Successful or not, we all (have to?) go to various markets and participate in their activities. Yet, solittle is understoodabout their functionings. E orts to model various markets are now substantial. Econophysicists have also come up recently with several innovative models and their analyses. This book is a proceedings of the International Workshop on \Eco- physics of StockMarkets and Minority Games,"heldinKolkataduringFeb- ary 14-17, 2006, under the auspices of the Centre for Applied Mathem- ics and Computational Science, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata. This is the second event in the Econophys-Kolkata series of meetings; the Econophys-Kolkata I was held in March 2005 (Proceedings: Econophysics of Wealth Distributions, published in the same New Economic Windows series by Springer, Milan in 2005). We understand from the enthusiastic response of the participants that the one-day trip to the Sunderbans (Tiger Reserve; a world heritage point) along with the lecture-sessions on the vessel had been hugely enjoyable and successful. The concluding session had again very lively discussions on the workshop topics as well as on econophysics in general, i- tiated by J. Barkley Rosser, Matteo Marsili, Rosario Mantegna and Robin Stinchcombe (Chair). We plan to hold the next meeting in this series, on \Econophysics and Sociophysics: Debates on Complexity Issues in Economics and Sociology" early next year. We are very happy that several leading economists and physicists engaged intheserecentdevelopmentsintheeconophysicsofmarkets, theiranalysisand modellingcouldcomeandparticipate.

This dissertation focuses on the calculation of transport coefficients in the matter created in a relativistic heavy-ion collision after chemical freeze-out. This matter can be well approximated using a pion gas out of equilibrium. We describe the theoretical framework needed to obtain the shear and bulk viscosities, the thermal and electrical conductivities and the flavor diffusion coefficients of a meson gas at low temperatures. To describe the interactions of the degrees of freedom, we use effective field theories with chiral and heavy quark symmetries. We subsequently introduce the unitarization methods in order to obtain a scattering amplitude that satisfies the unitarity condition exactly, then go on to calculate the transport properties of the low-temperature phase of quantum chromodynamics - the hadronic medium - which can be used in hydrodynamic simulations of a relativistic heavy-ion collision and its subsequent evolution. We show that the shear viscosity over entropy density exhibits a minimum in a phase transition by studying this coefficient in atomic Argon (around the liquid-gas phase transition) and in the linear sigma model in the limit of a large number of scalar fields (which presents a chiral phase transition). Finally, we provide an experimental method for estimating the bulk viscosity in relativistic heavy-ion collisions by performing correlations of the fluctuating components of the stress-energy tensor.

This work addresses the gap in the current collective action literature exposed by the new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) landscape by bringing together qualitative and quantitative studies from computational and social sciences. The book offers a rigorous and systematic investigation of both methodological and theoretical underpinnings and, thus, collectively promotes a symbiotic and synergistic advancement of the multiple interconnected disciplines in studying online collective actions. More specifically, the book is intended to illuminate several fundamental and powerful yet theoretically undeveloped and largely unexplored aspects of collective action in the participatory media (e.g., social media). Through in-depth exploration of relevant concepts, theories, methodologies, applications, and case studies, the reader will gain an advanced understanding of collective action with the advent of the new generation of ICTs enabled by social media and the Internet. The developed theories will be valuable and comprehensive references for those interested in examining the role of ICTs not only in collective action but also in decision and policy making, understanding the dynamics of interaction, collaboration, cooperation, communication, as well as information flow and propagation, and social network research for years to come. Further, the book also serves as an extensive repository of data sets and tools that can be used by researchers leading to a deeper and more fundamental understanding of the dynamics of the crowd in online collective actions.

