Critical phenomena arise in a wide variety of physical systems. Classi cal examples are the liquid-vapour critical point or the paramagnetic ferromagnetic transition. Further examples include multicomponent fluids and alloys, superfluids, superconductors, polymers and fully developed tur bulence and may even extend to the quark-gluon plasma and the early uni verse as a whole. Early theoretical investigators tried to reduce the problem to a very small number of degrees of freedom, such as the van der Waals equation and mean field approximations, culminating in Landau's general theory of critical phenomena. Nowadays, it is understood that the common ground for all these phenomena lies in the presence of strong fluctuations of infinitely many coupled variables. This was made explicit first through the exact solution of the two-dimensional Ising model by Onsager. Systematic subsequent developments have been leading to the scaling theories of critical phenomena and the renormalization group which allow a precise description of the close neighborhood of the critical point, often in good agreement with experiments. In contrast to the general understanding a century ago, the presence of fluctuations on all length scales at a critical point is emphasized today. This can be briefly summarized by saying that at a critical point a system is scale invariant. In addition, conformal invaTiance permits also a non-uniform, local rescal ing, provided only that angles remain unchanged."

The simulation of technological and environmental flows is very important for many industrial developments. A major challenge related to their modeling is to involve the characteristic turbulence that appears in most of these flows. The traditional way to tackle this question is to use deterministic equations where the effects of turbulence are directly parametrized, i. e. , assumed as functions of the variables considered. However, this approach often becomes problematic, in particular if reacting flows have to be simulated. In many cases, it turns out that appropriate approximations for the closure of deterministic equations are simply unavailable. The alternative to the traditional way of modeling turbulence is to construct stochastic models which explain the random nature of turbulence. The application of such models is very attractive: one can overcome the closure problems that are inherent to deterministic methods on the basis of relatively simple and physically consistent models. Thus, from a general point of view, the use of stochastic methods for turbulence simulations seems to be the optimal way to solve most of the problems related to industrial flow simulations. However, it turns out that this is not as simple as it looks at first glance. The first question concerns the numerical solution of stochastic equations for flows of environmental and technological interest. To calculate industrial flows, 3 one often has to consider a number of grid cells that is of the order of 100 .

Selected modern aspects of artificially layered structures and bulk materials involving antiferromagnetic long-range order are the main themes of this book. Special emphasis is laid on the prototypical behavior of Ising-type model systems. They play a crucial role in the field of statistical physics and, in addition, contribute to the basic understanding of the exchange bias phenomenon in MBE-grown magnetic heterosystems. Throughout the book, particular attention is given to the interplay between experimental results and their theoretical description, ranging from the famous Lee-Yang theory of phase transitions to novel mechanisms of exchange bias.

The application to Biology of the methodologies developed in Physics is attracting an increasing interest from the scientific community. It has led to the emergence of a new interdisciplinary field, called Physical Biology, with the aim of reaching a better understanding of the biological mechanisms at molecular and cellular levels. Statistical Mechanics in particular plays an important role in the development of this new field.

For this reason, the XXth session of the famous Sitges Conference on Statistical Physics was dedicated to "Physical Biology: from Molecular Interactions to Cellular Behavior." As is by now tradition, a number of lectures were subsequently selected, expanded and updated for publication as lecture notes, so as to provide both a state-of-the-art introduction and overview to a number of subjects of broader interest and to favor the interchange and cross-fertilization of ideas between biologists and physicists.

The present volume focuses on three main subtopics (biological water, protein solutions as well as transport and replication), presenting for each of them the on-going debates on recent results. The role of water in biological processes, the mechanisms of protein folding, the phases and cooperative effects in biological solutions, the thermodynamic description of replication, transport and neural activity, all are subjects that are revised in this volume, based on new experiments and new theoretical interpretations.

Using simple models this book shows how we can gain insights into the behavior of complex systems. It is devoted to the discussion of functional self-organization in large populations of interacting active elements. The authors have chosen a series of models from physics, biochemistry, biology, sociology and economics, and systematically discuss their general properties. The book addresses researchers and graduate students in a variety of disciplines.

