This book provides a detailed introduction to maintenance policies and the current and future research in these fields, highlighting mathematical formulation and optimization techniques. It comprehensively describes the state of art in maintenance modelling and optimization for single- and multi-unit technical systems, and also investigates the problem of the estimation process of delay-time parameters and how this affects system performance. The book discusses delay-time modelling for multi-unit technical systems in various reliability structures, examining the optimum maintenance policies both analytically and practically, focusing on a delay-time modelling technique that has been employed by researchers in the field of maintenance engineering to model inspection intervals. It organizes the existing work into several fields, based mainly on the classification of single- and multi-unit models and assesses the applicability of the reviewed works and maintenance models. Lastly, it identifies potential future research directions and suggests research agendas. This book is a valuable resource for maintenance engineers, reliability specialists, and researchers, as it demonstrates the latest developments in maintenance, inspection and delay-time-based maintenance modelling issues. It is also of interest to graduate and senior undergraduate students, as it introduces current theory and practice in maintenance modelling issues, especially in the field of delay-time modelling.

This book introduces the fundamental concepts, methods, and applications of Hausdorff calculus, with a focus on its applications in fractal systems. Topics such as the Hausdorff diffusion equation, Hausdorff radial basis function, Hausdorff derivative nonlinear systems, PDE modeling, statistics on fractals, etc. are discussed in detail. It is an essential reference for researchers in mathematics, physics, geomechanics, and mechanics.

This book investigates a wide range of phase equilibrium modelling and calculation problems for compositional thermal simulation. Further, it provides an effective solution for multiphase isenthalpic flash under the classical framework, and it also presents a new flash calculation framework for multiphase systems, which can handle phase equilibrium and chemical reaction equilibrium simultaneously. The framework is particularly suitable for systems with many phases and reactions. In this book, the author shows how the new framework can be generalised for different flash specifications and different independent variables. Since the flash calculation is at the heart of various types of compositional simulation, the findings presented here will promote the combination of phase equilibrium and chemical equilibrium calculations in future simulators, aiming at improving their robustness and efficiency.

This book comprehensively covers the important efforts in improving the quality of images in visual cryptography (VC), with a focus on cases with gray scale images. It not only covers schemes in traditional VC and extended VC for binary secret images, but also the latest development in the analysis-by-synthesis approach. This book distinguishes itself from the existing literature in three ways. First, it not only reviews traditional VC for binary secret images, but also covers recent efforts in improving visual quality for gray scale secret images. Second, not only traditional quality measures are reviewed, but also measures that were not used for measuring perceptual quality of decrypted secret images, such as Radially Averaged Power Spectrum Density (RAPSD) and residual variance, are employed for evaluating and guiding the design of VC algorithms. Third, unlike most VC books following a mathematical formal style, this book tries to make a balance between engineering intuition and mathematical reasoning. All the targeted problems and corresponding solutions are fully motivated by practical applications and evaluated by experimental tests, while important security issues are presented as mathematical proof. Furthermore, important algorithms are summarized as pseudocodes, thus enabling the readers to reproduce the results in the book. Therefore, this book serves as a tutorial for readers with an engineering background as well as for experts in related areas to understand the basics and research frontiers in visual cryptography.

Blockchain Technology: Platforms, Tools and Use Cases, Volume 111, the latest release in the Advances in Computers series published since 1960, presents detailed coverage of innovations in computer hardware, software, theory, design and applications. In addition, it provides contributors with a medium in which they can explore their subjects in greater depth and breadth than journal articles usually allow. This volume has 8 Chapters that discuss the various aspects of Blockchain technology.

The Generator Coordinate Method (GCM) is a mathematical tool for the understanding of stable atomic nuclei. Electronic, Atomic and Molecular Calculations is designed to assist scientists applying GCM in the analysis of the electronic structure of atoms and molecules. There have been numerous publications covering nuclear physics and electronic structure of atoms and molecules, but this book is unique in the sense that it specifically addresses the application of GCM for such purposes. Using this book, researchers will be able to understand and calculate the electronic structure in a novel manner.
* Only book that covers the Generator Coordinate Method and applications for atoms, molecules and nuclei
* Clearly describes how the GCM can be used as a powerful tool for design of atomic basis sets
* Reviews current literature on GCM in atomic and molecular fields and a large part of the literature of the method in nuclear physics

Reliability is one of the fundamental criteria in engineering systems. Design and maintenance serve to support it throughout the systems life. As such, maintenance acts in parallel to production and can have a great impact on the availability and capacity of production and the quality of the products. The authors describe current and innovative methods useful to industry and society.