Fifty years ago, enthused by successes in creating digital computers and the DNA model of heredity, scientists were con?dent that solutions to the problems of und- standing biological intelligence and creating machine intelligence were within their grasp. Progress at ?rst seemed rapid. Giant 'brains' that ?lled air-conditioned rooms were shrunk into briefcases. The speed of computation doubled every two years. What these advances revealed is not the solutions but the dif?culties of the pr- lems. We are like the geographers who 'discovered' America, not as a collection of islands but as continents seen only at shores and demanding exploration. We are astounded less by the magnitude of our discoveries about how brains cogitate than by the enormity of the tasks we have undertaken, to explain and replicate the higher functions of brains. Five decades of brain research have led to the emergence of a new ?eld, which spans the entire range of brain cognition from quantum ?elds to social interactions, and which is combined by the conceptions of nonlinear neurodynamics operating simultaneously at and across all levels. A new breed of scientists has emerged, schooled in multiple academic disciplines, comfortable in working with data from different levels, and conversant with the mathematical tools that are essential to cross boundaries.

This comprehensive collection of lectures by leading experts in the field introduces and reviews all relevant computer simulation methods and their applications in condensed matter systems. Volume 1 is an in-depth introduction to a vast spectrum of computational techniques for statistical mechanical systems of condensed matter. Volume 2 is a collection of state-of-the-art surveys on numerical experiments carried out for a great number of systems.

This textbook offers original and new approaches to the teaching of electrochemical concepts, principles and applications. Throughout the text the authors provide a balanced coverage of the thermodynamic and kinetic processes at the heart of electrochemical systems. The first half of the book outlines fundamental concepts appropriate to undergraduate students and the second half gives an in-depth account of electrochemical systems suitable for experienced scientists and course lecturers. Concepts are clearly explained and mathematical treatments are kept to a minimum or reported in appendices. This book features: - Questions and answers for self-assessment - Basic and advanced level numerical descriptions - Illustrated electrochemistry applications This book is accessible to both novice and experienced electrochemists and supports a deep understanding of the fundamental principles and laws of electrochemistry.

Econophysics of Games and Social Choices.- Kolkata Paise Restaurant Problem in Some Uniform Learning Strategy Limits.- Cycle Monotonicity in Scheduling Models.- Reinforced Learning in Market Games.- Mechanisms Supporting Cooperation for the Evolutionary Prisoner's Dilemma Games.- Economic Applications of Quantum Information Processing.- Using Many-Body Entanglement for Coordinated Action in Game Theory Problems.- Condensation Phenomena and Pareto Distribution in Disordered Urn Models.- Economic Interactions and the Distribution of Wealth.- Wealth Redistribution in Boltzmann-like Models of Conservative Economies.- Multi-species Models in Econo- and Sociophysics.- The Morphology of Urban Agglomerations for Developing Countries: A Case Study with China.- A Mean-Field Model of Financial Markets: Reproducing Long Tailed Distributions and Volatility Correlations.- Statistical Properties of Fluctuations: A Method to Check Market Behavior.- Modeling Saturation in Industrial Growth.- The Kuznets Curve and the Inequality Process.- Monitoring the Teaching - Learning Process via an Entropy Based Index.- Technology Level in the Industrial Supply Chain: Thermodynamic Concept.- Discussions and Comments in Econophys Kolkata IV.- Contributions to Quantitative Economics.- On Multi-Utility Representation of Equitable Intergenerational Preferences.- Variable Populations and Inequality-Sensitive Ethical Judgments.- A Model of Income Distribution.- Statistical Database of the Indian Economy: Need for New Directions.- Does Parental Education Protect Child Health? Some Evidence from Rural Udaipur.- Food Security and Crop Diversification: Can West Bengal Achieve Both?.- Estimating Equivalence Scales Through Engel Curve Analysis.- Testing for Absolute Convergence: A Panel Data Approach.- Goodwin's Growth Cycles: A Reconsideration.- Human Capital Accumulation, Economic Growth and Educational Subsidy Policy in a Dual Economy.- Arms Trade and Conflict Resolution: A Trade-Theoretic Analysis.- Trade andWage Inequality with Endogenous Skill Formation.- Dominant Strategy Implementation in Multi-unit Allocation Problems.- Allocation through Reduction on Minimum Cost Spanning Tree Games.- Unmediated and Mediated Communication Equilibria of Battle of the Sexes with Incomplete Information.- A Characterization Result on the Coincidence of the Prenucleolus and the Shapley Value.- The Ordinal Equivalence of the Johnston Index and the Established Notions of Power.- Reflecting on Market Size and Entry under Oligopoly.

