Several techniques have been developed in the literature for processing different aspects of the geometry of shapes, for representing and manipulating a shape at different levels of detail, and for describing a shape at a structural level as a concise, part-based, or iconic model. Such techniques are used in many different contexts, such as industrial design, biomedical applications, entertainment, environmental monitoring, or cultural heritage. This book covers a variety of topics related to preserving and enhancing shape information at a geometric level, and to effectively capturing the structure of a shape by identifying relevant shape components and their mutual relationships.

This text presents geometry in an exemplary, accessible and attractive form. The book emphasizes both the intellectually stimulating parts of geometry and routine arguments or computations in concrete or classical cases, as well as practical and physical applications. The book also teaches the student fundamental concepts and the difference between important reults and minor technical routines. Altogether, the text presents a coherent high school curriculum for the geometry course. There are many examples and exercises.

We have tried to design this book for both instructional and reference use, during and after a first course in algebraic topology aimed at users rather than developers; indeed, the book arose from such courses taught by the authors. We start gently, with numerous pictures to illustrate the fundamental ideas and constructions in homotopy theory that are needed in later chapters. A certain amount of redundancy is built in for the reader's convenience: we hope to minimize: fiipping back and forth, and we have provided some appendices for reference. The first three are concerned with background material in algebra, general topology, manifolds, geometry and bundles. Another gives tables of homo topy groups that should prove useful in computations, and the last outlines the use of a computer algebra package for exterior calculus. Our approach has been that whenever a construction from a proof is needed, we have explicitly noted and referenced this. In general, wehavenot given a proof unless it yields something useful for computations. As always, the only way to un derstand mathematics is to do it and use it. To encourage this, Ex denotes either an example or an exercise. The choice is usually up to you the reader, depending on the amount of work you wish to do; however, some are explicitly stated as ( unanswered) questions. In such cases, our implicit claim is that you will greatly benefit from at least thinking about how to answer them."

In this text, integral geometry deals with Radon's problem of representing a function on a manifold in terms of its integrals over certain submanifolds-hence the term the Radon transform. Examples and far-reaching generalizations lead to fundamental problems such as: (i) injectivity, (ii) inversion formulas, (iii) support questions, (iv) applications (e.g., to tomography, partial di erential equations and group representations). For the case of the plane, the inversion theorem and the support theorem have had major applications in medicine through tomography and CAT scanning. While containing some recent research, the book is aimed at beginning graduate students for classroom use or self-study. A number of exercises point to further results with documentation. From the reviews: "Integral Geometry is a fascinating area, where numerous branches of mathematics meet together. the contents of the book is concentrated around the duality and double vibration, which is realized through the masterful treatment of a variety of examples. the book is written by an expert, who has made fundamental contributions to the area." -Boris Rubin, Louisiana State University

Asisknown,theLagrangeandHamiltongeometrieshaveappearedrelatively recently [76, 86]. Since 1980thesegeometrieshave beenintensivelystudied bymathematiciansandphysicistsfromRomania,Canada,Germany,Japan, Russia, Hungary,e.S.A. etc. PrestigiousscientificmeetingsdevotedtoLagrangeandHamiltongeome- tries and their applications have been organized in the above mentioned countries and a number ofbooks and monographs have been published by specialists in the field: R. Miron [94, 95], R. Mironand M. Anastasiei [99, 100], R. Miron, D. Hrimiuc, H. Shimadaand S.Sabau [115], P.L. Antonelli, R. Ingardenand M.Matsumoto [7]. Finslerspaces,whichformasubclassof theclassofLagrangespaces, havebeenthesubjectofsomeexcellentbooks, forexampleby:Yl.Matsumoto[76], M.AbateandG.Patrizio[1],D.Bao,S.S. Chernand Z.Shen [17]andA.BejancuandH.R.Farran [20]. Also, wewould liketopointoutthemonographsofM. Crampin [34], O.Krupkova [72] and D.Opri~,I.Butulescu [125],D.Saunders [144],whichcontainpertinentappli- cationsinanalyticalmechanicsandinthetheoryofpartialdifferentialequa- tions. Applicationsinmechanics, cosmology,theoreticalphysicsandbiology can be found in the well known books ofP.L. Antonelliand T.Zawstaniak [11], G. S. Asanov [14]' S. Ikeda [59], :VI. de LeoneandP.Rodrigues [73]. TheimportanceofLagrangeandHamiltongeometriesconsistsofthefact that variational problems for important Lagrangiansor Hamiltonians have numerous applicationsinvariousfields, such asmathematics, thetheoryof dynamicalsystems, optimalcontrol, biology,andeconomy. Inthisrespect, P.L. Antonelli'sremark isinteresting: "ThereisnowstrongevidencethatthesymplecticgeometryofHamilto- niandynamicalsystemsisdeeplyconnectedtoCartangeometry,thedualof Finslergeometry", (seeV.I.Arnold,I.M.GelfandandV.S.Retach [13]). The above mentioned applications have also imposed the introduction x RaduMiron ofthe notionsofhigherorder Lagrangespacesand, ofcourse, higherorder Hamilton spaces. The base manifolds ofthese spaces are bundles ofaccel- erations ofsuperior order. The methods used in the construction ofthese geometries are the natural extensions ofthe classical methods used in the edification ofLagrange and Hamilton geometries. These methods allow us to solvean old problemofdifferentialgeometryformulated by Bianchiand Bompiani [94]morethan 100yearsago,namelytheproblemofprolongation ofaRiemannianstructure gdefinedonthebasemanifoldM,tothetangent k bundleT M, k> 1. Bymeansofthissolutionofthe previousproblem, we canconstruct, for thefirst time,goodexamplesofregularLagrangiansand Hamiltoniansofhigherorder.

