Sharkovsky's Theorem, Li and Yorke's "period three implies chaos" result, and the (3x+1) conjecture are beautiful and deep results that demonstrate the rich periodic character of first-order, nonlinear difference equations. To date, however, we still know surprisingly little about higher-order nonlinear difference equations. During the last ten years, the authors of this book have been fascinated with discovering periodicities in equations of higher order which for certain values of their parameters have one of the following characteristics: 1. Every solution of the equation is periodic with the same period. 2. Every solution of the equation is eventually periodic with a prescribed period. 3. Every solution of the equation converges to a periodic solution with the same period. This monograph presents their findings along with some thought-provoking questions and many open problems and conjectures worthy of investigation. The authors also propose investigation of the global character of solutions of these equations for other values of their parameters and working toward a more complete picture of the global behavior of their solutions. With the results and discussions it presents, Periodicities in Nonlinear Difference Equations places a few more stones in the foundation of the basic theory of nonlinear difference equations. Researchers and graduate students working in difference equations and discrete dynamical systems will find much to intrigue them and inspire further work in this area.

This monograph develops the theory of pre-Riesz spaces, which are the partially ordered vector spaces that embed order densely into Riesz spaces. Concepts from Riesz space theory such as disjointness, ideals, and bands are extended to pre-Riesz spaces. The analysis revolves around embedding techniques, including the Riesz completion and the functional representation. In the same spirit, norms and topologies on a pre-Riesz space and their extensions to the Riesz completion are examined. The generalized concepts are used to investigate disjointness preserving operators on pre-Riesz spaces and related notions. The monograph presents recent results as well as being an accessible introduction to the theory of partially ordered vector spaces and positive operators. Contents A primer on ordered vector spaces Embeddings, covers, and completions Seminorms on pre-Riesz spaces Disjointness, bands, and ideals in pre-Riesz spaces Operators on pre-Riesz spaces

This accessible guide is an ideal starter for students who are puzzled by statistics and quantitative data analysis. Taking students step-by-step through the statistical process, it introduces the steps involved in successfully describing, analyzing and interpreting data and explains the logic which underpins these processes. Bite-sized chapters provide practical guidance for each stage of the process, from defining the research question and designing questionnaires through to using the appropriate statistical tests and analyses for the task and reporting and interpreting statistics. Clear and concise, this will be a go-to resource for undergraduates of all disciplines who need to get to grips with basic statistics on their course.

Meta-analysis provides a framework for combining the results of several clinical trials and drawing inferences about the effectiveness of medical treatments. The move towards evidence-based health care and practice is underpinned by the use of meta-analysis. Meta-analysis methods play a crucial role in health research and have been developed substantially over the last five years.

• Provides a thorough criticism and an up-to-date survey of meta-analysis methods
• Emphasises the practical approach, and illustrates the methods by numerous examples
• Describes the use of Bayesian methods in meta-analysis
• Includes discussion of appropriate software for each analysis
• Includes numerous references to more advanced treatment of specialist topics
• Refers to software code used in the examples available on the authors' Web site

With applications in quantum field theory, general relativity and elementary particle physics, this three-volume work studies the invariance of differential operators under Lie algebras, quantum groups and superalgebras. This second volume covers quantum groups in their two main manifestations: quantum algebras and matrix quantum groups. The exposition covers both the general aspects of these and a great variety of concrete explicitly presented examples. The invariant q-difference operators are introduced mainly using representations of quantum algebras on their dual matrix quantum groups as carrier spaces. This is the first book that covers the title matter applied to quantum groups. Contents Quantum Groups and Quantum Algebras Highest-Weight Modules over Quantum Algebras Positive-Energy Representations of Noncompact Quantum Algebras Duality for Quantum Groups Invariant q-Difference Operators Invariant q-Difference Operators Related to GLq(n) q-Maxwell Equations Hierarchies

Stein's method is a collection of probabilistic techniques that allow one to assess the distance between two probability distributions by means of differential operators. In 2007, the authors discovered that one can combine Stein's method with the powerful Malliavin calculus of variations, in order to deduce quantitative central limit theorems involving functionals of general Gaussian fields. This book provides an ideal introduction both to Stein's method and Malliavin calculus, from the standpoint of normal approximations on a Gaussian space. Many recent developments and applications are studied in detail, for instance: fourth moment theorems on the Wiener chaos, density estimates, Breuer-Major theorems for fractional processes, recursive cumulant computations, optimal rates and universality results for homogeneous sums. Largely self-contained, the book is perfect for self-study. It will appeal to researchers and graduate students in probability and statistics, especially those who wish to understand the connections between Stein's method and Malliavin calculus.