This comprehensive and carefully edited volume presents a variety of experimental methods used in Shock Waves research. In 14 self contained chapters this 9th volume of the "Shock Wave Science and Technology Reference Library" presents the experimental methods used in Shock Tubes, Shock Tunnels and Expansion Tubes facilities. Also described is their set-up and operation. The uses of an arc heated wind tunnel and a gun tunnel are also contained in this volume. Whenever possible, in addition to the technical description some typical scientific results obtained using such facilities are described. Additionally, this authoritative book includes techniques for measuring physical properties of blast waves and laser generated shock waves. Information about active shock wave laboratories at different locations around the world that are not described in the chapters herein is given in the Appendix, making this book useful for every researcher involved in shock/blast wave phenomena.

This book contains all refereed papers that were accepted to the sixth edition of the " Complex Systems Design & Management Paris " (CSD&M Paris 2015) international conference which took place in Paris (France) on November 23-25, 2015.These proceedings cover the most recent trends in the emerging field of complex systems sciences & practices from an industrial and academic perspective, including the main industrial domains (aeronautics & aerospace, defense & security, electronics & robotics, energy & environment, health & welfare, software & e-services, transportation), scientific & technical topics (systems fundamentals, systems architecture & engineering, systems metrics & quality, systems modeling tools) and systems types (artificial ecosystems, embedded systems, software & information systems, systems of systems, transportation systems).The CSD&M Paris 2015 conference is organized under the guidance of the CESAMES non-profit organization, address: CESAMES, 8 rue de Hanovre, 75002 Paris, France.

This book contains selected papers of Jurg Froehlich, one of the most outstanding mathematical physicists of our time, on the subject of statistical mechanics. In an extensive introduction, Jurg Froehlich sets his results into a wider context and gives precious information on the genesis of his work from both a historical and a methodological perspective. It is not only an overview of current and future research directions in statistical mechanics, but also relates this subject with other branches of contemporary physics and mathematics. All papers in this collection bear Jurg Froehlich's signature in terms of a delicate balance between mathematical rigor and physical significance. They cover thirty years of his work on statistical physics, ranging from the most basic foundational questions in atomism and thermodynamics via the description of phase transitions and critical phenomena up to disordered systems and the study of many-body systems in condensed matter physics, including the quantum Hall effect. The wide range of topics covered in this compendium reflects the breadth of Jurg Froehlich's interests, and the last chapters reveal an outlook towards some of his more recent research areas.

Fundamental Tests of Physics with Optically Trapped Microspheres details experiments on studying the Brownian motion of an optically trapped microsphere with ultrahigh resolution and the cooling of its motion towards the quantum ground state. Glass microspheres were trapped in water, air, and vacuum with optical tweezers; and a detection system that can monitor the position of a trapped microsphere with Angstrom spatial resolution and microsecond temporal resolution was developed to study the Brownian motion of a trapped microsphere in air over a wide range of pressures. The instantaneous velocity of a Brownian particle, in particular, was studied for the very first time, and the results provide direct verification of the Maxwell-Boltzmann velocity distribution and the energy equipartition theorem for a Brownian particle. For short time scales, the ballistic regime of Brownian motion is observed, in contrast to the usual diffusive regime. In vacuum, active feedback is used to cool the center-of-mass motion of an optically trapped microsphere from room temperature to a minimum temperature of about 1.5 mK. This is an important step toward studying the quantum behaviors of a macroscopic particle trapped in vacuum.

This book explores the Energy Minimization Multi-scale (EMMS) theory and the drag model for heterogeneous gas-solid fluidized flows. The results show that the cluster density plays a critical role with regard to drag. A novel cluster model is proposed and indicates that the profile of cluster density is single-peaked with the maximum value located at solid concentrations of 0.1~0.15. The EMMS theory is improved with the cluster model and an accurate drag model is developed. The model's universality is achieved by investigating the relationship between the heterogeneity and flow patterns. The drag model is subsequently verified numerically and experimentally.

