothesis of a climatic role of DMS was made already in 1983 by B. Shaw, and by B. C. Nguyen, B. Bonsang and A. Gaudry. In 1987, a study appeared in Nature, in. which R. J. Charlson, J. E. Lovelock, M. O. Andreae and S. G. Warren suggested the possibility of a partial control of the climate by the biosphere through a chain of processes, linking production of DMS by marine phytoplankton with changes in clouds albedo. The publication of this paper triggered a strong debate and stimulated new efforts to describe the various aspects of the DMS cycle in the environment. The paper was timely and added to the discussion on the relative roles of atmospheric sulphur and greenhouse gases in the Earth's radiative budget.

IAU Symposium 172 Dynamics, Ephemerides and Astrometry of the Solar System was held in Paris in July, 1995. 250 scientists from 33 countries attended the symposium; 24 invited lectures and 165 contributed papers were presented (117 of which were posters). The papers covered topics on celestial mechanics (chaos and evolution of the solar system, asteroids, theories of the motion of the planets, the moon and the natural satellites), methods (symplectic mappings and elliptic functions), astrometry (CCD observations, VLBI and radar observations), ephemerides (representation and numerical integration) and on the history of celestial mechanics.

Black hole gravitohydromagnetics (GHM) is developed from the rudiments to the frontiers of research in this book. GHM describes plasma interactions that combine the effects of gravity and a strong magnetic field, in the vicinity (ergosphere) of a rapidly rotating black hole. This topic was created in response to the astrophysical quest to understand the central engines of radio loud extragalactic radio sources. The theory describes a "torsional tug of war" between rotating ergospheric plasma and the distant asymptotic plasma that extracts the rotational inertia of the black hole. The recoil from the struggle between electromagnetic and gravitational forces near the event horizon is manifested as a powerful pair of magnetized particle beams (jets) that are ejected at nearly the speed of light.

This second edition of the book is updated throughout and contains a completely new chapter discussing state of the art and results of numerical simulations of ergospheric disk jets occurring in magnetohydrodynamic accretion flows.

Mechanics plays a fundamental role in aeolian processes and other environmental studies. This proposed book systematically presents the new progress in the research of aeolian processes, especially in the research on mechanism, theoretical modelling and computational simulation of aeolian processes from the viewpoint of mechanics. Nowadays, environmental and aeolian process related problems are attracting more and more attention. We hope this proposed book will provide scientists and graduate students in aeolian research and other environmental research some mechanical methods and principles and introduce aeolian related problems of environment to mathematical and mechanical scientists.

This volume covers different aspects of recent theoretical and observational work on magnetic reconnection, a fundamental plasma-physical process by which energy stored in magnetic field is converted, often explosively, into heat and kinetic energy. This collection of papers from the fields of solar and space physics, astrophysics, and laboratory plasma physics is especially timely in view of NASA's upcoming Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, which will use Earth's magetosphere as a laboratory to test, through in-situ measurement of the plasma, energetic particles, and electric and magnetic fields, the various and sometimes competing models and theories of magnetic reconnection.
This volume is aimed at researchers in solar physics, magnetospheric physics and plasma physics.
Previously published in Space Science Reviews journal, Vol. 160/1-4, 2011.

Aerosols play a critical role in a broad range of scientific disciplines, such as atmospheric chemistry and physics, combustion science, drug delivery and human health. This thesis explores the fundamentals of a new technique for capturing single or multiple particles using light, and for characterising these particles by Raman or fluorescence spectroscopy. The outcome of this research represents a significant development in optical manipulation techniques, specifically in optical tweezing. These findings can be applied to studies of the mass accommodation of gas-phase water molecules adsorbing onto a water surface. Not only is this a fundamental process of interest to physical chemists, but it is important for understanding the role of aerosol particles in the atmosphere, including their ability to become cloud droplets. This new strategy for investigating aerosol dynamics is fundamental in helping us understand the indirect effect of aerosols on the climate.