The three well known revolutions of the past centuries - the Copernican, the Darwinian and the Freudian - each in their own way had a deflating and mechanizing effect on the position of humans in nature. They opened up a richness of disillusion: earth acquired a more modest place in the universe, the human body and mind became products of a long material evolutionary history, and human reason, instead of being the central, immaterial, locus of understanding, was admitted into the theater of discourse only as a materialized and frequently out-of-control actor. Is there something objectionable to this picture? Formulated as such, probably not. Why should we resist the idea that we are in certain ways, and to some degree, physically, biologically or psychically determined? Why refuse to acknowledge the fact that we are materially situated in an ever evolving world? Why deny that the ways of inscription (traces of past events and processes) are co-determinative of further "evolutionary pathways"? Why minimize the idea that each intervention, of each natural being, is temporally and materially situated, and has, as such, the inevitable consequence of changing the world? The point is, however, that there are many, more or less radically different, ways to consider the "mechanization" of man and nature. There are, in particular, many ways to get the message of "material and evolutionary determination," as well as many levels at which this determination can be thought of as relevant or irrelevant.

Human-Like Biomechanics is a comprehensive introduction into modern geometrical methods to be used as a unified research approach in two apparently separate and rapidly growing fields: mathematical biomechanics and humanoid robotics. The term human-like biomechanics is used to denote this unified modelling and control approach to humanoid robotics and mathematical biomechanics, based on theoretical mechanics, differential geometry and topology, nonlinear dynamics and control, and path-integral methods. From this geometry-mechanics-control modelling perspective, "human" and "humanoid" means the same. This unified approach enables both design of humanoid systems of immense complexity and prediction/prevention of subtle neuro-musculo-skeletal injuries. This approach has been realized in the form of the world-leading human-motion simulator with 264 powered degrees of freedom, called Human Biodynamics Engine (developed in Defence Science & Technology Organisation, Australia).

The book contains six Chapters and an Appendix. The first Chapter is an Introduction, giving a brief review of mathematical techniques to be used in the text. The second Chapter develops geometrical basis of human-like biomechanics, while the third Chapter develops its mechanical basis, mainly from generalized Lagrangian and Hamiltonian perspective. The fourth Chapter develops topology of human-like biomechanics, while the fifth Chapter reviews related nonlinear control techniques. The sixth Chapter develops covariant biophysics of electro-muscular stimulation. The Appendix consists of two parts: classical muscular mechanics and modern path integral methods, which are both used frequently in the main text. The whole book is based on the authors own research papers in human-like biomechanics. "

This volume contains 27 contributions to the Second Russian-German Advanced Research Workshop on Computational Science and High Performance Computing presented in March 2005 at Stuttgart, Germany. Contributions range from computer science, mathematics and high performance computing to applications in mechanical and aerospace engineering.

obtained are still severely limited to low Reynolds numbers (about only one decade better than direct numerical simulations), and the interpretation of such calculations for complex, curved geometries is still unclear. It is evident that a lot of work (and a very significant increase in available computing power) is required before such methods can be adopted in daily's engineering practice. I hope to l"Cport on all these topics in a near future. The book is divided into six chapters, each. chapter in subchapters, sections and subsections. The first part is introduced by Chapter 1 which summarizes the equations of fluid mechanies, it is developed in C apters 2 to 4 devoted to the construction of turbulence models. What has been called "engineering methods" is considered in Chapter 2 where the Reynolds averaged equations al"C established and the closure problem studied ( 1-3). A first detailed study of homogeneous turbulent flows follows ( 4). It includes a review of available experimental data and their modeling. The eddy viscosity concept is analyzed in 5 with the l"Csulting alar-transport equation models such as the famous K-e model. Reynolds stl"Css models (Chapter 4) require a preliminary consideration of two-point turbulence concepts which are developed in Chapter 3 devoted to homogeneous turbulence. We review the two-point moments of velocity fields and their spectral transforms ( 1), their general dynamics ( 2) with the particular case of homogeneous, isotropie turbulence ( 3) whel"C the so-called Kolmogorov's assumptions are discussed at length."