This book presents current research on Ulam stability for functional equations and inequalities. Contributions from renowned scientists emphasize fundamental and new results, methods and techniques. Detailed examples are given to theories to further understanding at the graduate level for students in mathematics, physics, and engineering. Key topics covered in this book include: Quasi means Approximate isometries Functional equations in hypergroups Stability of functional equations Fischer-Muszely equation Haar meager sets and Haar null sets Dynamical systems Functional equations in probability theory Stochastic convex ordering Dhombres functional equation Nonstandard analysis and Ulam stability This book is dedicated in memory of Stanilsaw Marcin Ulam, who posed the fundamental problem concerning approximate homomorphisms of groups in 1940; which has provided the stimulus for studies in the stability of functional equations and inequalities.

The Bia owie a workshops on Geometric Methods in Physics are among the most important meetings in the field. Every year some 80 to 100 participants from both mathematics and physics join to discuss new developments and to interchange ideas. This volume contains contributions by selected speakers at the XXX meeting in 2011 as well as additional review articles and shows that the workshop remains at the cutting edge of ongoing research.

The 2011 workshop focussed on the works of the late Felix A. Berezin (1931 1980) on the occasion of his 80th anniversary as well as on Bogdan Mielnik and Stanis aw Lech Woronowicz on their 75th and 70th birthday, respectively. The groundbreaking work of Berezin is discussed from today s perspective by presenting an overview of his ideas and their impact on further developments. He was, among other fields, active in representation theory, general concepts of quantization and coherent states, supersymmetry and supermanifolds.

Another focus lies on the accomplishments of Bogdan Mielnik and Stanis aw Lech Woronowicz. Mielnik s geometricapproach to the description of quantum mixed states, the method of quantum state manipulation and their important implications for quantum computing and quantum entanglement are discussed as well as the intricacies of the quantum time operator. Woronowicz fruitful notion of a compact quantum group and related topics are also addressed."

This book is the result of many years of research in Non-Euclidean Geometries and Geometry of Lie groups, as well as teaching at Moscow State University (1947- 1949), Azerbaijan State University (Baku) (1950-1955), Kolomna Pedagogical Col lege (1955-1970), Moscow Pedagogical University (1971-1990), and Pennsylvania State University (1990-1995). My first books on Non-Euclidean Geometries and Geometry of Lie groups were written in Russian and published in Moscow: Non-Euclidean Geometries (1955) [Ro1] , Multidimensional Spaces (1966) [Ro2] , and Non-Euclidean Spaces (1969) [Ro3]. In [Ro1] I considered non-Euclidean geometries in the broad sense, as geometry of simple Lie groups, since classical non-Euclidean geometries, hyperbolic and elliptic, are geometries of simple Lie groups of classes Bn and D , and geometries of complex n and quaternionic Hermitian elliptic and hyperbolic spaces are geometries of simple Lie groups of classes An and en. [Ro1] contains an exposition of the geometry of classical real non-Euclidean spaces and their interpretations as hyperspheres with identified antipodal points in Euclidean or pseudo-Euclidean spaces, and in projective and conformal spaces. Numerous interpretations of various spaces different from our usual space allow us, like stereoscopic vision, to see many traits of these spaces absent in the usual space.

