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This book explores the complexity of physical and social systems, describing problems related to science policy, networks, values, and education. It stresses that the best advocates for the management of general ideas for the benefit of society are academies that unite top scientists and scholars representing all fields of knowledge. That is why in the context of complexity, the activities of academies are also described, including the current tasks of academies and academia in general.
This is a personal story about being involved in the study of nonlinear phenomena for more than half a century. The focus is on the development of ideas and the resulting knowledge. This is the visible part of research, but much is usually hidden. The author describes how the ideas were generated and how an “invisible college” of friends and colleagues has emerged. The presentation is spiced by thoughts about the beauty of science and philosophical considerations on the complex world, where nonlinear interactions play an important role. The book is in some sense a biography but not so much about the personal life of the author – it is about science and its actors. Based on the author's experience in many European research centres and science policy institutions, it reflects on the development of knowledge in nonlinear dynamics as well as science policy actions over the second half of the 20th century and the first quarter of the 21st century. Graduates and postgraduates interested in the progress of research will find the book particularly engaging.
This book addresses the modelling of mechanical waves by asking the right questions about them and trying to find suitable answers. The questions follow the analytical sequence from elementary understandings to complicated cases, following a step-by-step path towards increased knowledge. The focus is on waves in elastic solids, although some examples also concern non-conservative cases for the sake of completeness. Special attention is paid to the understanding of the influence of microstructure, nonlinearity and internal variables in continua. With the help of many mathematical models for describing waves, physical phenomena concerning wave dispersion, nonlinear effects, emergence of solitary waves, scales and hierarchies of waves as well as the governing physical parameters are analysed. Also, the energy balance in waves and non-conservative models with energy influx are discussed. Finally, all answers are interwoven into the canvas of complexity.
These proceedings include articles of the Sixth International Conference on Mathematical and Numerical Aspects of Wave Propagation (WAVES 2003), held in Jyviiskylii, Finland, from June 30 to July 4, 2003. As in the previous five conferences in this series, its program covered a broad range of topics related to the mathematical modeling and numerical simulation of wave phenomena. Topics of specific interest included various areas of acoustics, electromagnetics, elasticity, and related optimization and inverse problems. In addition to the nine invited presentations, we selected for this confer ence 152 high-level papers from over 20 countries, especially from Europe. Most of them are contained...
The development of geography also forms an interesting chapter in the history of the University ofTartu and in that of Estonian science in general. On the one hand, geography is a natural science in the broader sense ofthe word, on the other hand it is a study of human activity. This status of geography makes it particularly sensitive to the cultural and political circumstances under which scholarship and science have developed in Estonia. The article by Professor of Human Geography Ott Kurs (born 1939) and historian of science (PhD in geography) Erki Tamrniksaar (born 1969) "In Political Draughts Between Science and the Humanities: Geography at the University ofTartu Between the th th 17 -2...
This book treats stability problems of equilibrium states of elastic rods. Euler energy and dynamical methods of stability analysis are introduced and stability criteria for each method is developed. Stability analysis is accompanied by a number of classical conservative and non-conservative, two- and three-dimensional problems. Some problems are treated by all three methods. Many generalized versions of known problems are presented (heavy vertical rod, rotating rod, Greenhill's problem, Beck's column, Pflger's rod, strongest column, etc.). The generalizations consist in using either a generalized form of constitutive equations or a more general form of loading, or both. Special attention is paid to the influence of shear stresses and axis compressibility on the value of the critical load. Variational methods are applied to obtain estimates of the critical load and maximal deflection in the post-critical state, in a selected number of examples.
The functionality of modern structural, mechanical and electrical or electronic systems depends on their ability to perform under uncertain conditions. Consideration of uncertainties and their effect on system behavior is an essential and integral part of defining systems. In eleven chapters, leading experts present an overview of the current state of uncertainty modeling, analysis and design of large systems in four major areas: finite and boundary element methods (common structural analysis techniques), fatigue, stability analysis, and fault-tolerant systems. The content of this book is unique; it describes exciting research developments and challenges in emerging areas, and provide a sophisticated toolbox for tackling uncertainty modeling in real systems.