The moduli space Mg of curves of fixed genus g - that is, the algebraic variety that parametrizes all curves of genus g - is one of the most intriguing objects of study in algebraic geometry these days. Its appeal results not only from its beautiful mathematical structure but also from recent developments in theoretical physics, in particular in conformal field theory.

This book gives a comprehensive picture of the present stage of development of spectral analysis and filter theory in geophysics. The principles and theories behind classical and modern methods are described and the effectiveness of these methods is assessed; selected examples of their practical application in geophysics are discussed. The modern methods include, for example, spectral analysis by fitting random models to the data, the maximum-entropy and maximum-likelihood spectral analysis procedures, the Wiener and Kalman filters, homomorphic deconvolution, and adaptive procedures for non-stationary processes. This book represents a valuable aid in education and research and for solving practical problems in geophysics and related disciplines.

Maverick's Earth and Universe is about the true nature of Earth and Universe, and the way science should work, including a methodology more fundamental than the so-called scientific method.

Applications of Cryogenic Technology, Vol. 10, is the proceedings from the portion of the conference CRYO-90 sponsored by the Cryogenic Society of America (CSA). CRYO-90, held on the campus of the State University of New York, Binghamton, New York, was an unusual interdisciplinary event, drawing from the life sciences as well as the physical science and engineering areas of the low temperature community. Co-sponsoring CRYO-90 with CSA were the Society for Cryobiology and the Symposium on Invertebrate and Plant Cold Hardiness. These latter two organizations brought an exciting developing field to the conference, a field whose exploration will lead to the betterment of all mankind through improved cryosurgical and organ preservation techniques in addition to improved agricultural and herd yields under extreme conditions. Specific goals of the cryobiological community are cryopreservation, the arrest and recovery of living processes of cells, tissues and organs; and cryosurgery - the local cryodestruction of diseased cells while preserving the healthy surrounding tissue. These goals present great technological challenges. The technological requirements of the cryobiologist include the ability to cool tissues 6 at rates of 10 degrees per second (vitrification), to thaw frozen tissue without damaging the delicate cells, to freeze dry tissue using molecular distillation (vacuum) drying, to supercool cell structures below O DegreesC without freezing, and to successfully store the preserved tissues and organs for any required length of time.

The book is designed as an astrophysics textbook that provides a comprehensive introduction to the physics of Interstellar Matter. It is aimed primarily at those undertaking postgraduate courses, or those doing advanced projects as part of honors undergraduate courses in physics or astrophysics. It should also provide a handy reference to the field for astrophysics faculty and other researchers who are not necessarily experts in this particular subdiscipline. The objective of Astrophysics of the Diffuse Universe is to show how physics can be applied to the understanding and diagnosis of the phase structure, the physical conditions, and the chemical make-up and evolution of the interstellar medium. Consistent with the authors' lecture and course experience, here a systematic approach has been adopted to assist the development of the reader's insight into the physics underlying the subject.

This book presents methodological and application research in detecting cellular and molecular biophysical properties based on atomic force microscopy (AFM) nanorobotics. Series methods for in situ label-free visualizing and quantifying the multiple physical properties of single cells and single molecules were developed, including immobilization strategies for observing fine structures of living cells, measurements of single-cell mechanics, force recognition of molecular interactions, and mapping protein organizations on cell surface. The biomedical applications of these methods in clinical lymphoma treatments were explored in detail, including primary sample preparation, cancer cell recognition, AFM detection and data analysis. Future directions about the biomedical applications of AFM are also given.

The Earth's rocky mantle convects to lose heat, which comes from the liquid iron core below. The mantle's interfaces - the core-mantle boundary, and the lithosphere - may hold the key to understanding mantle motion because of the seismic anisotropy present in these parts of the Earth.
In this thesis, Andy Nowacki presents a precise but comprehensive review of the current state of the art in studying flow with anisotropy, mineral physics and geodynamics. New measurements of shear wave anisotropy in the lowermost mantle and at mid-ocean ridges are used to constrain mechanisms of creep and melt extraction in the mantle. A model of global flow is used to predict anisotropy in the deep Earth, and novel methods to forward model shear wave splitting are described. Future studies of mantle flow must incorporate the understanding gained in this thesis.
The thesis contains a substantive introduction to the structure of the Earth, seismic anisotropy in general and in the core-mantle boundary region, and mid-ocean ridge processes. It also describes novel methods for forward modelling and interpreting shear wave splitting data. Three chapters present timely research into dynamics at divergent plate boundaries and at the core-mantle boundary.