This book presents recent advances, new ideas and novel techniques related to the field of nonlinear dynamics, including localized pattern formation, self-organization and chaos. Various natural systems ranging from nonlinear optics to mechanics, fluids and magnetic are considered. The aim of this book is to gather specialists from these various fields of research to promote cross-fertilization and transfer of knowledge between these active research areas. In particular, nonlinear optics and laser physics constitute an important part in this issue due to the potential applications for all-optical control of light, optical storage, and information processing. Other possible applications include the generation of ultra-short pulses using all-fiber cavities.

Do humans behave much like atoms? Sociophysics, which uses tools and concepts from the physics of disordered matter to describe some aspects of social and political behavior, answers in the affirmative. But advocating the use of models from the physical sciences to understand human behavior could be perceived as tantamount to dismissing the existence of human free will and also enabling those seeking manipulative skills . This thought-provoking book argues it is just the contrary. Indeed, future developments and evaluation will either show sociophysics to be inadequate, thus supporting the hypothesis that people can primarily be considered to be free agents, or valid, thus opening the path to a radically different vision of society and personal responsibility. This book attempts to explain why and how humans behave much like atoms, at least in some aspects of their collective lives, and then proposes how this knowledge can serve as a unique key to a dramatic leap forwards in achieving more social freedom in the real world. At heart, sociophysics and this book are about better comprehending the richness and potential of our social interaction, and so distancing ourselves from inanimate atoms.

Generally, spontaneous pattern formation phenomena are random and repetitive, whereas elaborate devices are the deterministic product of human design. Yet, biological organisms and collective insect constructions are exceptional examples of complex systems that are both self-organized and architectural. This book is the first initiative of its kind toward establishing a new field of research, Morphogenetic Engineering, to explore the modeling and implementation of "self-architecturing" systems. Particular emphasis is placed on the programmability and computational abilities of self-organization, properties that are often underappreciated in complex systems science-while, conversely, the benefits of self-organization are often underappreciated in engineering methodologies. Altogether, the aim of this work is to provide a framework for and examples of a larger class of "self-architecturing" systems, while addressing fundamental questions such as > How do biological organisms carry out morphogenetic tasks so reliably? > Can we extrapolate their self-formation capabilities to engineered systems? > Can physical systems be endowed with information (or informational systems be embedded in physics) so as to create autonomous morphologies and functions? > What are the core principles and best practices for the design and engineering of such morphogenetic systems? The intended audience consists of researchers and graduate students who are working on, starting to work on, or interested in programmable self-organizing systems in a wide range of scientific fields, including computer science, robotics, bioengineering, control engineering, physics, theoretical biology, mathematics, and many others.

This thesis studies the general heat conduction law, irreversible thermodynamics and the size effect of thermal conductivity exhibited in nanosystems from the perspective of recently developed thermomass theory. The derivation bridges the microscopic phonon Boltzmann equation and macroscopic continuum mechanics. Key concepts such as entropy production, temperature and the Onsager reciprocal relation are revisited in the case of non-Fourier heat conduction. Lastly, useful expressions are extracted from the picture of phonon gas dynamics and are used to successfully predict effective thermal conductivity in nanosystems.

One of the most notable features of nanometer scale CMOS technology is the increasing magnitude of variability of the key device parameters affecting performance of integrated circuits. The growth of variability can be attributed to multiple factors, including the difficulty of manufacturing control, the emergence of new systematic variation-generating mechanisms, and most importantly, the increase in atomic-scale randomness, where device operation must be described as a stochastic process. In addition to wide-sense stationary stochastic device variability and temperature variation, existence of non-stationary stochastic electrical noise associated with fundamental processes in integrated-circuit devices represents an elementary limit on the performance of electronic circuits. In an attempt to address these issues, Stochastic Process Variation in Deep-Submicron CMOS: Circuits and Algorithms offers unique combination of mathematical treatment of random process variation, electrical noise and temperature and necessary circuit realizations for on-chip monitoring and performance calibration. The associated problems are addressed at various abstraction levels, i.e. circuit level, architecture level and system level. It therefore provides a broad view on the various solutions that have to be used and their possible combination in very effective complementary techniques for both analog/mixed-signal and digital circuits. The feasibility of the described algorithms and built-in circuitry has been verified by measurements from the silicon prototypes fabricated in standard 90 nm and 65 nm CMOS technology.

