This book highlights cutting-edge topics in contemporary physics, discussing exciting advances and new forms of thinking in evolving fields with emphases both on natural phenomena and applications to modern engineering. It provides material for thought and practice in nanophysics, plasma physics, and electrodynamics. Nanophysics and plasmas are synergic physical areas where the whole is more than the sum of the parts (quantum, atomic and molecular, electrodynamics, photonics, condensed matter, thermodynamics, transport phenomena). The authors emphasize both fundamentals and more complex concepts, making the contents accessible as well challenging. Nanoscale properties and physical phenomena are explained under the umbrella of quantum physics. Advances made in the physical knowledge of the nanoworld, and its metrology are addressed, along with experimental achievements which have furthered studies of extreme weak forces present at nano- or sub-micron scales. The book does not focus in detail on the diversity of applications in nanotechnology and instrumentation, considering that the reader already has basic prior knowledge on that. It also covers an introduction to plasma universe phenomenology, the basics of advanced mathematics applied to the electromagnetic field, longitudinal forces in the vacuum, concepts of helicity and topological torsion, SU(2) representation of Maxwell equations, 2D representation of the electromagnetic field, the use of the fractional derivative, and ergontropic dynamics. The chapters include theory, applications, bibliographic references, and solved exercises. The synergies of the book's topics demonstrate their potential in critical issues, such as relieving humans from barriers imposed by energetic and entropic dependencies and penetrating the realm of weak forces at the nanoscale. The book will boost both post-graduate students and mature scientists to implement new scientific and technological projects.

The aim of this volume of scientific essays is twofold. On the one hand, by remembering the scientific figure of Eduardo R. Caianiello, it aims at focusing on his outstanding contributions - from theoretical physics to cybernetics - which after so many years still represent occasion of innovative paths to be fruitfully followed. It must be stressed the contribution that his interdisciplinary methodology can still be of great help in affording and solving present day complex problems. On the other hand, it aims at pinpointing with the help of the scientists contributing to the volume - some crucial problems in present day research in the fields of interest of Eduardo Caianiello and which are still among the main lines of investigation of some of the Institutes founded by Eduardo (Istituto di Cibernetica del CNR, IIAS, etc).

Our contemporary understanding of brain function is deeply rooted in the ideas of the nonlinear dynamics of distributed networks. Cognition and motor coordination seem to arise from the interactions of local neuronal networks, which themselves are connected in large scales across the entire brain. The spatial architectures between various scales inevitably influence the dynamics of the brain and thereby its function. But how can we integrate brain connectivity amongst these structural and functional domains? Our Handbook provides an account of the current knowledge on the measurement, analysis and theory of the anatomical and functional connectivity of the brain. All contributors are leading experts in various fields concerning structural and functional brain connectivity. In the first part of the Handbook, the chapters focus on an introduction and discussion of the principles underlying connected neural systems. The second part introduces the currently available non-invasive technologies for measuring structural and functional connectivity in the brain. Part three provides an overview of the analysis techniques currently available and highlights new developments. Part four introduces the application and translation of the concepts of brain connectivity to behavior, cognition and the clinical domain.

"...The Multiversal book series is equally unique, providing book-length extensions of the lectures with enough additional depth for those who truly want to explore these fields, while also providing the kind of clarity that is appropriate for interested lay people to grasp the general principles involved." - Lawrence M. Krauss Cosmic Update Covers: A novel approach to uncover the dark faces of the Standard Model of cosmology. The possibility that Dark Energy and Dark Matter are manifestations of the inhomogeneous geometry of our Universe. On the history of cosmological model building and the general architecture of cosmological modes. Illustrations on the Large Scale Structure of the Universe. A new perspective on the classical static Einstein Cosmos. Global properties of World Models including their Topology. The Arrow of Time in a Universe with a Positive Cosmological Constant. Exploring the consequences of a fundamental Cosmological Constant for our Universe. Exploring why the current observed acceleration of the Universe may not be its final destiny. Demonstrating that nature forbids the existence of a pure Cosmological Constant. Our current understanding of the long term (in time scales that greatly exceed the current age of the Universe) future of the Universe. The long term fate and eventual destruction of the astrophysical objects that populate the universe -- including clusters, galaxies, stars, planets, and black holes. The material is presented in a layperson-friendly language followed by addition technical sections that explain the basic equations and principles. This feature is very attractive to readers who want to learn more about the theories involved beyond the basic description. "Multiversal Journeys (TM) is a trademark of Farzad Nekoogar and Multiversal Journeys, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization."

