This book provides an up-to-date overview of results in rigid body dynamics, including material concerned with the analysis of nonintegrability and chaotic behavior in various related problems. The wealth of topics covered makes it a practical reference for researchers and graduate students in mathematics, physics and mechanics. Contents Rigid Body Equations of Motion and Their Integration The Euler - Poisson Equations and Their Generalizations The Kirchhoff Equations and Related Problems of Rigid Body Dynamics Linear Integrals and Reduction Generalizations of Integrability Cases. Explicit Integration Periodic Solutions, Nonintegrability, and Transition to Chaos Appendix A : Derivation of the Kirchhoff, Poincare - Zhukovskii, and Four-Dimensional Top Equations Appendix B: The Lie Algebra e(4) and Its Orbits Appendix C: Quaternion Equations and L-A Pair for the Generalized Goryachev - Chaplygin Top Appendix D: The Hess Case and Quantization of the Rotation Number Appendix E: Ferromagnetic Dynamics in a Magnetic Field Appendix F: The Landau - Lifshitz Equation, Discrete Systems, and the Neumann Problem Appendix G: Dynamics of Tops and Material Points on Spheres and Ellipsoids Appendix H: On the Motion of a Heavy Rigid Body in an Ideal Fluid with Circulation Appendix I: The Hamiltonian Dynamics of Self-gravitating Fluid and Gas Ellipsoids

With oil resources approaching their limits, biofuels have become increasingly attractive. This book provides a detailed description of the ecological implications of second and third generation biofuel feedstock production systems, beginning with an introduction to the importance of ecological sustainability alongside economic viability. The book is divided into sections describing theoretical foundation and benefits of various biofuel cropping systems, and providing a description of practical ecological limitations to achieve those fundamental benefits. The book covers such critical issues as greenhouse gas emissions, carbon balance, water cycle components, other biogeochemical and socioeconomic interactions alongside life cycle analysis principals for achieving sustainability. These are some of the most important sustainability, environmental and economic issues which biofuel industry and scientific community is seeking answers to.

Presenting current approaches in observational and computational seismology, this book introduces advanced methods and techniques by means of case studies in earthquake research. Among others these include solving inverse seismologic problems, tomography for structure imaging, characterizing fault damage and healing, seismicity analysis for determining pre-shock moment release, and coupled solid-fluid models.

Mechanical responses of solid materials are governed by their material properties. The solutions for estimating and predicting the mechanical responses are extremely difficult, in particular for non-homogeneous materials. Among these, there is a special type of materials whose properties are variable only along one direction, defined as graded materials or functionally graded materials (FGMs). Examples are plant stems and bones. Artificial graded materials are widely used in mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, biological engineering, and electronic engineering. This work covers and develops boundary element methods (BEM) to investigate the properties of realistic graded materials. It is a must have for practitioners and researchers in materials science, both academic and in industry. Covers analysis of properties of graded materials. Presents solutions based methods for analysis of fracture mechanics. Presents two types of boundary element methods for layered isotropic materials and transversely isotropic materials. Written by two authors with extensive international experience in academic and private research and engineering.

This edited work covers piezoelectric materials in the form of beams, plates, shells, and other structural components in modern devices and structures. Applications are frequency control and detection functions in resonators, sensors, actuators, oscillations, and other smart and intelligent structures. The products and technology are with us in our daily life through computers and communication devices. The contributions cover novel methods for the analysis of piezoelectric structures including wave propagation, high frequency vibration, material characterization, and optimization of structures. Understanding of these methods is increasingly important in the design and modelling of next generation devices and micro-structures with piezoelectric elements and effects.

Drylands in East Asia (DEA) are home to more than one billion people with an environment vulnerable to natural and anthropogenic changes. One of the critical needs in the region is to fully understand how dryland ecosystems respond to the changing climate and human activities in order to develop strategies to cope with continued climate change. This book provides state-of-the-art knowledge and information on drylands ecosystem dynamics, changing climate, society, and land use in the region. In addition to the synthesis of the existing research and knowledge of DEA, the book provides a role model for regional ecological assessment. With a wide spectrum of contributions from experts around the globe, the book should be of interest to researchers and students both internationally and in East Asia. Lessons learned from this synthesis effort in DEA should be useful for developing climate adaptation strategies for other similar regions around the globe.

The book covers multi-disciplinary topics in observational, computational and applied geophysics in aspects of solid earth system. The authors provide an up-to-date overview for methods and techniques in seismology, with a focus on fault structure, strong ground motion and earthquake forecast based on full-3D earth structure models. Abundant of case studies make it a practical reference for researchers in seismology and applied geophysics.

Most of the problems arising in science and engineering are nonlinear. They are inherently difficult to solve. Traditional analytical approximations are valid only for weakly nonlinear problems, and often break down for problems with strong nonlinearity. This book presents the current theoretical developments and applications of the Keller-box method to nonlinear problems. The first half of the book addresses basic concepts to understand the theoretical framework for the method. In the second half of the book, the authors give a number of examples of coupled nonlinear problems that have been solved by means of the Keller-box method. The particular area of focus is on fluid flow problems governed by nonlinear equation.