The problem of counting the number of self-avoiding polygons on a square grid, - therbytheirperimeterortheirenclosedarea,is aproblemthatis soeasytostate that, at ?rst sight, it seems surprising that it hasn't been solved. It is however perhaps the simplest member of a large class of such problems that have resisted all attempts at their exact solution. These are all problems that are easy to state and look as if they should be solvable. They include percolation, in its various forms, the Ising model of ferromagnetism, polyomino enumeration, Potts models and many others. These models are of intrinsic interest to mathematicians and mathematical physicists, but can also be applied to many other areas, including economics, the social sciences, the biological sciences and even to traf?c models. It is the widespread applicab- ity of these models to interesting phenomena that makes them so deserving of our attention. Here however we restrict our attention to the mathematical aspects. Here we are concerned with collecting together most of what is known about polygons, and the closely related problems of polyominoes. We describe what is known, taking care to distinguish between what has been proved, and what is c- tainlytrue,but has notbeenproved. Theearlierchaptersfocusonwhatis knownand on why the problems have not been solved, culminating in a proof of unsolvability, in a certain sense. The next chapters describe a range of numerical and theoretical methods and tools for extracting as much information about the problem as possible, in some cases permittingexactconjecturesto be made.

In this book basic and some more advanced thermodynamics and phase as well as stability diagrams relevant for diffusion studies are introduced. Following, Fick's laws of diffusion, atomic mechanisms, interdiffusion, intrinsic diffusion, tracer diffusion and the Kirkendall effect are discussed. Short circuit diffusion is explained in detail with an emphasis on grain boundary diffusion. Recent advances in the area of interdiffusion will be introduced. Interdiffusion in multi-component systems is also explained. Many practical examples will be given, such that researches working in this area can learn the practical evaluation of various diffusion parameters from experimental results. Large number of illustrations and experimental results are used to explain the subject. This book will be appealing for students, academicians, engineers and researchers in academic institutions, industry research and development laboratories.

This book presents the theory of gas discharge plasmas in a didactical way. It explains the processes in gas discharge plasmas. A gas discharge plasma is an ionized gas which is supported by an external electric field. Therefore its parameters are determined by processes in it. The properties of a gas discharge plasma depend on its gas component, types of external fields, their geometry and regimes of gas discharge. Fundamentals of a gas discharge plasma include elementary, radiative and transport processes which are included in its kinetics influence. They are represented in this book together with the analysis of simple gas discharges. These general principles are applied to stationary gas discharge plasmas of helium and argon. The analysis of such plasmas under certain conditions is theoretically determined by numerical plasma parameters for given regimes and conditions.

This textbook offers an advanced undergraduate or initial graduate level introduction to topics such as kinetic theory, equilibrium statistical mechanics and the theory of fluctuations from a modern perspective. The aim is to provide the reader with the necessary tools of probability theory and thermodynamics (especially the thermodynamic potentials) to enable subsequent study at advanced graduate level. At the same time, the book offers a bird's eye view on arguments that are often disregarded in the main curriculum courses. Further features include a focus on the interdisciplinary nature of the subject and in-depth discussion of alternative interpretations of the concept of entropy. While some familiarity with basic concepts of thermodynamics and probability theory is assumed, this does not extend beyond what is commonly obtained in basic undergraduate curriculum courses.

Temperature and Humidity Independent Control (THIC) of Air-conditioning System focuses on temperature and humidity independent control (THIC) systems, which represents a new concept and new approach for indoor environmental control. This book presents the main components of the THIC systems, including dehumidification devices, high-temperature cooling devices and indoor terminal devices. Other relevant issues, such as operation and control strategy and case studies, are also included. This book is intended for air-conditioning system designers and engineers as well as researchers working with indoor environments. Xiaohua Liu is an associate professor at the Building Energy Research Center, Tsinghua University, China. Yi Jiang is a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the director of the Building Energy Research Center, Tsinghua University, China and the director of the China-USA Joint Research Center on Clean Energy. Tao Zhang is a Ph.D. candidate at the Building Energy Research Center, Tsinghua University, China.

