This book focuses on a selection of special topics, with emphasis on past and present research of the authors on "canonical" Riemannian metrics on smooth manifolds. On the backdrop of the fundamental contributions given by many experts in the field, the volume offers a self-contained view of the wide class of "Curvature Conditions" and "Critical Metrics" of suitable Riemannian functionals. The authors describe the classical examples and the relevant generalizations. This monograph is the winner of the 2020 Ferran Sunyer i Balaguer Prize, a prestigious award for books of expository nature presenting the latest developments in an active area of research in mathematics.

Considering that the motion of strings with finitely many masses on them is described by difference equations, this book presents the spectral theory of such problems on finite graphs of strings. The direct problem of finding the eigenvalues as well as the inverse problem of finding strings with a prescribed spectrum are considered. This monograph gives a comprehensive and self-contained account on the subject, thereby also generalizing known results. The interplay between the representation of rational functions and their zeros and poles is at the center of the methods used. The book also unravels connections between finite dimensional and infinite dimensional spectral problems on graphs, and between self-adjoint and non-self-adjoint finite-dimensional problems. This book is addressed to researchers in spectral theory of differential and difference equations as well as physicists and engineers who may apply the presented results and methods to their research.

Structural Equation Modeling provides a conceptual and mathematical understanding of structural equation modelling, helping readers across disciplines understand how to test or validate theoretical models, and build relationships between observed variables. In addition to a providing a background understanding of the concepts, it provides step-by-step illustrative applications with AMOS, SPSS and R software programmes. This volume will serve as a useful reference for academic and industry researchers in the fields of engineering, management, psychology, sociology, human resources, and humanities.

This book is an introduction to the geometry of complex algebraic varieties. It is intended for students who have learned algebra, analysis, and topology, as taught in standard undergraduate courses. So it is a suitable text for a beginning graduate course or an advanced undergraduate course. The book begins with a study of plane algebraic curves, then introduces affine and projective varieties, going on to dimension and construcibility. $\mathcal{O}$-modules (quasicoherent sheaves) are defined without reference to sheaf theory, and their cohomology is defined axiomatically. The Riemann-Roch Theorem for curves is proved using projection to the projective line. Some of the points that aren't always treated in beginning courses are Hensel's Lemma, Chevalley's Finiteness Theorem, and the Birkhoff-Grothendieck Theorem. The book contains extensive discussions of finite group actions, lines in $\mathbb{P}^3$, and double planes, and it ends with applications of the Riemann-Roch Theorem.

This book examines the current state of the field of mathematics pre-service teacher education through the theme of borders. Borders are ubiquitous; they can be used to define, classify, organize, make sense of, and/or group. There are many ways that the concept of a border illuminates the field of mathematics pre-service teacher education. Consequently, there are a multitude of responses to these borders: researchers and practitioners question, challenge, cross, blur, and erase them. Chapters include the following topics: explorations of mathematics across topics (e.g., geometry, algebra, probability) and with other disciplines (e.g., science, the arts, social sciences); challenging gender, cultural, and racial borders; exploring the structure and curriculum of teacher education programs; spaces inhabited by teacher education programs (e.g., university, community); and international collaborations and programs to promote cross-cultural sharing and learning. The book targets a readership of researchers and graduate students in integrated education studies, teacher education, practitioners of mathematics education, curriculum developers, and educational administrators and policy makers.

This book gathers contributions from the 15th ICOLD Benchmark Workshop on Numerical Analysis of Dams. The workshop provided an opportunity for engineers, researchers and operators to present and exchange their experiences and the latest advances in numerical modelling in the context of the design, performance and monitoring of dams. Covering various aspects of computer analysis tools and safety assessment criteria, and their development over recent decades, the book is a valuable reference resource for those in the engineering community involved in the safety, planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance of dams.

This book presents the theory and methods of flexible and generalized uncertainty optimization. Particularly, it describes the theory of generalized uncertainty in the context of optimization modeling. The book starts with an overview of flexible and generalized uncertainty optimization. It covers uncertainties that are both associated with lack of information and are more general than stochastic theory, where well-defined distributions are assumed. Starting from families of distributions that are enclosed by upper and lower functions, the book presents construction methods for obtaining flexible and generalized uncertainty input data that can be used in a flexible and generalized uncertainty optimization model. It then describes the development of the associated optimization model in detail. Written for graduate students and professionals in the broad field of optimization and operations research, this second edition has been revised and extended to include more worked examples and a section on interval multi-objective mini-max regret theory along with its solution method.