This book contains selected papers of NSC08, the 2nd Conference on Nonlinear Science and Complexity, held 28-31 July, 2008, Porto, Portugal. It focuses on fundamental theories and principles, analytical and symbolic approaches, computational techniques in nonlinear physics and mathematics. Topics treated include * Chaotic Dynamics and Transport in Classic and Quantum Systems * Complexity and Nonlinearity in Molecular Dynamics and Nano-Science * Complexity and Fractals in Nonlinear Biological Physics and Social Systems * Lie Group Analysis and Applications in Nonlinear Science * Nonlinear Hydrodynamics and Turbulence * Bifurcation and Stability in Nonlinear Dynamic Systems * Nonlinear Oscillations and Control with Applications * Celestial Physics and Deep Space Exploration * Nonlinear Mechanics and Nonlinear Structural Dynamics * Non-smooth Systems and Hybrid Systems * Fractional dynamical systems

Overthe nearly 20 years of Kelvin probe force microscopy, an increasing interest in the technique and its applications has developed. This book gives a concise introduction into the method and describes various experimental techniques. Surface potential studies on semiconductor materials, nanostructures and devices are described, as well as application to molecular and organic materials. The current state of surface potential at the atomic scale is also considered. This book presents an excellent introduction for the newcomer to this field, as much as a valuable resource for the expert."

The book introduces readers to and summarizes the current ideas and theories about the basic mechanisms for transport in chaotic flows. Typically no single paradigmatic approach exists as this topic is relevant for fields as diverse as plasma physics, geophysical flows and various branches of engineering. Accordingly, the dispersion of matter in chaotic or turbulent flows is analyzed from different perspectives. Partly based on lecture courses given by the author, this book addresses both graduate students and researchers in search of a high-level but approachable and broad introduction to the topic.

This book provides a profound understanding, which physical processes and mechanisms cause the heat transfer in composite and cellular materials. It shows models for all important classes of composite materials and introduces into the latest advances.

In three parts, the book covers Composite Materials (Part A), Porous and Cellular Materials (Part B) and the appearance of a conjoint solid phase and fluid aggregate (Part C).

The book covers all aspects from the expansion of the Boltzmann transport equation with harmonic functions to application to devices, where transport in the bulk and in inversion layers is considered. The important aspects of stabilization and band structure mapping are discussed in detail. This is done not only for the full band structure of the 3D k-space, but also for the warped band structure of the quasi 2D hole gas. Efficient methods for building the Schrodinger equation for arbitrary surface or strain directions, gridding of the 2D k-space and solving it together with the other two equations are presented."

Chaos and nonlinear dynamics initially developed as a new emergent field with its foundation in physics and applied mathematics. The highly generic, interdisciplinary quality of the insights gained in the last few decades has spawned myriad applications in almost all branches of science and technology-and even well beyond. Wherever quantitative modeling and analysis of complex, nonlinear phenomena is required, chaos theory and its methods can play a key role. This volume concentrates on reviewing the most relevant contemporary applications of chaotic nonlinear systems as they apply to the various cutting-edge branches of engineering. The book covers the theory as applied to robotics, electronic and communication engineering (for example chaos synchronization and cryptography) as well as to civil and mechanical engineering, where its use in damage monitoring and control is explored). Featuring contributions from active and leading research groups, this collection is ideal both as a reference and as a 'recipe book' full of tried and tested, successful engineering applications

