By now, most academics have heard something about the new science of complexity. In a manner reminiscent of Einstein and the last hundred years of physics, complexity science has captured the public imagination. (R) One can go to Amazon. com and purchase books on complexification (Casti 1994), emergence (Holland 1998), small worlds (Barabasi 2003), the web of life (Capra 1996), fuzzy thinking (Kosko 1993), global c- plexity (Urry 2003) and the business of long-tails (Anderson 2006). Even television has incorporated the topics of complexity science. Crime shows (R) (R) such as 24 or CSI typically feature investigators using the latest advances in computational modeling to "simulate scenarios" or "data mine" all p- sible suspects-all of which is done before the crime takes place. The (R) World Wide Web is another example. A simple search on Google. Com using the phrase "complexity science" gets close to a million hits! C- plexity science is ubiquitous. What most scholars do not realize, however, is the remarkable role sociologists are playing in this new science. C- sider the following examples. 0. 1 Sociologists in Complexity Science The first example comes from the new science of networks (Barabasi 2003). By now, most readers are familiar with the phenomena known as six-degrees of separation-the idea that, because most large networks are comprised of a significant number of non-random weak-ties, the nodes (e. g. , people, companies, etc.

In the first, 1986, edition of this book, inverse problems in vibration were interpreted strictly: problems concerning the reconstruction of a unique, undamped vibrating system, of a specified type, from specified vibratory behaviour, particularly specified natural frequencies and/or natural mode shapes.

In this new edition the scope of the book has been widened to include topics such as isospectral systems- families of systems which all exhibit some specified behaviour; applications of the concept of Toda flow; new, non-classical approaches to inverse Sturm-Liouville problems; qualitative properties of the modes of some finite element models; damage identification.

With its emphasis on analysis, on qualitative results, rather than on computation, the book will appeal to researchers in vibration theory, matrix analysis, differential and integral equations, matrix analysis, non-destructive testing, modal analysis, vibration isolation, etc.

"This book is a necessary addition to the library of engineers and mathematicians working in vibration theory." Mathematical Reviews

The Summer School has been dedicated to one of the proponents and ?rst Chairman of the Strategy Board of MACSI-net, the late Jacques Louis Lions (see the dedication by Roland Glowinski). MACSI-net is a European Network of Excellence, where both enterprises and university institutions co-operate to solve challenging problems to their mutual bene?t. In particular the network focuses on strategies to enhance interactions between industry and academia. The aim is to help industry (in particular SMEs) alert academia about industrial needs in terms of advanced mathematical and computational methods and tools. The network is mul- disciplinary oriented, combining the power of applied mathematics, scienti?c computing and engineering, for modeling and simulation. It was set up by a joint e?ort of ECCOMAS and ECMI European associations. Thisparticularevent,occurredduringMarch17-22,2003,wasajointe?ort ofthe TrainingCommittee (chairedby VC)andIndustrialRelationsComm- tee (chairedby JP)to alert both Academia and Industry about the increasing role of Multidisciplinary Methods and Tools for the design of complex pr- uctsinvariousareasofindustrialinterest.Thisincreasingcomplexityisdriven by societal constraints to be satis? ed in a simultaneous and a?ordable way. The mastering of complexity implies the sharing of di?erent tools by di?erent actors which require much higher level of communication between culturally di?erent people. The school o?ered to young researchers the opportunity to be exposed to the presentation of real industrial and societal problems and the relevant innovative methods used; the need of further contributions from mathematics to improve or provide better solutions had also been considered.

These Conference Proceedings are intended to summarise the latest developments in diffraction and scattering theory as reported at the IU TAM Symposium on Diffraction and Scattering in Fluid Mechanics and Elasticity held in Manchester, England on 16-20 July 2000. This in formal meeting was organised to discuss mathematical advances, both from the theoretical and more applied points of view. However, its pri mary goal was to bring together groups of researchers working in dis parate application areas, but who nevertheless share common models, phenomenological features arising in such problems, and common math ematical tools. To this end, we were delighted to have four Plenary Speakers, Professors Allan Pierce, Ed Kerschen, Roger Grimshaw and John Willis FRS, who are undisputed leaders in the four thematic ar eas of our meeting (these are respectively acoustics, aeroacoustics, water or other free surface waves, elasticity). These Proceedings should offer an excellent vehicle for continuing the dialogue between these groups of researchers. The participants were invited because of their expertise and recent contributions to this field. Collectively, there were around 90 contrib utors to the Symposium from some 13 countries located all around the world. These included 45 speakers, 35 co-authors and about 10 other delegates. Individuals came from many of the major international cen tres of excellence in the field of scattering theory."

