birkhäuser boston jun 2013 (11 results)

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -The concept of infinity is one of the most important, and at the same time, one of the most mysterious concepts of science. Already in antiquity many philosophers and mathematicians pondered over its contradictory nature. In mathematics, the contradictions connected with infinity intensified after the creation, at the end of the 19th century, of the theory of infinite sets and the subsequent discovery, soon after, of paradoxes in this theory. At the time, many scientists ignored the paradoxes and used set theory extensively in their work, while others subjected set-theoretic methods in mathematics to harsh criticism. The debate intensified when a group of French mathematicians, who wrote under the pseudonym of Nicolas Bourbaki, tried to erect the whole edifice of mathematics on the single notion of a set. Some mathematicians greeted this attempt enthusiastically while others regarded it as an unnecessary formalization, an attempt to tear mathematics away from life-giving practical applications that sustain it. These differences notwithstanding, Bourbaki has had a significant influence on the evolution of mathematics in the twentieth century. In this book we try to tell the reader how the idea of the infinite arose and developed in physics and in mathematics, how the theory of infinite sets was constructed, what paradoxes it has led to, what significant efforts have been made to eliminate the resulting contradictions, and what routes scientists are trying to find that would provide a way out of the many difficulties. 156 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware 460 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Modeling complex biological, chemical, and physical systems, in the context of spatially heterogeneous mediums, is a challenging task for scientists and engineers using traditional methods of analysis.Modeling in Applied Sciences is a comprehensive survey of modeling large systems using kinetic equations, and in particular the Boltzmann equation and its generalizations. An interdisciplinary group of leading authorities carefully develop the foundations of kinetic models and discuss the connections and interactions between model theories, qualitative and computational analysis and real-world applications. This book provides a thoroughly accessible and lucid overview of the different aspects, models, computations, and methodology for the kinetic-theory modeling process.Topics and Features:\* Integrated modeling perspective utilized in all chapters\* Fluid dynamics of reacting gases\* Self-contained introduction to kinetic models\* Becker-Doring equations\* Nonlinear kinetic models with chemical reactions\* Kinetic traffic-flow models\* Models of granular media\* Large communication networks\* Thorough discussion of numerical simulations of Boltzmann equationThis new book is an essential resource for all scientists and engineers who use large-scale computations for studying the dynamics of complex systems of fluids and particles. Professionals, researchers, and postgraduates will find the book a modern and authoritative guide to the topic. 436 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -'What good is a newborn baby ' Michael Faraday's reputed response when asked, 'What good is magnetic induction ' But, it must be admitted that a newborn baby may die in infancy. What about this one- the idea of transfiniteness for graphs, electrical networks, and random walks At least its bloodline is robust. Those subjects, along with Cantor's transfinite numbers, comprise its ancestry. There seems to be general agreement that the theory of graphs was born when Leonhard Euler published his solution to the 'Konigsberg bridge prob lem' in 1736 [8]. Similarly, the year of birth for electrical network theory might well be taken to be 184 7, when Gustav Kirchhoff published his volt age and current laws [ 14]. Ever since those dates until just a few years ago, all infinite undirected graphs and networks had an inviolate property: Two branches either were connected through a finite path or were not connected at all. The idea of two branches being connected only through transfinite paths, that is, only through paths having infinitely many branches was never invoked, or so it appears from a perusal of various surveys of infinite graphs [17], [20], [29], [32]. Our objective herein is to explore this idea and some of its ramifications. It should be noted however that directed graphs having transfinite paths have appeared in set theory [6, Section 4. 