This book provides the main results and ideas in the theories of completely bounded maps, operator spaces, and operator algebras, along with some of their main applications. It requires only a basic background in functional analysis to read through the book. The descriptions and discussions of the topics are self-explained. It is appropriate for graduate students new to the subject and the field. The book starts with the basic representation theorems for abstract operator spaces and their mappings, followed by a discussion of tensor products and the analogue of Grothendieck's approximation property. Next, the operator space analogues of the nuclear, integral, and absolutely summing mappings are discussed. In what is perhaps the deepest part of the book, the authors present the remarkable ""non-classical"" phenomena that occur when one considers local reflexivity and exactness for operator spaces. This is an area of great beauty and depth, and it represents one of the triumphs of the subject. In the final part of the book, the authors consider applications to non-commutative harmonic analysis and non-self-adjoint operator algebra theory. Operator space theory provides a synthesis of Banach space theory with the non-commuting variables of operator algebra theory, and it has led to exciting new approaches in both disciplines. This book is an indispensable introduction to the theory of operator spaces.

This new handbook contains the most comprehensive account of sample surveys theory and practice to date. It is a second volume on sample surveys, with the goal of updating and extending the sampling volume published as volume 6 of the Handbook of Statistics in 1988. The present handbook is divided into two volumes (29A and 29B), with a total of 41 chapters, covering current developments in almost every aspect of sample surveys, with references to important contributions and available software. It can serve as a self contained guide to researchers and practitioners, with appropriate balance between theory and real life applications.

Each of the two volumes is divided into three parts, with each part preceded by an introduction, summarizing the main developments in the areas covered in that part. Volume29A deals with methods of sample selection and data processing, with the later including editing and imputation, handling of outliers and measurement errors, and methods of disclosure control. The volume contains also a large variety of applications in specialized areas such as household and business surveys, marketing research, opinion polls and censuses. Volume29B is concerned with inference, distinguishing between design-based and model-based methods and focusing on specific problems such as small area estimation, analysis of longitudinal data, categorical data analysis and inference on distribution functions. The volume contains also chapters dealing with case-control studies, asymptotic properties of estimators and decision theoretic aspects.
Comprehensive account of recent developments in sample survey theory and practiceDiscussesa wide variety of diverse applicationsComprehensive bibliography"

This new handbook contains the most comprehensive account of sample surveys theory and practice to date. It is a second volume on sample surveys, with the goal of updating and extending the sampling volume published as volume 6 of the Handbook of Statistics in 1988. The present handbook is divided into two volumes (29A and 29B), with a total of 41 chapters, covering current developments in almost every aspect of sample surveys, with references to important contributions and available software. It can serve as a self contained guide to researchers and practitioners, with appropriate balance between theory and real life applications.

Each of the two volumes is divided into three parts, with each part preceded by an introduction, summarizing the main developments in the areas covered in that part. Volume 1 deals with methods of sample selection and data processing, with the later including editing and imputation, handling of outliers and measurement errors, and methods of disclosure control. The volume contains also a large variety of applications in specialized areas such as household and business surveys, marketing research, opinion polls and censuses. Volume 2 is concerned with inference, distinguishing between design-based and model-based methods and focusing on specific problems such as small area estimation, analysis of longitudinal data, categorical data analysis and inference on distribution functions. The volume contains also chapters dealing with case-control studies, asymptotic properties of estimators and decision theoretic aspects.

Comprehensive account of recent developments in sample survey theory and practice

Covers a wide variety of diverse applications

Comprehensive bibliography

This thesis focuses on experimental studies on collective motion using swimming bacteria as model active-matter systems. It offers comprehensive reviews of state-of-the-art theories and experiments on collective motion from the viewpoint of nonequilibrium statistical physics. The author presents his experimental studies on two major classes of collective motion that had been well studied theoretically. Firstly, swimming filamentous bacteria in a thin fluid layer are shown to exhibit true, long-range orientational order and anomalously strong giant density fluctuations, which are considered universal and landmark signatures of collective motion by many numerical and theoretical works but have never been observed in real systems. Secondly, chaotic bacterial turbulence in a three-dimensional dense suspension without any long-range order as described in the first half is demonstrated to be capable of achieving antiferromagnetic vortex order by imposing a small number of constraints with appropriate periodicity. The experimental results presented significantly advance our fundamental understanding of order and fluctuations in collective motion of motile elements and their future applications.