Many historically and artistically important masonry buildings of the world's architecturalheritageareindireneedofmaintenanceandrestoration.Inorder tooptimizesuchoperationsintermsofcost-e?ectiveness,architecturalimpact andstatice?ectiveness,accuratemodelsofthestructuralbehaviorofmasonry constructions are invaluable. The ultimate aim of such modeling is to obtain important information, such as the stress ?eld, and to estimate the extent of cracking and its evolution when the structure is subjected to variations in both boundary and loading conditions. Although masonry has been used in building for centuries, it is only - centlythatconstitutivemodelsandcalculationtechniqueshavebeenavailable that enable realistic description of the static behavior of structures made of this heterogeneous material whose response to tension is fundamentally d- ferent from that to compression. Important insights on the mechanical behavior of masonry arches and vaults come from as far back as Leonardo [10], Hooke [58], Poleni [92] and many other authors (see [47], [9] and [10] for detailed references). Castigliano, in his famous paper on the Mosca bridge [23], and Signorini, in his studies on masonry beams [97], [98], showed both the possibility and necessity of taking into account the weak tensile strength of masonry material.

This book presents the most recent research advances in the theory, design, control, and application of robotic systems, which are intended for a variety of purposes such as manipulation, manufacturing, automation, surgery, locomotion, and biomechanics.

This is the first mechatronics book dealing with coupled mechanical and electrical actions, an emerging branch of modern technology. Authored by the leading scientist in this field, the book treats various subjects along the interface between mechanics and electronics.

This compact and original reference and textbook presents the most important classical and modern essentials of control engineering in a single volume. It constitutes a harmonic mixture of control theory and applications, which makes the book especially useful for students, practicing engineers and researchers interested in modeling and control of processes. Well written and easily understandable, it includes a range of methods for the analysis and design of control systems.

Non destructive testing aimed at monitoring, structural identification and di- nostics is of strategic importance in many branches of civil and mechanical - gineering. This type of tests is widely practiced and directly affects topical issues regarding the design of new buildings and the repair and monitoring of existing ones. The load bearing capacity of a structure can now be evaluated using well established mechanical modelling methods aided by computing facilities of great capability. However, to ensure reliable results, models must be calibrated with - curate information on the characteristics of materials and structural components. To this end, non destructive techniques are a useful tool from several points of view. Particularly, by measuring structural response, they provide guidance on the validation of structural descriptions or of the mathematical models of material behaviour. Diagnostic engineering is a crucial area for the application of non destructive testing methods. Repeated tests over time can indicate the emergence of p- sible damage occurring during the structure's lifetime and provide quantitative estimates of the level of residual safety.

Computational methods within structural acoustics, vibration and fluid-structure interaction are powerful tools for investigating acoustic and structural-acoustic problems in many sectors of industry; in the building industry regarding room acoustics, in the car industry and aeronautical industry for optimizing structural components with regard to vibrations characteristics etc. It is on the verge of becoming a common tool for noise characterization and design for optimizing structural properties and geometries in order to accomplish a desired acoustic environment. The book covers the field of computational mechanics, and then moved into the field of formulations of multiphysics and multiscale.

The book is addressed to graduate level, PhD students and young researchers interested in structural dynamics, vibrations and acoustics. It is also suitable for industrial researchers in mechanical, aeronautical and civil engineering with a professional interest in structural dynamics, vibrations and acoustics or involved in questions regarding noise characterization and reduction in building, car, plane, space, train, industries by means of computer simulations.

This book reviews new results in the application of polynomial and rational matrices to continuous- and discrete-time systems. It provides the reader with rigorous and in-depth mathematical analysis of the uses of polynomial and rational matrices in the study of dynamical systems. It also throws new light on the problems of positive realization, minimum-energy control, reachability, and asymptotic and robust stability.