This handbook provides an overview of physical, chemical and biological methods used to analyze soils and plant tissue using an ecosystem perspective. The current emphasis on climate change has recognized the importance of including soil carbon as part of our carbon budgets. Methods to assess soils must be ecosystem based if they are to have utility for policy makers and managers wanting to change soil carbon and nutrient pools. Most of the texts on soil analyis treat agriculture and not forest soils and these methods do not transfer readily to forests because of their different chemistry and physical properties. This manual presents methods for soil and plant analysis with the ecosystem level approach that will reduce the risk that poor management decisions will be made in forests. This manual was intended for the instructors that teach students soil and plant analyses; however it can also be used by the research laboratories and by environmental scientists. The laboratory procedures in this manual are outlined in easy-to-follow steps and frequently accompanied with examples of calculations, questions to answer, and also a blank data sheet to use. These methods used in this manual can be used on soil and plant tissues found in agricultural, horticulture, forestry, urban, and natural lands.

Methane Emissions from Unique Wetlands in China: Case Studies, Meta Analyses and Modelling is a landmark volume in the development of studies about methane emission from wetlands. Although there are books about methane emissions from rice paddies, natural wetlands and reservoirs, this book is the first one that provides information about methane emission from wetlands in China. Moreover, the book picks up very unique wetlands, alpine wetlands on the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, and Three Gorges Reservoir (the world's largest hydroelectric reservoir) as cases to study methane emissions. It reviews and meta-analyses methane emissions from rice paddies, natural wetlands and lakes in China during the past twenty years. Furthermore, this book acts as bridge to connect microbial ecology and modelling: it both describes methane-producing bacteria dynamics and methane emission modelling.

With oil resources approaching their limits, biofuels have become increasingly attractive. This book provides a detailed description of the ecological implications of second and third generation biofuel feedstock production systems, beginning with an introduction to the importance of ecological sustainability alongside economic viability. The book is divided into sections describing theoretical foundation and benefits of various biofuel cropping systems, and providing a description of practical ecological limitations to achieve those fundamental benefits. The book covers such critical issues as greenhouse gas emissions, carbon balance, water cycle components, other biogeochemical and socioeconomic interactions alongside life cycle analysis principals for achieving sustainability. These are some of the most important sustainability, environmental and economic issues which biofuel industry and scientific community is seeking answers to.

This handbook provides an overview of physical, chemical and biological methods used to analyze soils and plant tissue using an ecosystem perspective. The current emphasis on climate change has recognized the importance of including soil carbon as part of our carbon budgets. Methods to assess soils must be ecosystem based if they are to have utility for policy makers and managers wanting to change soil carbon and nutrient pools. Most of the texts on soil analyis treat agriculture and not forest soils and these methods do not transfer readily to forests because of their different chemistry and physical properties. This manual presents methods for soil and plant analysis with the ecosystem level approach that will reduce the risk that poor management decisions will be made in forests. This manual was intended for the instructors that teach students soil and plant analyses; however it can also be used by the research laboratories and by environmental scientists.The laboratory procedures in this manual are outlined in easy-to-follow steps and frequently accompanied with examples of calculations, questions to answer, and also a blank data sheet to use. These methods used in this manual can be used on soil and plant tissues found in agricultural, horticulture, forestry, urban, and natural lands.

The aim of the book is to give a broad introduction of topology to undergraduate students. It covers the most important and useful parts of the point-set as well as the combinatorial topology. The development of the material is from simple to complex, concrete to abstract, and appeals to the intuition of readers. Attention is also paid to how topology is actually used in the other fields of mathematics. Over 150 illustrations, 160 examples and 600 exercises will help readers to practice and fully understand the subject. Contents: Set and Map Metric Space Graph Topology Topological Concepts Complex Topological Properties Surface Topics in Point Set Topology Index

This book is based on the experience of teaching the subject by the author in Russia, France, South Africa and Sweden. The author provides students and teachers with an easy to follow textbook spanning a variety of topics on tensors, Riemannian geometry and geometric approach to partial differential equations. Application of approximate transformation groups to the equations of general relativity in the de Sitter space simplifies the subject significantly.

H.P. HIGER 1 In the seventeenth century people dreamed about a machine to get rid of evil spirits and obsessions, which were thought to be the main source of mis fortune and disease. I am not going to question this approach, because in a way it sounds reasonable. They dreamed of a machine that would display im ages from the inner world of men which could be easily identified and named. Somehow these are the roots of MR imaging. Of course, we now view disease from a different point of view but our objectives remain the same, namely to make diseases visible and to try to characterize them in order to cure them. This was the reason for setting up a symposium on tissue characterization. About 300 years later the clinical introduction of MRI has great potential for making this dream come true, and I hope that this symposium has con stituted another step toward its realization. When Damadian published his article in 1971 about differences in T1 relaxation times between healthy and pathological tissues, this was a milestone in tissue characterization. His results initiated intensive research in to MR imaging and tissue parameters. Actually his encouraging discovery was not only the first but also the last for a long time in the field of MR tissue characterization.