This text offers a selection of papers on singularity theory presented at the Sixth Workshop on Real and Complex Singularities held at ICMC-USP, Brazil. It should help students and specialists to understand results that illustrate the connections between singularity theory and related fields. The authors discuss irreducible plane curve singularities, openness and multitransversality, the distribution Afs and the real asymptotic spectrum, deformations of boundary singularities and non-crystallographic coxeter groups, transversal Whitney topology and singularities of Haefliger foliations, the topology of hypersurface singularities, polar multiplicities and equisingularity of map germs from C3 to C4, and topological invariants of stable maps from a surface to the plane from a global viewpoint.

Traditionally, neural networks and wavelet theory have been two separate disciplines, taught separately and practiced separately. In recent years the offspring of wavelet theory and neural networks-wavelet networks-have emerged and grown vigorously both in research and applications. Yet the material needed to learn or teach wavelet networks has remained scattered in various research monographs.

Foundations of Wavelet Networks and Applications unites these two fields in a comprehensive, integrated presentation of wavelets and neural networks. It begins by building a foundation, including the necessary mathematics. A transitional chapter on recurrent learning then leads to an in-depth look at wavelet networks in practice, examining important applications that include using wavelets as stock market trading advisors, as classifiers in electroencephalographic drug detection, and as predictors of chaotic time series. The final chapter explores concept learning and approximation by wavelet networks.

The potential of wavelet networks in engineering, economics, and social science applications is rich and still growing. Foundations of Wavelet Networks and Applications prepares and inspires its readers not only to help ensure that potential is achieved but also to open new frontiers in research and applications.

The analysis of eigenvalues of Laplace and Schroedinger operators is an important and classical topic in mathematical physics with many applications. This book presents a thorough introduction to the area, suitable for masters and graduate students, and includes an ample amount of background material on the spectral theory of linear operators in Hilbert spaces and on Sobolev space theory. Of particular interest is a family of inequalities by Lieb and Thirring on eigenvalues of Schroedinger operators, which they used in their proof of stability of matter. The final part of this book is devoted to the active research on sharp constants in these inequalities and contains state-of-the-art results, serving as a reference for experts and as a starting point for further research.

Presenting the basics of elliptic PDEs in connection with regularity theory, the book bridges fundamental breakthroughs - such as the Krylov-Safonov and Evans-Krylov results, Caffarelli's regularity theory, and the counterexamples due to Nadirashvili and Vladut - and modern developments, including improved regularity for flat solutions and the partial regularity result. After presenting this general panorama, accounting for the subtleties surrounding C-viscosity and Lp-viscosity solutions, the book examines important models through approximation methods. The analysis continues with the asymptotic approach, based on the recession operator. After that, approximation techniques produce a regularity theory for the Isaacs equation, in Sobolev and Hoelder spaces. Although the Isaacs operator lacks convexity, approximation methods are capable of producing Hoelder continuity for the Hessian of the solutions by connecting the problem with a Bellman equation. To complete the book, degenerate models are studied and their optimal regularity is described.

Written for the practicing electronics professional, Tolerance Analysis of Electronic Circuits Using MATHCADä offers a comprehensive, step-by-step treatment of methods used to perform analyses essential to the design process of circuit cards and systems of cards, including:
· worst-case analysis,
· limits for production testing,
· component stress analysis,
· determining if a design meets specification limits, and
· manufacturing yield analysis
Using a practical approach that allows engineers and technicians to put the techniques directly into practice, the author presents the mathematical procedures used to determine performance limits. The topics and techniques discussed include extreme value and root-sum-square analysis using symmetric and asymmetric tolerance, Monte Carlo analysis using normal and uniform distributions, sensitivity formulas, tolerance analyses of opamp offsets, and anomalies of high-Q ac circuits.

Several natural Lp spaces of analytic functions have been widely studied in the past few decades, including Hardy spaces, Bergman spaces, and Fock spaces. The terms "Hardy spaces" and "Bergman spaces" are by now standard and well established. But the term "Fock spaces" is a different story.

Numerous excellent books now exist on the subject of Hardy spaces. Several books about Bergman spaces, including some of the author's, have also appeared in the past few decades. But there has been no book on the market concerning the Fock spaces. The purpose of this book is to fill that void, especially when many results in the subject are complete by now. This book presents important results and techniques summarized in one place, so that new comers, especially graduate students, have a convenient reference to the subject.