260 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Computers these days spend a fairly low fraction of their time computing. In fact, the very word 'computer' has become something of a misnomer. In the American History museum of the Smithsonian Institute in Wash ington, D.C., there is an exhibit of early computers. Three features of these machines are striking. First, they are enormous, especially in com parison to their capabilities. The museum visitor who has just come from the Natural History building next door may be reminded of fossilized di nosaur bones. Second, they don't look at all like modern computing ma chines. The cases are made of crude metal or beautifully worked wood, recalling an approach to the design of scientific apparatus which belongs to a previous generation. Lastly, the function of these machines is mainly to compute-to perform rapid arithmetic. The computer of today bears little resemblance in size, form, or function to its ancestors. It is, most obviously, smaller by several orders of mag nitude. Its form has changed from the carefully crafted one-of-a-kind in strument to the mass-produced microchip. But the change in its function is perhaps the most dramatic of all. Instead of being a computing engine, it is a machine for the processing of information. The word 'processor' has come into common usage. A processor used to be a central processing unit-a set of wires and vacuum tubes, or later a set of printed circuit boards-which was nestled deep within the computer. Today a processor is an off-the-shelf component. 132 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Under the guidance and inspiration of Dr. Ajit Iqbal Singh, an International Conference on Harmonie Analysis took place at the Uni versity of Delhi, India, from December 18 to 22, 1995. Twenty-one dis tinguished mathematicians from around the world, as weIl as many from India, participated in this successful and stimulating conference. An underlying theme of the conference was hypergroups, the the ory of wh ich has developed and been found useful in fields as diverse as special functions, differential equations, probability theory, representa tion theory, measure theory, Hopf algebras and quantum groups. Some other areas of emphasis that emerged were harmonie analysis of analytic functions, ergo die theory and wavelets. This book includes most of the proceedings of this conference. I chaired the Editorial Board for this publication; the other members were J. M. Anderson (University College London), G. L. Litvinov (Centre for Optimization and Mathematical Modeling, Institute for New Technolo gies, Moscow), Mrs. A. I. Singh (University ofDelhi, India), V. S. Sunder (Institute of Mathematical Sciences, C.LT., Madras, India), and N. J. Wildberger (University of New South Wales, Australia). I appreciate all the help provided by these editors as weIl as the help and cooperation of Our authors and referees of their papers. I especially appreciate techni cial assistance and advice from Alan L. Schwartz (University of Missouri - St. Louis, USA) and Martin E. Walter (University of Colorado, USA). Finally, I thank Our editor, Ann Kostant, for her help and encouragement during this project. 256 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -These two volumes on Estrogens, Progestins, and Their Antagonists repre sent a thematic extension of the series, Hormones in Health and Disease. The first publication in the series, Steroid Hormone Receptors: Basic and Clinical Aspects, focused on recent advances in the anatomy of steroid receptors and members of the steroid receptor superfamily. Consistent with the spirit of the series, the authors addressed issues of clinical significance of steroid receptor detection in hormone-related disorders. The second volume in the series, Hormones and Cancer, attempted a more direct examination of ac tions of hormones in cancerous tissues and cells. In these two volumes, which together form the third in the series, the editor, Dr. Edward Pavlik, has introduced a team of leading investigators engaged in research on various aspects of the steroids that regulate female reproductive physiology. Estrogens and progestins, the main components of the most widely used contraceptive pills, have found a variety of uses in clinical endocrinology. These volumes contain discussions that range from the introduction of novel hormonal ligands to hormonal antagonism by steroid analogs. A balanced treatment is provided of applications of the steroids in treatment and management of hormone-dependent conditions and malignancies. The remarkable synthesis of literature contained in this volume will provide a reader with both the fundamental concepts underly ing steroid hormone physiology and the clinical applications of observations made on basic aspects of hormone action. I congratulate the editorial leadership of Dr. 612 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Methods of signal analysis represent a broad research topic with applications in many disciplines, including engineering, technology, biomedicine, seismography, eco nometrics, and many others based upon the processing of observed variables. Even though these applications are widely different, the mathematical background be hind them is similar and includes the use of the discrete Fourier transform and z-transform for signal analysis, and both linear and non-linear methods for signal identification, modelling, prediction, segmentation, and classification. These meth ods are in many cases closely related to optimization problems, statistical methods, and artificial neural networks. This book incorporates a collection of research papers based upon selected contri butions presented at the First European Conference