This volume contains the invited papers presented at the 9th International C- ference "Dynamical Systems - Theory and Applications" held in ?od ' z, ' Poland, December 17-20, 2007 dealing with nonlinear dynamical systems. The conf- encegatheredanumerousgroupofscientistsandengineers,whodealwithwidely understoodproblemsofdynamicsmetalsoinengineeringanddailylife. Organizationof the conferencewould nothavebeen possiblewithouta great effortofthestaffoftheDepartmentofAutomaticsandBiomechanicsoftheTech- calUniversityof?od ' z. ' Thepatronageovertheconferencehasbeentakenbythef- lowingscienti?cinstitutions:MechanicsandMachineDynamicsCommitteesofthe PolishAcademyofSciences,PolishSocietyofTheoreticalandAppliedMech- ics,PolishAssociationforComputationalMechanics,andTechnicalCommitteeof NonlinearOscillationsofIFToMM. The ?nancial support has been given by the Department of Education at the ?'odz' City Hall, Ministry of National Education and the Polish Association for ComputationalMechanics. We welcomednearly100personsfrom13countriesallovertheworld.They decidedto share the results of their researchandmanyyears of experiencein a disciplineofdynamicalsystemsbysubmittingmanyinterestingpapers. TheScienti?cCommitteeincludesthefollowingmembers:IgorV.Andrianov- Aachen;JanAwrejcewicz -?od ' z; ' Jose M. Balthazar- Rio Claro;Denis Bla- more- Newark; Iliya Blekhman - Sankt Petersburg;Roman Bogacz - Warsaw; TadeuszBurczyns ' ki-Gliwice;DickvanCampen-Eindhoven;Czes?awCempel- Poznan';LotharGaul- Stuttgart;Jozef ' Giergiel-Cracow;Katica Hedrih-Nis; ? Janusz Kowal - Cracow; Vadim A. Krysko - Saratov; W?odzimierz Kurnik - Warsaw; Claude-Henri Lamarque - Lyon; Nuno M. Maia - Lisbon; Leonid I.

Safety in industrial process and production plants is a concern of rising importance but because the control devices which are now exploited to improve the performance of industrial processes include both sophisticated digital system design techniques and complex hardware, there is a higher probability of failure. Control systems must include automatic supervision of closed-loop operation to detect and isolate malfunctions quickly. A promising method for solving this problem is "analytical redundancy", in which residual signals are obtained and an accurate model of the system mimics real process behaviour. If a fault occurs, the residual signal is used to diagnose and isolate the malfunction. This book focuses on model identification oriented to the analytical approach of fault diagnosis and identification covering: choice of model structure; parameter identification; residual generation; and fault diagnosis and isolation. Sample case studies are used to demonstrate the application of these techniques.

This is the first book dedicated to direct continuous-time model identification for 15 years. It cuts down on time spent hunting through journals by providing an overview of much recent research in an increasingly busy field. The CONTSID toolbox discussed in the final chapter gives an overview of developments and practical examples in which MATLAB(r) can be used for direct time-domain identification of continuous-time systems. This is a valuable reference for a broad audience.

This book presents a modern and self-contained treatment of the Liapunov method for stability analysis, in the framework of mathematical nonlinear control theory. A Particular focus is on the problem of the existence of Liapunov functions (converse Liapunov theorems) and their regularity, whose interest is especially motivated by applications to automatic control. Many recent results in this area have been collected and presented in a systematic way. Some of them are given in extended, unified versions and with new, simpler proofs. In the 2nd edition of this successful book several new sections were added and old sections have been improved, e.g., about the Zubovs method, Liapunov functions for discontinuous systems and cascaded systems. Many new examples, explanations and figures were added making this book accessible and well readable for engineers as well as mathematicians.

Discontinuous Systems develops nonsmooth stability analysis and discontinuous control synthesis based on novel modeling of discontinuous dynamic systems, operating under uncertain conditions. While being primarily a research monograph devoted to the theory of discontinuous dynamic systems, no background in discontinuous systems is required; such systems are introduced in the book at the appropriate conceptual level. Being developed for discontinuous systems, the theory is successfully applied to their subclasses variable-structure and impulsive systems as well as to finite- and infinite-dimensional systems such as distributed-parameter and time-delay systems. The presentation concentrates on algorithms rather than on technical implementation although theoretical results are illustrated by electromechanical applications. These specific applications complete the book and, together with the introductory theoretical constituents bring some elements of the tutorial to the text.

Besides turbulence there is hardly any other scientific topic which has been considered as a prominent scientific challenge for such a long time. The special interest in turbulence is not only based on it being a difficult scientific problem but also on its meaning in the technical world and our daily life. This carefully edited book comprises recent basic research as well as research related to the applications of turbulence. Therefore, both leading engineers and physicists working in the field of turbulence were invited to the iTi Conference on Turbulence held in Bad Zwischenahn, Gemany 25th - 28th of September 2005. Discussed topics include, for example, scaling laws and intermittency, thermal convection, boundary layers at large Reynolds numbers, isotropic turbulence, stochastic processes, passive and active scalars, coherent structures, numerical simulations, and related subjects.