This book contains proofs that are new and simpler than the existing ones in the literature. In particular, the book avoids the use of the Heisenberg group, the Fourier transform, and the heat equation. This helps to keep the prerequisites to a minimum. A standard graduate course in each of real analysis, complex analysis, and functional analysis should be sufficient preparation for the reader.

The Journal of Fourier Analysis and Applications is a journal of the mathematical sciences devoted to Fourier analysis and its applications. The subject of Fourier analysis has had a major impact on the development of mathematics, on the understanding of many engineering and scientific phenomena, and on the solution of some of the most important problems in mathematics and the sciences. At the end of June 1993, a large Conference in Harmonic Analysis was held at the University of Paris-Sud at Orsay to celebrate the prominent role played by Jean-Pierre Kahane and his numerous achievements in this field. The large variety of topics discussed in this meeting, ranging from classical Harmonic Analysis to Probability Theory, reflects the intense mathematical curiosity and the broad mathematical interest of Jean-Pierre Kahane. Indeed, all of them are connected to his work. The mornings were devoted to plenary addresses while up to four parallel sessions took place in the afternoons. Altogether, there were about eighty speakers. This wide range of subjects appears in these proceedings which include thirty six articles.

The purpose of this four volume series is to make available for college teachers and students samples of important and realistic applications of mathematics which can be covered in undergraduate programs. The goal is to provide illustrations of how modem mathematics is actually employed to solve relevant contemporary problems. Although these independent chapters were prepared primarily for teachers in the general mathematical sciences, they should prove valuable to students, teachers, and research scientists in many of the fields of application as well. Prerequisites for each chapter and suggestions for the teacher are provided. Several of these chapters have been tested in a variety of classroom settings, and all have undergone extensive peer review and revision. Illustrations and exercises are included in most chapters. Some units can be covered in one class, whereas others provide sufficient material for a few weeks of class time. Volume 1 contains 23 chapters and deals with differential equations and, in the last four chapters, problems leading to partial differential equations. Applications are taken from medicine, biology, traffic systems and several other fields. The 14 chapters in Volume 2 are devoted mostly to problems arising in political science, but they also address questions appearing in sociology and ecology. Topics covered include voting systems, weighted voting, proportional representation, coalitional values, and committees. The 14 chapters in Volume 3 emphasize discrete mathematical methods such as those which arise in graph theory, combinatorics, and networks.

Survival Analysis for Bivariate Truncated Data provides readers with a comprehensive review on the existing works on survival analysis for truncated data, mainly focusing on the estimation of univariate and bivariate survival function. The most distinguishing feature of survival data is known as censoring, which occurs when the survival time can only be exactly observed within certain time intervals. A second feature is truncation, which is often deliberate and usually due to selection bias in the study design. Truncation presents itself in different ways. For example, left truncation, which is often due to a so-called late entry bias, occurs when individuals enter a study at a certain age and are followed from this delayed entry time. Right truncation arises when only individuals who experienced the event of interest before a certain time point can be observed. Analyzing truncated survival data without considering the potential selection bias may lead to seriously biased estimates of the time to event of interest and the impact of risk factors.

Fractional Calculus and Fractional Processes with Applications to Financial Economics presents the theory and application of fractional calculus and fractional processes to financial data. Fractional calculus dates back to 1695 when Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz first suggested the possibility of fractional derivatives. Research on fractional calculus started in full earnest in the second half of the twentieth century. The fractional paradigm applies not only to calculus, but also to stochastic processes, used in many applications in financial economics such as modelling volatility, interest rates, and modelling high-frequency data. The key features of fractional processes that make them interesting are long-range memory, path-dependence, non-Markovian properties, self-similarity, fractal paths, and anomalous diffusion behaviour. In this book, the authors discuss how fractional calculus and fractional processes are used in financial modelling and finance economic theory. It provides a practical guide that can be useful for students, researchers, and quantitative asset and risk managers interested in applying fractional calculus and fractional processes to asset pricing, financial time-series analysis, stochastic volatility modelling, and portfolio optimization.

The precise mathematical investigation of various natural phenomena is an old and difficult problem. This book is the first to deal systematically with the general non-selfadjoint problems in mechanics and physics. It deals mainly with bounded domains with smooth boundaries, but also considers elliptic boundary value problems in tube domains, i.e. in non-smooth domains. This volume will be of particular value to those working in differential equations, functional analysis, and equations of mathematical physics.