Modern Applications of Graph Theory discusses many cutting-edge applications of graph theory, such as traffic networks, navigable networks and optimal routing for emergency response, placement of electric vehicle charging stations, and graph-theoretic methods in molecular epidemiology. Due to the rapid growth of research in this field, the focus of the book is on the up-to-date development of these applications and the mathematical methods used to tackle them. Ideal for researchers, engineers, transport planners and emergency response specialists who are interested in graph theory applications, Modern Applications of Graph Theory can also be used as teaching material. In addition to up-to-date descriptions of the applications, it includes extensive exercises and their solutions, mimicking practical, real-life situations. Furthermore, there is an introductory chapter, which provides an overview of basic applications and algorithms of graph theory. The book includes over 120 illustrations and tables.

The maturity of BEM over the last few decades has resulted in a substantial number of industrial applications of the method; this demonstrates its accuracy, robustness and ease of use. The range of applications still needs to be widened, taking into account the potentialities of the Mesh Reduction techniques in general. Theoretical developments and new formulations have been reported over the last few decades, helping to expand the range of boundary elements and other mesh reduction methods (BEM/MRM) applications as well as the type of modelled materials in response to the requirements of contemporary industrial and professional environments. As design, analysis and manufacture become more integrated, the chances are that software users will be less aware of the capabilities of the analytical techniques that are at the core of the process. This reinforces the need to retain expertise in certain specialised areas of numerical methods, such as BEM/MRM, to ensure that all new tools perform satisfactorily within the aforementioned integrated process. The papers included were presented at the 44th International Conference on Boundary Elements and other Mesh Reduction Methods and report advances in techniques that reduce or eliminate the type of meshes associated with finite elements or finite differences.

The book provides the reader with the different types of functional equations that s/he can find in practice, showing, step by step, how they can be solved.
A general methodology for solving functional equations is provided in Chapter 2. The different types of functional equations are described and solved in Chapters 3 to 8. Many examples, coming from different fields, as geometry, science, engineering, economics, probability, statistics, etc, help the reader to change his/her mind in order to state problems as functional equations as an alternative to differential equations, and to state new problems in terms of functional equations or systems.
An interesting feature of the book is that it deals with functional networks, a powerful generalization of neural networks that allows solving many practical problems. The second part of the book, Chapters 9 to 13, is devoted to the applications of this important paradigm.
The book contains many examples and end of chapter exercises, that facilitates the understanding of the concepts and applications.
- A general methodology for solving functional equations is provided in Chapter 2.
- It deals with functional networks, a powerful generalization of neural networks.
- Many examples, coming from different fields, as geometry, science, engineering, economics, probability, statistics, etc, illustrate the concept of functional equation.
- Functional equations are presented as a powerful alternative to differential equations.
- The book contains end of chapter exercises.

This book provides the reader with a gentle path through the multifaceted theory of vector fields, starting from the definitions and the basic properties of vector fields and flows, and ending with some of their countless applications, in the framework of what is nowadays called Geometrical Analysis. Once the background material is established, the applications mainly deal with the following meaningful settings:

This book aims to bring together researchers and practitioners working across domains and research disciplines to measure, model, and visualize complex networks. It collects the works presented at the 9th International Conference on Complex Networks (CompleNet) in Boston, MA, March, 2018. With roots in physical, information and social science, the study of complex networks provides a formal set of mathematical methods, computational tools and theories to describe, prescribe and predict dynamics and behaviors of complex systems. Despite their diversity, whether the systems are made up of physical, technological, informational, or social networks, they share many common organizing principles and thus can be studied with similar approaches. This book provides a view of the state-of-the-art in this dynamic field and covers topics such as group decision-making, brain and cellular connectivity, network controllability and resiliency, online activism, recommendation systems, and cyber security.

The geometry of power exponents includes the Newton polyhedron, normal cones of its faces, power and logarithmic transformations. On the basis of the geometry universal algorithms for simplifications of systems of nonlinear equations (algebraic, ordinary differential and partial differential) were developed.
The algorithms form a new calculus which allows to make local and asymptotical analysis of solutions to those systems.
The efficiency of the calculus is demonstrated with regard to several complicated problems from Robotics, Celestial Mechanics, Hydrodynamics and Thermodynamics. The calculus also gives classical results obtained earlier intuitively and is an alternative to Algebraic Geometry, Differential Algebra, Lie group Analysis and Nonstandard Analysis.

This is the third volume in a three-part series that uses art photography as a point of departure for learning about physics, while also using physics to ask fundamental questions about the nature of photography as an art.