This book concerns the numerical simulation of dynamical systems whose trajec- ries may not be differentiable everywhere. They are named nonsmooth dynamical systems. They make an important class of systems, rst because of the many app- cations in which nonsmooth models are useful, secondly because they give rise to new problems in various elds of science. Usually nonsmooth dynamical systems are represented as differential inclusions, complementarity systems, evolution va- ational inequalities, each of these classes itself being split into several subclasses. The book is divided into four parts, the rst three parts being sketched in Fig. 0. 1. The aim of the rst part is to present the main tools from mechanics and applied mathematics which are necessary to understand how nonsmooth dynamical systems may be numerically simulated in a reliable way. Many examples illustrate the th- retical results, and an emphasis is put on mechanical systems, as well as on electrical circuits (the so-called Filippov's systems are also examined in some detail, due to their importance in control applications). The second and third parts are dedicated to a detailed presentation of the numerical schemes. A fourth part is devoted to the presentation of the software platform Siconos. This book is not a textbook on - merical analysis of nonsmooth systems, in the sense that despite the main results of numerical analysis (convergence, order of consistency, etc. ) being presented, their proofs are not provided.

Vibration problems dealing with advanced Mathematical and Numerical Techniques have extensive application in a wide class of problems in ae- nautics, aerodynamics, space science and technology, off-shore engineering and in the design of different structural components of high speed space crafts and nuclear reactors. Different classes of vibration problems dealing with complex geometries and non-linear behaviour require careful attention of scientists and engineers in pursuit of their research activities. Almost all fields of Engineering, Science and Technology, ranging from small domestic building subjected to earthquake and cyclone to the space craft venturing towards different planets, from giant ship to human skeleton, encounter problems of vibration and dynamic loading. This being truly an interdisciplinary field, where the mathematicians, phy- cists and engineers could interface their innovative ideas and creative thoughts to arrive at an appropriate solution, Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur, India, a premier institution for education and research in engineering, science and technology felt it appropriate to organize 8th International C- ference on "Vibration Problems (ICOVP-2007)" as a part of its sesquicentenary celebration. The conference created a platform and all aspects of vibration phenomenon with the focus on the state-of-the art in theoretical, experimental and applied research areas were addressed and the scientific interaction, p- ticipated by a large gathering including eminent personalities and young research workers, generated many research areas and innovative ideas.

] Starting with the research of G. Bogelsack in the 1970s, the analysis of biological locomotion andmanipulation systemsandtheirtechnical realizationhas beenan- portant research eld within the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Ilmenau University of Technology. In 1996, the German Research Foundation (DFG) funded the Innovation College "Motion Systems" at the University of Jena in a coope- tion with engineers at the Ilmenau University of Technology. Thus, research was able to be intensi ed and extended. Of course, the whole spectrum of biologically inspired systems is much too wide, so the analysis was still focused on locomotion and manipulation systems. At this stage J. Steigenberger from the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural S- ences at the Ilmenau University of Technology contributed important studies of worm-like locomotion systems with much dedication and technical competence. Moreover, he conceived and carried out a lecture series entitled "Mathematical Basics for Locomotion Systems," which was based on his evaluation of national and international research developments in this eld. I. Zeidis and K. Zimmermann contributed many publications on the mechanics of worm-like locomotion systems based on continuum and rigid-body models as well as asymptotic methods. Since 2004 the German Research Foundation has supported a series of projects led by K. Zimmermann dedicated to biologically inspired robotics. In addition to these activities, the Department of Technical Mechanics and the Department of Computer Application in Mechanical Engineering (M. Weiss) together with masters and doctoral students started the development of mobile robots for the RoboCup Small-Size League in 1998."

This book presents recent developments in vibration control systems that employ embedded piezoelectric sensors and actuators, reviewing ways in which active vibration control systems can be designed for piezoelectric laminated structures, paying distinct attention to how such control systems can be implemented in real time. Includes numerous examples and experimental results obtained from laboratory-scale apparatus, with details of how similar setups can be built.