on Signal Analysis and Predic tion (ECSAP-97) in Prague, Czech Republic, held June 24-27, 1997 at the Strahov Monastery. Even though the Conference was intended as a European Conference, at first initiated by the European Association for Signal Processing (EURASIP), it was very gratifying that it also drew significant support from other important scientific societies, including the lEE, Signal Processing Society of IEEE, and the Acoustical Society of America. The organizing committee was pleased that the re sponse from the academic community to participate at this Conference was very large; 128 summaries written by 242 authors from 36 countries were received. In addition, the Conference qualified under the Continuing Professional Development Scheme to provide PD units for participants and contributors. 532 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -A four-day conference, 'Functional Analysis on the Eve of the Twenty First Century,' was held at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, from October 24 to 27, 1993, in honor of the eightieth birthday of Professor Israel Moiseyevich Gelfand. He was born in Krasnye Okna, near Odessa, on September 2, 1913. Israel Gelfand has played a crucial role in the development of functional analysis during the last half-century. His work and his philosophy have in fact helped to shape our understanding of the term 'functional analysis' itself, as has the celebrated journal Functional Analysis and Its Applications, which he edited for many years. Functional analysis appeared at the beginning of the century in the classic papers of Hilbert on integral operators. Its crucial aspect was the geometric interpretation of families of functions as infinite-dimensional spaces, and of op erators (particularly differential and integral operators) as infinite-dimensional analogues of matrices, directly leading to the geometrization of spectral theory. This view of functional analysis as infinite-dimensional geometry organically included many facets of nineteenth-century classical analysis, such as power series, Fourier series and integrals, and other integral transforms. 324 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Hamilton-Jacobi equations and other types of partial differential equa tions of the first order are dealt with in many branches of mathematics, mechanics, and physics. These equations are usually nonlinear, and func tions vital for the considered problems are not smooth enough to satisfy these equations in the classical sense. An example of such a situation can be provided by the value function of a differential game or an optimal control problem. It is known that at the points of differentiability this function satisfies the corresponding Hamilton-Jacobi-Isaacs-Bellman equation. On the other hand, it is well known that the value function is as a rule not everywhere differentiable and therefore is not a classical global solution. Thus in this case, as in many others where first-order PDE's are used, there arises necessity to introduce a notion of generalized solution and to develop theory and methods for constructing these solutions. In the 50s-70s, problems that involve nonsmooth solutions of first order PDE's were considered by Bakhvalov, Evans, Fleming, Gel'fand, Godunov, Hopf, Kuznetzov, Ladyzhenskaya, Lax, Oleinik, Rozhdestven ski1, Samarskii, Tikhonov, and other mathematicians. Among the inves tigations of this period we should mention the results of S.N. Kruzhkov, which were obtained for Hamilton-Jacobi equation with convex Hamilto nian. A review of the investigations of this period is beyond the limits of the present book. A sufficiently complete bibliography can be found in [58, 126, 128, 141]. 332 pp. Englisch.

Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware -Intuitively, a foliation corresponds to a decomposition of a manifold into a union of connected, disjoint submanifolds of the same dimension, called leaves, which pile up locally like pages of a book. The theory of foliations, as it is known, began with the work of C. Ehresmann and G. Reeb, in the 1940's; however, as Reeb has himself observed, already in the last century P. Painleve saw the necessity of creating a geometric theory (of foliations) in order to better understand the problems in the study of solutions of holomorphic differential equations in the complex field. The development of the theory of foliations was however provoked by the following question about the topology of manifolds proposed by H. Hopf in the 3 1930's: 'Does there exist on the Euclidean sphere S a completely integrable vector field, that is, a field X such that X curl X - 0 ' By Frobenius' theorem, this question is equivalent to the following: 'Does there exist on the 3 sphere S a two-dimensional foliation ' This question was answered affirmatively by Reeb in his thesis, where he 3 presents an example of a foliation of S with the following characteristics: There exists one compact leaf homeomorphic to the two-dimensional torus, while the other leaves are homeomorphic to two-dimensional planes which accu mulate asymptotically on the compact leaf. Further, the foliation is C''. 216 pp. Englisch.