The objective of this workshop was to put together observational and theoretical works on outflows from different kinds of astrophysical objects, occurring on different scales and at various evolutionary phases, and to discuss the impact of observations from future space missions. For the stars, we thought to follow throughout the evolution the relevance (rates and dynamical rrodes) of the mass loss phenomenon, e. g. to explain how and when massive stars loose most of their ini tial mass to end up with typical WD masses. The observations of the solar wind were included for being a unique case where the origin and propagation of the outflow can be resolved. We thought that the comparison with similar phenomena occurring in galactic outflows would be fruitful, as demonstrated by recent works on galactic winds and jets. The interest of having this workshop in Torino came because there are groups in this area, at the Astronomical Observatory and at the Institute of Physics of the University, involved in the theoretical and observational studies of outflows from astrophysical objects. The members of the Scientific Organizing Conmi ttee were: V. Castellani, C. Cesarski, P. Conti, A. Ferrari, A. Gabriel, M. Grewing, Y. Kondo, H. Lamers, V. Manno, M. Rees and R. Schilizzi. The Local Organizing Conmi ttee was: L. Bianchi, G. Massone and E. Antonucci. During the workshop the following topics were treated: the solar wind, the mass loss from cool stars and from hot stars (m. s.

Astronomy is a scienti?c discipline that has developed a rapid and impressive growth in Spain. Thirty years ago, Spain occupied a purely anecdotal presence in the international context, but today it occupies the eighth position in the world in publication of astronomical articles, and, among other successes, owns and op- ates ninety per cent of the world's largest optical telescope GTC (Gran Telescopio Canarias). The Eighth Scienti?c Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society (Sociedad Espanol a de Astronom a, SEA), held in Santander in July 7-11 2008, whose p- ceedings are in your hands, clearly shows the enthusiasm, motivation and quality of the present Spanish astronomical community. The event brought together 322 participants, who represent almost 50% of Spanish professional astronomers. This percentage, together with the continuously increasing, with respect to previous SEA meetings, number of oral presentations and poster contributions (179 and 127 respectively), con?rms that the SEA conferences have become a point of reference to assess the interests and achievements of astrophysical research in Spain. The most important and current topics of modern Astrophysics were taken into accountat thepreliminarymeeting, aswell as the numberandqualityofparticipants and their contributions, to select the invited speakers and oral contributors. We took a week to enjoy the high quality contributions submitted by Spanish astronomers to the Scienti?c Organizing Committee. The selection was dif?cult. We wish to acknowledge the gentle advice and commitment of the SOC members."

Physical Geology is a vast subject and it is not possible to cover all aspects in one book. This book does not invent the wheel but merely put together sets of updated but concise material on Physical Geology with lots of illustrations. All illustrations are created by hand and give a real classroom feel to the book. Students or readers can easily reproduce them by hand. This is a book, where a diagram says it all. The book is divided into four parts. The first part "The Solar System and Cosmic Bodies" deals with elements of our Solar System and the cosmic bodies around it (like meteorites, asteroids, etc.). The second part "The Earth Materials" deals with Earth and its internal structure. The third part "The Hydrologic System" is more exhaustive and deals with the hydrological system of the Earth including Weathering and Mass Wasting, Streams, Groundwater, Karst, Glaciers, Oceans and Aeolian Processes and Landforms. The fourth and the final part "The Tectonic System" deals with different aspects of Plate Tectonics, Earthquakes and Volcanoes.