The object of this book is to introduce the reader to some of the most important techniques of modern global geometry. It mainly deals with global questions and in particular the interdependence of geometry and topology, global and local. Algebraico-topological techniques are developed in the special context of smooth manifolds. The book discusses the DeRham cohomology and its ramifications: Poincare, duality, intersection theory, degree theory, Thom isomorphism, characteristic classes, Gauss-Bonnet etc. The authors seek to calculate the cohomology groups of as many as possible concrete examples without relying on the apparatus of homotopy theory (CW-complexes etc). Elliptic partial differential equations are also featured, requiring a familiarity with functional analysis. It describes the proofs of elliptic Lp and Holder estimates (assuming some deep results of harmonic analysis) for arbitrary elliptic operators with smooth coefficients. The book closes with alook at a class of elliptic operators, the Dirac operators. It discusses their algebraic structure in some detail, Weizenbock formulae and many concrete examples.

The school, the book This book is based on lectures given by the authors of the various chapters in a three week long CIMPA summer school, held in Sophia-Antipolis (near Nice) in July 1992. The first week was devoted to the basics of symplectic and Riemannian geometry (Banyaga, Audin, Lafontaine, Gauduchon), the second was the technical one (Pansu, Muller, Duval, Lalonde and Sikorav). The final week saw the conclusion ofthe school (mainly McDuffand Polterovich, with complementary lectures by Lafontaine, Audin and Sikorav). Globally, the chapters here reflect what happened there. Locally, we have tried to reorganise some ofthe material to make the book more coherent. Hence, for instance, the collective (Audin, Lalonde, Polterovich) chapter on Lagrangian submanifolds and the appendices added to some of the chapters. Duval was not able to write up his lectures, so that genuine complex analysis will not appear in the book, although it is a very current tool in symplectic and contact geometry (and conversely). Hamiltonian systems and variational methods were the subject of some of Sikorav's talks, which he also was not able to write up. On the other hand, F. Labourie, who could not be at the school, wrote a chapter on pseudo-holomorphic curves in Riemannian geometry.

This volume is the conference proceedings of the NATO ARW during August 2001 at Kananaskis Village, Canada on "New Techniques in Topological Quantum Field Theory." This conference brought together specialists from a number of different fields all related to Topological Quantum Field Theory. The theme of this conference was to attempt to find new methods in quantum topology from the interaction with specialists in these other fields.

The featured articles include papers by V. Vassiliev on combinatorial formulas for cohomology of spaces of Knots, the computation of Ohtsuki series by N. Jacoby and R. Lawrence, and a paper by M. Asaeda and J. Przytycki on the torsion conjecture for Khovanov homology by Shumakovitch. Moreover, there are articles on more classical topics related to manifolds and braid groups by such well known authors as D. Rolfsen, H. Zieschang and F. Cohen.

The Applications of Computer Algebra (ACA) conference covers a wide range of topics from Coding Theory to Differential Algebra to Quantam Computing, focusing on the interactions of these and other areas with the discipline of Computer Algebra. This volume provides the latest developments in the field as well as its applications in various domains, including communications, modelling, and theoretical physics. The book will appeal to researchers and professors of computer algebra, applied mathematics, and computer science, as well as to engineers and computer scientists engaged in research and development.

Written for mathematicians, engineers, and researchers in experimental science, as well as anyone interested in fractals, this book explains the geometrical and analytical properties of trajectories, aggregate contours, geographical coastlines, profiles of rough surfaces, and other curves of finite and fractal length. The approach is by way of precise definitions from which properties are deduced and applications and computational methods are derived. Written without the traditional heavy symbolism of mathematics texts, this book requires two years of calculus while also containing material appropriate for graduate coursework in curve analysis and/or fractal dimension.

This book illustrates the broad range of Jerry Marsden's mathematical legacy in areas of geometry, mechanics, and dynamics, from very pure mathematics to very applied, but always with a geometric perspective. Each contribution develops its material from the viewpoint of geometric mechanics beginning at the very foundations, introducing readers to modern issues via illustrations in a wide range of topics. The twenty refereed papers contained in this volume are based on lectures and research performed during the month of July 2012 at the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences, in a program in honor of Marsden's legacy. The unified treatment of the wide breadth of topics treated in this book will be of interest to both experts and novices in geometric mechanics. Experts will recognize applications of their own familiar concepts and methods in a wide variety of fields, some of which they may never have approached from a geometric viewpoint. Novices may choose topics that interest them among the various fields and learn about geometric approaches and perspectives toward those topics that will be new for them as well.

This book offers an advanced course on "Computational Geometry for Ships". It takes into account the recent rapid progress in this field by adapting modern computational methodology to ship geometric applications. Preliminary curve and surface techniques are included to educate engineers in the use of mathematical methods to assist in CAD and other design areas. In addition, there is a comprehensive study of interpolation and approximation techniques, which is reinforced by direct application to ship curve design, ship curve fairing techniques and other related disciplines. The design, evaluation and production of ship surface geometries are further demonstrated by including current and evolving CAD modelling systems.