The Origin of Species Charles Darwin The origin of turbulence in fluids is a long-standing problem and has been the focus of research for decades due to its great importance in a variety of engineering applications. Furthermore, the study of the origin of turbulence is part of the fundamental physical problem of turbulence description and the philosophical problem of determinism and chaos. At the end of the nineteenth century, Reynolds and Rayleigh conjectured that the reason of the transition of laminar flow to the 'sinuous' state is in stability which results in amplification of wavy disturbances and breakdown of the laminar regime. Heisenberg (1924) was the founder of linear hydrody namic stability theory. The first calculations of boundary layer stability were fulfilled in pioneer works of Tollmien (1929) and Schlichting (1932, 1933). Later Taylor (1936) hypothesized that the transition to turbulence is initi ated by free-stream oscillations inducing local separations near wall. Up to the 1940s, skepticism of the stability theory predominated, in particular due to the experimental results of Dryden (1934, 1936). Only the experiments of Schubauer and Skramstad (1948) revealed the determining role of insta bility waves in the transition. Now it is well established that the transition to turbulence in shear flows at small and moderate levels of environmental disturbances occurs through development of instability waves in the initial laminar flow. In Chapter 1 we start with the fundamentals of stability theory, employing results of the early studies and recent advances."

From the reviews: "This book is very well written and contains many important and new original results that certainly play an important role in today 's nonlinear optics." Physicalia

Six new chapters (14-19) deal with topics of current interest: multi-component convection diffusion, convection in a compressible fluid, convenction with temperature dependent viscosity and thermal conductivity, penetrative convection, nonlinear stability in ocean circulation models, and numerical solution of eigenvalue problems.

This book integrates the theories of complex self-organizing systems with the rich body of discourse and literature developed in what might be called social theory of cities and urbanism . It uses techniques from dynamical complexity and synergetics to successfully tackle open social science questions.

There are many monographs in the existing literature devoted to the static and dynamic behavior of plates and shells. Plates and shells are enco- tered often in engineering applications being integralparts of a wide range of constructions, such as machines, vehicles, airplanes, rockets, ships, bridges, buildings, and containers, to name a few. In addition to the usual requi- ments posedby engineersrelatedtolightweightness, su?cientrigidityor?- ibility, and robust stability properties, there is an additional class ofapriori dynamicalpropertiesrequiredbymodernengineeringapplicationswheren- homogeneity and non-uniformity of structural components is often the norm incertainapplications. Inaddition, strictoperationalrequirementsinmodern engineering applications towards higher speeds, lighter construction, robust andreliableperformance, dictatessmallermarginsoferrorordeviationsfrom prescribed performances in adverse or uncertain forcing environments. This, in turn, requires the development of new analytical and computational tools capable of addressing challenging and not very well developed topics, such as, nonlinearities a?ecting the system performance, the e?ects of unmodeled dynamics on the stability of operation, and the role of uncertainties in the systemparametersonthestructuralresponse. Asaresult, thereisanongoing e?ort to address such issues, leading to the development of new analytical and computational tools, some of which are discussed in this monograph. The monograph follows an approach based on an integrated treatment of analysis and computation. Such a hybrid approach, coupled with computer algebra, can lead to results that cannot be obtained by other standard th- ries in the ?eld. We show, that in a wide class of problems only a carefully prepared numerical experiment followed by purely mathematical conside- tionscan?nallyleadtothesoughtresults. Thenumerousanalyticalconstr- tions are illustrated by examples of application and computational resu

Most of the specialists working in this interdisciplinary field of physics, biology, biophysics and medicine are associated with "The International Institute of Biophysics" (IIB), in Neuss, Germany, where basic research and possibilities for applications are coordinated. The growth in this field is indicated by the increase in financial support, interest from the scientific community and frequency of publications.

Audience: The scientists of IIB have presented the most essential background and applications of biophotonics in these lecture notes in biophysics, based on the summer school lectures by this group. This book is devoted to questions of elementary biophysics, as well as current developments and applications. It will be of interest to graduate and postgraduate students, life scientists, and the responsible officials of industries and governments looking for non-invasive methods of investigating biological tissues.

This book is one of the first to provide a general overview of order and chaos in dynamical astronomy. The progress of the theory of chaos has a profound impact on galactic dynamics. It has even invaded celestial mechanics, since chaos was found in the solar system which in the past was considered as a prototype of order. The book provides a unifying approach to these topics from an author who has spent more than 50 years of research in the field. The first part treats order and chaos in general. The other two parts deal with order and chaos in galaxies and with other applications in dynamical astronomy, ranging from celestial mechanics to general relativity and cosmology.