Dynamic logic (DL) recently had a highest impact on the development in several areas of modeling and algorithm design. The book discusses classical algorithms used for 30 to 50 years (where improvements are often measured by signal-to-clutter ratio), and also new areas, which did not previously exist. These achievements were recognized by National and International awards. Emerging areas include cognitive, emotional, intelligent systems, data mining, modeling of the mind, higher cognitive functions, evolution of languages and other. Classical areas include detection, recognition, tracking, fusion, prediction, inverse scattering, and financial prediction. All these classical areas are extended to using mixture models, which previously was considered unsolvable in most cases. Recent neuroimaging experiments proved that the brain-mind actually uses DL. "Emotional Cognitive Neural Algorithms with Engineering Applications" is written for professional scientists and engineers developing computer and information systems, for professors teaching modeling and algorithms, and for students working on Masters and Ph.D. degrees in these areas. The book will be of interest to psychologists and neuroscientists interested in mathematical models of the brain and min das well.

In general, combustion is a spatially three-dimensional, highly complex physi co-chemical process oftransient nature. Models are therefore needed that sim to such a degree that it becomes amenable plify a given combustion problem to theoretical or numerical analysis but that are not so restrictive as to distort the underlying physics or chemistry. In particular, in view of worldwide efforts to conserve energy and to control pollutant formation, models of combustion chemistry are needed that are sufficiently accurate to allow confident predic tions of flame structures. Reduced kinetic mechanisms, which are the topic of the present book, represent such combustion-chemistry models. Historically combustion chemistry was first described as a global one-step reaction in which fuel and oxidizer react to form a single product. Even when detailed mechanisms ofelementary reactions became available, empirical one step kinetic approximations were needed in order to make problems amenable to theoretical analysis. This situation began to change inthe early 1970s when computing facilities became more powerful and more widely available, thereby facilitating numerical analysis of relatively simple combustion problems, typi cally steady one-dimensional flames, with moderately detailed mechanisms of elementary reactions. However, even on the fastest and most powerful com puters available today, numerical simulations of, say, laminar, steady, three dimensional reacting flows with reasonably detailed and hence realistic ki netic mechanisms of elementary reactions are not possible."

This book collects together recent results on large-scale structures in non-linear science. Coherent states, convective and turbulent patterns, inverse cascades, interfaces and cooperative phenomena in fluids and plasmas are discussed, together with the implementation of concepts of statistical mechanics to particle physics and nuclear matter. Special attention is devoted to phenomena, such as mixing, which display macroscopicfeatures, even though generated by small-scale dynamical processes. In this context, homoclinic structure, the KAM theorem, Lyapunov stability, and singularities are addressed. A new perturbative technique for classical and quantum fields and new results concerning the analysis of hierarchially organized objects are presented. The book should be attractive for a large audience including engineers, mathematicians and physicists.

The study of the magnetic fields of the Earth and Sun, as well as those of other planets, stars, and galaxies, has a long history and a rich and varied literature, including in recent years a number of review articles and books dedicated to the dynamo theories of these fields. Against this background of work, some explanation of the scope and purpose of the present monograph, and of the presentation and organization of the material, is therefore needed. Dynamo theory offers an explanation of natural magnetism as a phenomenon of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), the dynamics governing the evolution and interaction of motions of an electrically conducting fluid and electromagnetic fields. A natural starting point for a dynamo theory assumes the fluid motion to be a given vector field, without regard for the origin of the forces which drive it. The resulting kinematic dynamo theory is, in the non-relativistic case, a linear advection-diffusion problem for the magnetic field. This kinematic theory, while far simpler than its magnetohydrodynamic counterpart, remains a formidable analytical problem since the interesting solutions lack the easiest symmetries. Much ofthe research has focused on the simplest acceptable flows and especially on cases where the smoothing effect of diffusion can be exploited. A close analog is the advection and diffusion of a scalar field by laminar flows, the diffusion being measured by an appropriate Peclet number. This work has succeeded in establishing dynamo action as an attractive candidate for astrophysical magnetism.

Inspired by the general configuration characteristics of automatic production lines, the author discusses the modelisation of important sectors of a factory. Typical topics such as parts feeders, part orienting devices, insertion mechanisms and buffered flows are analysed using random evolution models and non-linear dynamical systems theory.