Multigrid methods are among the most efficient iterative methods for the solution of linear systems which arise in many large scale scientific calculations. Every researcher working with the numerical solution of partial differential equations should at least be familiar with this powerful technique. This invaluable book presents results concerning the rates of convergence of multigrid iterations.

This book is the first self-contained exposition of the fascinating link between dynamical systems and dimension groups. The authors explore the rich interplay between topological properties of dynamical systems and the algebraic structures associated with them, with an emphasis on symbolic systems, particularly substitution systems. It is recommended for anybody with an interest in topological and symbolic dynamics, automata theory or combinatorics on words. Intended to serve as an introduction for graduate students and other newcomers to the field as well as a reference for established researchers, the book includes a thorough account of the background notions as well as detailed exposition - with full proofs - of the major results of the subject. A wealth of examples and exercises, with solutions, serve to build intuition, while the many open problems collected at the end provide jumping-off points for future research.

In pioneering work in the 1950s, S. Karlin and J. McGregor showed that probabilistic aspects of certain Markov processes can be studied by analyzing orthogonal eigenfunctions of associated operators. In the decades since, many authors have extended and deepened this surprising connection between orthogonal polynomials and stochastic processes. This book gives a comprehensive analysis of the spectral representation of the most important one-dimensional Markov processes, namely discrete-time birth-death chains, birth-death processes and diffusion processes. It brings together the main results from the extensive literature on the topic with detailed examples and applications. Also featuring an introduction to the basic theory of orthogonal polynomials and a selection of exercises at the end of each chapter, it is suitable for graduate students with a solid background in stochastic processes as well as researchers in orthogonal polynomials and special functions who want to learn about applications of their work to probability.

Over the past decades, the Boundary Element Method has emerged as a ver satile and powerful tool for the solution of engineering problems, presenting in many cases an alternative to the more widely used Finite Element Method. As with any numerical method, the engineer or scientist who applies it to a practical problem needs to be acquainted with, and understand, its basic principles to be able to apply it correctly and be aware of its limitations. It is with this intention that we have endeavoured to write this book: to give the student or practitioner an easy-to-understand introductory course to the method so as to enable him or her to apply it judiciously. As the title suggests, this book not only serves as an introductory course, but also cov ers some advanced topics that we consider important for the researcher who needs to be up-to-date with new developments. This book is the result of our teaching experiences with the Boundary Element Method, along with research and consulting activities carried out in the field. Its roots lie in a graduate course on the Boundary Element Method given by the authors at the university of Stuttgart. The experiences gained from teaching and the remarks and questions of the students have contributed to shaping the 'Introductory course' (Chapters 1-8) to the needs of the stu dents without assuming a background in numerical methods in general or the Boundary Element Method in particular."

This book provides a descriptive account of Mischa Cotlar's work along with a complete bibliography of his mathematical books and papers. It examines the harmonic analysis and operator theory in relation with the theory of partial differential equations.

The problem of evaluating integrals is well known to every student who has had a year of calculus. It was an especially important subject in 19th century analysis and it has now been revived with the appearance of symbolic languages. In this book, the authors use the problem of exact evaluation of definite integrals as a starting point for exploring many areas of mathematics. The questions discussed in this book, first published in 2004, are as old as calculus itself. In presenting the combination of methods required for the evaluation of most integrals, the authors take the most interesting, rather than the shortest, path to the results. Along the way, they illuminate connections with many subjects, including analysis, number theory, algebra and combinatorics. This will be a guided tour of exciting discovery for undergraduates and their teachers in mathematics, computer science, physics, and engineering.

Everyone knows what braids are, whether they be made of hair, knitting wool, or electrical cables. However, it is not so evident that we can construct a theory about them, i.e. to elaborate a coherent and mathematically interesting corpus of results concerning them. This book demonstrates that there is a resoundingly positive response to this question: braids are fascinating objects, with a variety of rich mathematical properties and potential applications. A special emphasis is placed on the algorithmic aspects and on what can be called the 'calculus of braids', in particular the problem of isotopy. Prerequisites are kept to a minimum, with most results being established from scratch. An appendix at the end of each chapter gives a detailed introduction to the more advanced notions required, including monoids and group presentations. Also included is a range of carefully selected exercises to help the reader test their knowledge, with solutions available.