The multielement systems have been widely used in many fields of astron omy and radio science in the last decades. This is caused by the increasing demands on the resolution and sensitivity of such systems over the wide range of the electromagnetic wavelengths, from gamma up to radio. The ground-based optical and radio interferometers, gamma-ray and X-ray or bital telescopes, antenna arrays of radio telescopes and also some other radio devices belong to scientific instruments using multielement systems. There fore, the current problems of the optimal construction of such systems, or precisely, those of searching for the best arrangement of the elements in them, were formulated. A rather large number of scientific papers, including those of the authors, is devoted to these problems, and we believe that the time has come to integrate the basic results of the papers into the mono graph. The offered book consists of three parts. The first part is concerned with the optimal synthesis of optical and radio interferometers of various types and purposes; the synthesis of non-equidistant antenna arrays is con sidered in the second part; and the methods for the construction of coded masks for X-ray and gamma-ray orbital telescopes are expounded in the third one. Since in the text combinatorial constructions which are little known to astronomers are used, the necessary information is given in the appendices. Various tables containing the parameters of the systems consid ered are also represented."

This book provides a practical guide to molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulation techniques used in the modelling of simple and complex liquids. Computer simulation is an essential tool in studying the chemistry and physics of condensed matter, complementing and reinforcing both experiment and theory. Simulations provide detailed information about structure and dynamics, essential to understand the many fluid systems that play a key role in our daily lives: polymers, gels, colloidal suspensions, liquid crystals, biological membranes, and glasses. The second edition of this pioneering book aims to explain how simulation programs work, how to use them, and how to interpret the results, with examples of the latest research in this rapidly evolving field. Accompanying programs in Fortran and Python provide practical, hands-on, illustrations of the ideas in the text.

Our new monograph has been inspired by the former one, Earthquake Source Asymmetry, Structural Media, and Rotation Effects (R. Teisseyre, M. Takeo, and E. Majewski, eds, Springer 2006). Some problems, c- cerned primarily but not exclusively with the basic theoretical nature, have appeared to us as worthy of further analysis. Thus, in the present mo- graph we intend to develop new theoretical approaches to the theory of continua that go far beyond the traditional seismological applications. We also try to present the links between the experimental data, the observed rotational seismic waves, and their theoretical evaluation and description. In addition, we consider the basic point motions and deformations, and we intend to find the invariant forms to describe such point motions. We believe that there must exist the basic equations for all point motions and deformations, and we derive such relations within a frame of a continuum theory. Thus, in the considered standard asymmetric theory, we include relations not only for the displacement velocities but also for a spin motion and basic point deformations as well. We include here the axial point - formation and twist point deformation represented by the string-string and string-membrane motions. A twist vector is defined here as a vector p- pendicular to the string-string plane and representing its magnitude. It - comes an important counterpart to spin and a key to the presented theory. We show in the forthcoming chapters that the twist motion describes the oscillations of shear axes.

Nanodust and nanometer-sized structures are important components of many objects in space. Nanodust is observed in evolved stars, young stellar objects, protoplanetary disks, and dust debris disks. Within the solar system, nanodust is observed with in-situ experiments from spacecraft. Nanometer-sized substructures are found in the collected cometary and interplanetary dust particles and in meteorites. Understanding the growth and destruction of dust, its internal evolution, as well as the optical properties and the detection of nanoparticles is of fundamental importance for astrophysical research. This book provides a focused description of the current state of research and experimental results concerning nanodust in the solar system. It addresses three major questions: What is nanodust? How was it discovered in the solar system? And how do we interpret the observations? The book serves as a self-contained reference work for space researchers and provides solid information on nanodust in cosmic environments for researchers working in astrophysics or in other fields of physics.

Modeling of flow and transport in groundwater has become an important focus of scientific research in recent years. Most contributions to this subject deal with flow situations, where density and viscosity changes in the fluid are neglected. This restriction may not always be justified. The models presented in the book demonstrate immpressingly that the flow pattern may be completely different when density changes are taken into account. The main applications of the models are: thermal and saline convection, geothermal flow, saltwater intrusion, flow through salt formations etc. This book not only presents basic theory, but the reader can also test his knowledge by applying the included software and can set up own models.