Springer published the ?rst book of the series of Advances in Robot Kinematics in an edited format in 1991. Since 1994, Kluwer and Springer published a book everytwo yearswithoutinterruptions.Thesebooksdealwith the theoryandpractice of robot kinematics and treat the kinematic aspects of robot motion and design of robots.EachbookofAdvancesinRobotKinematicsreportsthemostrecentresearch projects and presents important new discoveries. The series of Advances in Robot Kinematics is considered a most important source of information in its area. The present book emphasizes kinematic analysis and design. The issues - dressed are fundamentally kinematic in nature, including synthesis, calibration, - dundancy, forcecontrol, dexterity, inverseand forwardkinematics, kinematicsin- larities, as well as over-constrained systems. Methods used include line geometry, quaternion algebra, screw algebra, and linear algebra. These methods are applied to both parallel and serial multi-degree-of-freedom systems. The results should - terest researchers, teachers and students, in ?elds of engineering and mathematics related to robot theory, design, control and application. The contributions had been rigorously reviewed by independent reviewers. The authorsdiscussed their results at the eleventhinternationalsymposiumon Advances in Robot Kinematics which was held in June 2008 in Batz-sur-Mer, France. The symposium was organized by the Institut de Recherche en Communications et - bernetique de Nantes, France in collaborationwith the J. Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia, under the patronage of the International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Scie

TheseriesAdvancesinIndustrialControl aimsto reportandencouragete- nologytransferincontrolengineering.Therapiddevelopmentofcontrolte- nology has an impact on all areas of the control discipline. New theory, new controllers, actuators, sensors, new industrial processes, computer methods, new applications, new philosophies, new challenges. Much of this devel- ment work resides in industrial reports, feasibility study papers and the - ports of advanced collaborative projects. The series o?ers an opportunity for researchersto present an extended exposition of such new work in all aspects of industrial control for wider and rapid dissemination. Autonomy for aerial, land, and marine (surface and underwater) vehicles is an ever-expanding ?eld of industrial control engineering in which there is signi?cant international interest. Currently, there are many prototypes and working autonomous vehicles in all the ?elds of application; however, some areas are better developed than others. Meanwhile in the control conference literature it is possible to see that frontier research has reached the pr- lems of working with groups, convoys or swarms of cooperating autonomous vehicles. The tasks that autonomous mobiles can tackle are very often either h- ardous, or, conversely, routine, wheretheuseofaninsitu humanoperatoristo be avoided, or simply technically (and economically) unnecessary. Typically, such tasks involve inspection, monitoring, and detection. For example, - manned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be used to perform airborne sea searches, inspect long-distance power lines or oil and gas pipelines (particularly those traversing hostile, or hazardous terrain), monitor environmental or meteo- logical variables and survey crop production and forestry resources. This list is by no means exhaustive and UAVs can perform many other valuable tas

The coupling of models from different physical domains and the efficient and reliable simulation of multidisciplinary problems in engineering applications are important topics for various fields of engineering, in simulation technology and in the development and analysis of numerical solvers.

The volume presents advanced modelling and simulation techniques for the dynamical analysis of coupled engineering systems consisting of mechanical, electrical, hydraulic and biological components as well as control devices often based on computer hardware and software. The book starts with some basics in multibody dynamics and in port-based modelling and focuses on the modelling and simulation of heterogeneous systems with special emphasis on robust and efficient numerical solution techniques and on a variety of applied problems including case studies of co-simulation in industrial applications, methods and problems of model based controller design and real-time application.

During its 2004 meeting in Warsaw the General Assembly of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM) decided to support a proposal of the Georgian National Committee to hold in Tbilisi (Georgia), on April 23-27, 2007, the IUTAM Symposium on the Relation of Shell, Plate, Beam, and 3D Models, dedicated to the Centenary of Ilia Vekua. The sci- ti?c organization was entrusted to an international committee consisting of Philipppe G. Ciarlet (Hong Kong), the late Anatoly Gerasimovich Gorshkov (Russia),JornHansen(Canada),GeorgeV.Jaiani(Georgia,Chairman),Re- hold Kienzler (Germany), Herbert A. Mang (Austria), Paolo Podio-Guidugli (Italy), and Gangan Prathap (India). The main topics to be included in the scienti?c programme were c- sen to be: hierarchical, re?ned mathematical and technical models of shells, plates, and beams; relation of 2D and 1D models to 3D linear, non-linear and physical models; junction problems. The main aim of the symposium was to thoroughly discuss the relations of shell, plate, and beam models to the 3D physicalmodels.Inparticular,peculiaritiesofcuspedshells,plates,andbeams were to be emphasized and special attention paid to junction, multibody and ? uid-elastic shell (plate, beam) interaction problems, and their applications. The expected contributions of the invited participants were anticipated to be theoretical, practical, and numerical in character.