This book explores the impact of nonlinearity on a broad range of areas, including time-honored fields such as biology, geometry, and topology, but also modern ones such as quantum mechanics, networks, metamaterials and artificial intelligence. The concept of nonlinearity is a universal feature in mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology, and is used to characterize systems whose behavior does not amount to a superposition of simple building blocks, but rather features complex and often chaotic patterns and phenomena. Each chapter of the book features a synopsis that not only recaps the recent progress in each field but also charts the challenges that lie ahead. This interdisciplinary book presents contributions from a diverse group of experts from various fields to provide an overview of each field's past, present and future. It will appeal to both beginners and seasoned researchers in nonlinear science, numerous areas of physics (optics, quantum physics, biophysics), and applied mathematics (ODEs, PDEs, dynamical systems, machine learning) as well as engineering.

Since its inception, fuzzy logic has attracted an incredible amount of interest, and this interest continues to grow at an exponential rate. As such, scientists, researchers, educators and practitioners of fuzzy logic continue to expand on the applicability of what and how fuzzy can be utilised in the real-world. In this book, the authors present key application areas where fuzzy has had significant success. The chapters cover a plethora of application domains, proving credence to the versatility and robustness of a fuzzy approach. A better understanding of fuzzy will ultimately allow for a better appreciation of fuzzy. This book provides the reader with a varied range of examples to illustrate what fuzzy logic can be capable of and how it can be applied. The text will be ideal for individuals new to the notion of fuzzy, as well as for early career academics who wish to further expand on their knowledge of fuzzy applications. The book is also suitable as a supporting text for advanced undergraduate and graduate-level modules on fuzzy logic, soft computing, and applications of AI.

This book provides a practical guide to the analysis of data from randomized controlled trials (RCT). It gives an answer to the question of how to estimate the intervention effect in an appropriate way. This problem is examined for different RCT designs, such as RCTs with one follow-up measurement, RCTs with more than one follow-up measurement, cluster RCTs, cross-over trials, stepped wedge trials, and N-of-1 trials. The statistical methods are explained in a non-mathematical way and are illustrated by extensive examples. All datasets used in the book are available for download, so readers can reanalyse the examples to gain a better understanding of the methods used. Although most examples are taken from epidemiological and clinical studies, this book is also highly recommended for researchers working in other fields.

This volume combines an introduction to central collineations with an introduction to projective geometry, set in its historical context and aiming to provide the reader with a general history through the middle of the nineteenth century. Topics covered include but are not limited to: The Projective Plane and Central Collineations The Geometry of Euclid's Elements Conic Sections in Early Modern Europe Applications of Conics in History With rare exception, the only prior knowledge required is a background in high school geometry. As a proof-based treatment, this monograph will be of interest to those who enjoy logical thinking, and could also be used in a geometry course that emphasizes projective geometry.

This book commemorates the 75th birthday of Prof. George Jaiani - Georgia's leading expert on shell theory. He is also well known outside Georgia for his individual approach to shell theory research and as an organizer of meetings, conferences and schools in the field. The collection of papers presented includes articles by scientists from various countries discussing the state of the art and new trends in the theory of shells, plates, and beams. Chapter 20 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This handbook is focused on the analytical dimension in researching international entrepreneurship. It offers a diverse collection of chapters focused on qualitative and quantitative methods that are being practised and can be used by future researchers in the field of international entrepreneurship. The qualitative cluster covers articles, conceptual and empirical chapters as well as literature reviews, whereas the quantitative cluster analyses international entrepreneurship through a broad range of statistical methods such as regressions, panel data, structural equation modelling as well as decision-making and optimisation models in certain and uncertain circumstances. This book is essential reading for researchers, scholars and practitioners who want to learn and implement new methods in analysing entrepreneurial opportunities across national borders.

The objective of this book is to look at certain commutative graded algebras that appear frequently in algebraic geometry. By studying classical constructions from geometry from the point of view of modern commutative algebra, this carefully-written book is a valuable source of information, offering a careful algebraic systematization and treatment of the problems at hand, and contributing to the study of the original geometric questions. In greater detail, the material covers aspects of rational maps (graph, degree, birationality, specialization, combinatorics), Cremona transformations, polar maps, Gauss maps, the geometry of Fitting ideals, tangent varieties, joins and secants, Aluffi algebras. The book includes sections of exercises to help put in practice the theoretic material instead of the mere complementary additions to the theory.