We consider quantum dynamical systems (in general, these could be either Hamiltonian or dissipative, but in this review we shall be interested only in quantum Hamiltonian systems) that have, at least formally, a classical limit. This means, in particular, that each time-dependent quantum-mechanical expectation value X (t) has as i cl Ii -+ 0 a limit Xi(t) -+ x1 )(t) of the corresponding classical sys- tem. Quantum-mechanical considerations include an additional di- mensionless parameter f = iiiconst. connected with the Planck constant Ii. Even in the quasiclassical region where f~ 1, the dy- namics of the quantum and classicalfunctions Xi(t) and XiCcl)(t) will be different, in general, and quantum dynamics for expectation val- ues may coincide with classical dynamics only for some finite time. This characteristic time-scale, TIi., could depend on several factors which will be discussed below, including: choice of expectation val- ues, initial state, physical parameters and so on. Thus, the problem arises in this connection: How to estimate the characteristic time- scale TIi. of the validity of the quasiclassical approximation and how to measure it in an experiment? For rather simple integrable quan- tum systems in the stable regions of motion of their corresponding classical phase space, this time-scale T" usually is of order (see, for example, [2]) const TIi. = p,li , (1.1) Q where p, is the dimensionless parameter of nonlinearity (discussed below) and a is a constant of the order of unity.

Like relativity and quantum theory chaos research is another prominent concept of 20th century physics that has triggered deep and far-reaching discussions in the philosophy of science. In this volume outstanding scientists discuss the fundamental problems of the concepts of law and of prediction. They present their views in their contributions to this volume, but they also are exposed to criticism in transcriptions of recordings made during discussions and in comments on their views also published in this book. Although all authors assume familiarity with some background in physics they also address the philosophers of science and even a general audience interested in modern science's contribution to a deeper understanding of reality.

In this monograph the recursion method is presented as a method for the analysis of dynamical properties of quantum and classical many-body systems in thermal equilibrium. Such properties are probed by many different experimental techniques used in materials science. Several representations and formulations of the recursion method are described in detail and documented with numerous examples, ranging from elementary illustrations for tutorial purposes to realistic models of interest in current research in the areas of spin dynamics and low-dimensional magnetism. The performance of the recursion method is calibrated by exact results in a number of benchmark tests and compared with the performance of other calculational techniques. The book addresses graduate students and researchers.

The purpose of this book is to gather contributions from scientists in fluid mechanics who use asymptotic methods to cope with difficult problems. The selected topics are as follows: vorticity and turbulence, hydrodynamic instability, non-linear waves, aerodynamics and rarefied gas flows. The last chapter of the book broadens the perspective with an overview of other issues pertaining to asymptotics, presented in a didactic way.

This volume has its origin in the Semigroup Symposium which was organized in connection with the 21st International Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics (ICGTMP) at Goslar, Germany, July 16-21, 1996. Just as groups are important tools for the description of reversible physical processes, semigroups are indispensable in the description of irreversible physical processes in which a direction of time is distinguished. There is ample evidence of time asymmetry in the microphysical world. The desire to go beyond the stationary systems has generated much recent effort and discussion regarding the application of semigroups to time-asymmetric processes. The book should be of interest to scientists and graduate students

Published in honour of Marc Feix this book tries to give a thorough overview of mathematical methods, analytical and numerical techniques and simulations applied to a variety of problems from physics and engineering. The book addresses graduate students, researchers and especially engineers. The main emphasis is to apply the generality of methods to form a coherent and stimulating approach to practical investigations.

This book brings new scientific methods to intelligence research that is still under the influence of 19th century single causal theory and method. The author describes a rigorous and exhaustive classification of natural intelligence while demonstrating a more adequate scientific and mathematical approach than current statistical and psychometric approaches construct to shore up the out-dated and misused IQ hypothetical. The author demonstrates the superiority of a highly developed multidisciplinary-theory models view of intelligence.

Beginning with Nobel laureate I. Prigogine's lecture "Entropy Revisited", this book gives a well-balanced survey on capillarity properties at liquid and solid interfaces. It approaches the subject from both the microscopic (statistical mechanics) and the macroscopic (mechanics and thermodynamics) points of view. Experimental aspects and technological applications are also presented. The book addresses researchers and graduate students of physics and physical chemistry.