This volume, dedicated to the eminent mathematician Vladimir Arnold, presents a collection of research and survey papers written on a large spectrum of theories and problems that have been studied or introduced by Arnold himself. Emphasis is given to topics relating to dynamical systems, stability of integrable systems, algebraic and differential topology, global analysis, singularity theory and classical mechanics. A number of applications of Arnold's groundbreaking work are presented. This publication will assist graduate students and research mathematicians in acquiring an in-depth understanding and insight into a wide domain of research of an interdisciplinary nature.

This volume brings together recent, original research and survey articles by leading experts in several fields that include singularity theory, algebraic geometry and commutative algebra. The motivation for this collection comes from the wide-ranging research of the distinguished mathematician, Antonio Campillo, in these and related fields. Besides his influence in the mathematical community stemming from his research, Campillo has also endeavored to promote mathematics and mathematicians' networking everywhere, especially in Spain, Latin America and Europe. Because of his impressive achievements throughout his career, we dedicate this book to Campillo in honor of his 65th birthday. Researchers and students from the world-wide, and in particular Latin American and European, communities in singularities, algebraic geometry, commutative algebra, coding theory, and other fields covered in the volume, will have interest in this book.

This up-to-date monograph, providing an up-to-date overview of the field of Hepatitis Prevention and Treatment, includes contributions from internationally recognized experts on viral hepatitis, and covers the current state of knowledge and practice regarding the molecular biology, immunology, biochemistry, pharmacology and clinical aspects of chronic HBV and HCV infection. The book provides the latest information, with sufficient background and discussion of the literature to benefit the newcomer to the field.

A new combinatorial foundation of the two concepts, based on a consideration of deep and classical results of homotopy theory, and an axiomatic characterization of the assumptions under which results in this field hold. Includes numerous explicit examples and applications in various fields of topology and algebra.

This book focuses on complex geometry and covers highly active topics centered around geometric problems in several complex variables and complex dynamics, written by some of the world's leading experts in their respective fields. This book features research and expository contributions from the 2013 Abel Symposium, held at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim on July 2-5, 2013. The purpose of the symposium was to present the state of the art on the topics, and to discuss future research directions.

This volume presents a selection of papers by Henry P. McKean, which illustrate the various areas in mathematics in which he has made seminal contributions. Topics covered include probability theory, integrable systems, geometry and financial mathematics. Each paper represents a contribution by Prof. McKean, either alone or together with other researchers, that has had a profound influence in the respective area.

Like any books on a subject as vast as this, this book has to have a point-of-view to guide the selection of topics. Naber takes the view that the rekindled interest that mathematics and physics have shown in each other of late should be fostered, and that this is best accomplished by allowing them to cohabit. The book weaves together rudimentary notions from the classical gauge theory of physics with the topological and geometrical concepts that became the mathematical models of these notions. The reader is asked to join the author on some vague notion of what an electromagnetic field might be, to be willing to accept a few of the more elementary pronouncements of quantum mechanics, and to have a solid background in real analysis and linear algebra and some of the vocabulary of modern algebra. In return, the book offers an excursion that begins with the definition of a topological space and finds its way eventually to the moduli space of anti-self-dual SU(2) connections on S4 with instanton number -1.

During the last couple of years, fractals have been shown to represent the common aspects of many complex processes occurring in an unusually diverse range of fields including biology, chemistry, earth sciences, physics and technology. Using fractal geometry as a language, it has become possible to get a deeper insight into previously intractable problems. Among many others, a better understanding of growth phenomena, turbulence, iteractive functions, colloidal aggregation, biological pattern formation and inhomogenous materials has emerged through the application of such concepts as scale invariance, self-affinity and multifractality.This volume contains a selection of high quality papers that discuss the latest developments in the research of fractals. It is divided into 5 sections and contains altogether 64 papers. Each paper is written by a well known author or authors in the field. Beginning each section is a short introduction, written by a prominent author, which gives a brief overview of the topics discussed in the respective sections.

An impressive collection of original research papers in discrete and computational geometry, contributed by many leading researchers in these fields, as a tribute to Jacob E. Goodman and Richard Pollack, two of the ‘founding fathers’ of the area, on the occasion of their 2/3 x 100 birthdays. The topics covered by the 41 papers provide professionals and graduate students with a comprehensive presentation of the state of the art in most aspects of discrete and computational geometry, including geometric algorithms, study of arrangements, geometric graph theory, quantitative and algorithmic real algebraic geometry, with important connections to algebraic geometry, convexity, polyhedral combinatorics, the theory of packing, covering, and tiling. The book serves as an invaluable source of reference in this discipline.