This monograph presents an introduction into basic mechanical aspects of mechatronic systems for students, researchers and engineers from industrial practice. An overview over the theoretical background of rigid body mechanics is given as well as a systematic approach for deriving and solving model equations of general rigid body mechanisms in the form of differential-algebraic equations (DAE). The objective of this book is to prepare the reader for being capable of efficiently handling and applying general purpose rigid body programs to complex mechanisms. The reader will be able to set up symbolic mathematical models of planar and spatial mechanisms in DAE-form for computer simulations, often required in dynamic analysis and in control design.

This is a graduate level monographic textbook in the field of Computational Intelligence. It presents a modern dynamical theory of the computational mind, combining cognitive psychology, artificial and computational intelligence, and chaos theory with quantum consciousness and computation. The book introduces to human and computational mind, comparing and contrasting main themes of cognitive psychology, artificial and computational intelligence.

Hard spheres and related objects (hard disks and mixtures of hard systems) are paradigmatic systems: indeed, they have served as a basis for the theoretical and numerical development of a number of fields, such as general liquids and fluids, amorphous solids, liquid crystals, colloids and granular matter, to name but a few. The present volume introduces and reviews some important basics and progress in the study of such systems. Their structure, thermodynamic properties, equations of state, as well as kinetic and transport properties are considered from different and complementary points of view. This book addresses graduate students, lecturers as well as researchers in statistical mechanics, physics of liquids, physical chemistry and chemical engineering.

Quantum Networks is focused on density matrix theory cast into a product operator representation, particularly adapted to describing networks of finite state subsystems. This approach is important for understanding non-classical aspects such as single subsystem and multi-subsystem entanglement. An intuitive picture evolves of how these features are generated and destroyed by interactions with the environment. This second edition has been revised and enlarged. For better clarity the text has been partly reorganized and figures and formulae are presented in a more attractive way.

This collection of lectures and tutorial reviews focuses on the common computational approaches in use to unravel the static and dynamical behaviour of complex physical systems at the interface of physics, chemistry and biology. Prominent consideration is given to rugged free-energy landscapes. The authors aim to provide a common basis and technical language for the (computational) technology transfer between the fields and systems considered.

From the reviews of the first edition:
..". In general the articles ... are well written in a style that enables one to grasp the ideas. The actual style is a readable mix of the important results, outlines of proofs and complete proofs when it does not take too long together with readable explanations of what is going on. Also very useful are the large lists of references which are important not only for their mathematical content but also because the references given also contain articles in the Soviet literature which may not be familiar or possibly accessible to readers."
"New Zealand Math. Soc. Newsletter 1991"
..". Here ... a wealth of material is displayed for us, too much to even indicate in a review. ... Your reviewer was very impressed by the contents of both volumes (EMS 2 and 4), recommending them without any restriction. As far as he could judge, most presentations seem fairly complete..."
"Mededelingen van het Wiskundig genootshap 1992 "

Chaos theory plays an important role in modern physics and related sciences, but -, the most important results so far have been obtained in the study of gravitational systems applied to celestial mechanics. The present set of lectures introduces the mathematical methods used in the theory of singularities in gravitational systems, reviews modeling techniques for the simulation of close encounters and presents the state of the art about the study of diffusion of comets, wandering asteroids, meteors and planetary ring particles. The book will be of use to researchers and graduate students alike.

This monograph describes and discusses the properties of heterogeneous materials, comparing two fundamental approaches to describing and predicting materials properties. This multidisciplinary book will appeal to applied physicists, materials scientists, chemical and mechanical engineers, chemists, and applied mathematicians.

Recently, increasing interest has been shown in applying the concept of Pareto-optimality to machine learning, particularly inspired by the successful developments in evolutionary multi-objective optimization. It has been shown that the multi-objective approach to machine learning is particularly successful to improve the performance of the traditional single objective machine learning methods, to generate highly diverse multiple Pareto-optimal models for constructing ensembles models and, and to achieve a desired trade-off between accuracy and interpretability of neural networks or fuzzy systems. This monograph presents a selected collection of research work on multi-objective approach to machine learning, including multi-objective feature selection, multi-objective model selection in training multi-layer perceptrons, radial-basis-function networks, support vector machines, decision trees, and intelligent systems.