This book contains thirty-five selected papers presented at the International Conference on Evolutionary and Deterministic Methods for Design, Optimization and Control with Applications to Industrial and Societal Problems (EUROGEN 2017). This was one of the Thematic Conferences of the European Community on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences (ECCOMAS). Topics treated in the various chapters reflect the state of the art in theoretical and numerical methods and tools for optimization, and engineering design and societal applications. The volume focuses particularly on intelligent systems for multidisciplinary design optimization (mdo) problems based on multi-hybridized software, adjoint-based and one-shot methods, uncertainty quantification and optimization, multidisciplinary design optimization, applications of game theory to industrial optimization problems, applications in structural and civil engineering optimum design and surrogate models based optimization methods in aerodynamic design.

This book addresses problems in three main developments in modern condensed matter physics- namely topological superconductivity, many-body localization and strongly interacting condensates/superfluids-by employing fruitful analogies from classical mechanics. This strategy has led to tangible results, firstly in superconducting nanowires: the density of states, a smoking gun for the long sought Majorana zero mode is calculated effortlessly by mapping the problem to a textbook-level classical point particle problem. Secondly, in localization theory even the simplest toy models that exhibit many-body localization are mathematically cumbersome and results rely on simulations that are limited by computational power. In this book an alternative viewpoint is developed by describing many-body localization in terms of quantum rotors that have incommensurate rotation frequencies, an exactly solvable system. Finally, the fluctuations in a strongly interacting Bose condensate and superfluid, a notoriously difficult system to analyze from first principles, are shown to mimic stochastic fluctuations of space-time due to quantum fields. This analogy not only allows for the computation of physical properties of the fluctuations in an elegant way, it sheds light on the nature of space-time. The book will be a valuable contribution for its unifying style that illuminates conceptually challenging developments in condensed matter physics and its use of elegant mathematical models in addition to producing new and concrete results.

The main reason I write this book was just to fullfil my long time dream to be able to tutor students. Most students do not bring their text books at home from school. This makes it difficult to help them. This book may help such students as this can be used as a reference in understanding Algebra and Geometry.

Inverse Problems are found in many areas of engineering mechanics and there are many successful applications e.g. in non-destructive testing and characterization of material properties by ultrasonic or X-ray techniques, thermography, etc. Generally speaking, inverse problems are concerned with the determination of the input and the characteristics of a system, given certain aspects of its output. Mathematically, such problems are ill-posed and have to be overcome through development of new computational schemes, regularization techniques, objective functionals, and experimental procedures.
This volume contains a selection of peer-reviewed papers presented at the International Symposium on Inverse Problems in Engineering Mechanics (ISIP2001), held in February of 2001 in Nagano, Japan, where recent development in inverse problems in engineering mechanics and related topics were discussed.
The following general areas in inverse problems in engineering mechanics were the subjects of the ISIP2001: mathematical and computational aspects of inverse problems, parameter or system identification, shape determination, sensitivity analysis, optimization, material property characterization, ultrasonic non-destructive testing, elastodynamic inverse problems, thermal inverse problems, and other engineering applications. These papers can provide a state-of-the-art review of the research on inverse problems in engineering mechanics.

Most mathematicians, engineers, and many other scientists are well-acquainted with theory and application of ordinary differential equations. This book seeks to present Volterra integral and functional differential equations in that same framwork, allowing the readers to parlay their knowledge of ordinary differential equations into theory and application of the more general problems. Thus, the presentation starts slowly with very familiar concepts and shows how these are generalized in a natural way to problems involving a memory. Liapunov's direct method is gently introduced and applied to many particular examples in ordinary differential equations, Volterra integro-differential equations, and functional differential equations.

By Chapter 7 the momentum has built until we are looking at problems on the frontier. Chapter 7 is entirely new, dealing with fundamental problems of the resolvent, Floquet theory, and total stability. Chapter 8 presents a solid foundation for the theory of functional differential equations. Many recent results on stability and periodic solutions of functional differential equations are given and unsolved problems are stated.

Key Features:

- Smooth transition from ordinary differential equations to integral and functional differential equations.
- Unification of the theories, methods, and applications of ordinary and functional differential equations.
- Large collection of examples of Liapunov functions.
- Description of the history of stability theory leading up to unsolved problems.
- Applications of the resolvent to stability and periodic problems.
1. Smooth transition from ordinary differential equations to integral and functional differential equations.
2. Unification of the theories, methods, and applications of ordinary and functional differential equations.
3. Large collection of examples of Liapunov functions.
4. Description of the history of stability theory leading up to unsolved problems.
5. Applications of the resolvent to stability and periodic problems.