This book focuses on the assembly, organization and resultant collective dynamics of soft matter systems maintained away from equilibrium by an energy flux. Living matter is the ultimate example of such systems, which are comprised of different constituents on very different scales (ions, nucleic acids, proteins, cells). The result of their diverse interactions, maintained using the energy from physiological processes, is a fantastically well-organized and dynamic whole. This work describes results from minimal, biomimetic systems and primarily investigates membranes and active emulsions, as well as key aspects of both soft matter and non-equilibrium phenomena. It is shown that these minimal reconstitutions are already capable of a range of complex behaviour such as nonlinear electric responses, chemical communication and locomotion. These studies will bring us closer to a fundamental understanding of complex systems by reconstituting key aspects of their form and function in simple model systems. Further, they may also serve as the first technological steps towards artificial soft functional matter.

Following the introduction of Myspace, Linkedin and Facebook, social networks have become part of people's everyday life. New online social networks appear almost daily developed to attract the attention of Internet users. However, design and implementation standards and guidelines are often sacrificed for innovation resulting in unusable social networking platforms destined to be doomed. Within this context, the present book recommends a design and implementation methodology which will allow future social networking platform designers and developers to work in a scientifically systematic and sound manner to reach their goal. The journey begins with the identification of the pursued objective of the social network and the potential participants. The presentation of various methods and techniques to collect the requirements of the intended user group of the social networking platform follows. Best practices, guidelines and standards that will facilitate the conceptual and physical design of the platform are portrayed. An analysis of advantages and limitations for existing implementation platforms and potential implementation techniques is subsequently offered to facilitate the selection of the most appropriate tool for the implementation of the online social networking website. Various representative visualization techniques are examined in order to enhance the visual representation of the social network participants. Various usability evaluation techniques are then presented to aid in the assessment of usability and improvement of the actual user experience. Finally, future trends in the design and use of social networks are presented.

Complex Nonlinearity: Chaos, Phase Transitions, Topology Change and Path Integrals is a book about prediction & control of general nonlinear and chaotic dynamics of high-dimensional complex systems of various physical and non-physical nature and their underpinning geometro-topological change. The book starts with a textbook-like expose on nonlinear dynamics, attractors and chaos, both temporal and spatio-temporal, including modern techniques of chaos-control. Chapter 2 turns to the edge of chaos, in the form of phase transitions (equilibrium and non-equilibrium, oscillatory, fractal and noise-induced), as well as the related field of synergetics. While the natural stage for linear dynamics comprises of flat, Euclidean geometry (with the corresponding calculation tools from linear algebra and analysis), the natural stage for nonlinear dynamics is curved, Riemannian geometry (with the corresponding tools from nonlinear, tensor algebra and analysis). The extreme nonlinearity - chaos - corresponds to the topology change of this curved geometrical stage, usually called configuration manifold. Chapter 3 elaborates on geometry and topology change in relation with complex nonlinearity and chaos. Chapter 4 develops general nonlinear dynamics, continuous and discrete, deterministic and stochastic, in the unique form of path integrals and their action-amplitude formalism. This most natural framework for representing both phase transitions and topology change starts with Feynman's sum over histories, to be quickly generalized into the sum over geometries and topologies. The last Chapter puts all the previously developed techniques together and presents the unified form of complex nonlinearity. Here we have chaos, phase transitions, geometrical dynamics and topology change, all working together in the form of path integrals. The objective of this book is to provide a serious reader with a serious scientific tool that will enable them to actually perform a competitive research in modern complex nonlinearity. It includes a comprehensive bibliography on the subject and a detailed index. Target readership includes all researchers and students of complex nonlinear systems (in physics, mathematics, engineering, chemistry, biology, psychology, sociology, economics, medicine, etc.), working both in industry/clinics and academia.