Fundamentals in Nuclear Physics

Fundamentals in Nuclear Physics

This course explores nuclear physics and its applications ranging from the structure of nuclei and their reactions, to astrophysics and cosmology. The physics is introduced with arguments based on simple ideas such as the empirical structure of nuclear forces and its interplay with the Pauli principle and Coulomb repulsion. The book then develops elementary nuclear models and illustrates nuclear systematics with experimental data. Reactions and decays are discussed both phenomenologically and from the point of view of fundamental electro-weak interaction theory. The discussions of fission and fusion emphasize nuclear energy production. This leads directly into nuclear astrophysics and nucleosynthesis. The book ends with a presentation of the latest ideas about cosmology. As a primer this course will lay the foundations for more specialized subjects within the vast domain of nuclear physics as a whole.

Fundamentals in Nuclear Physics

Baghdad Central

Baghdad Central

Baghdad, 2003: Iraqi police inspector Muhsin al-Khafaji investigates the disappearance of young women translators working for the American occupation forces.

Baghdad Central

Weighing the World

Weighing the World

The book about John Michell (1724-93) has two parts. The first and longest part is biographical, an account of Michell ‘s home setting (Nottinghamshire in England), the clerical world in which he grew up (Church of England), the university (Cambridge) where he studied and taught, and the scientific activities he made the center of his life. The second part is a complete edition of his known letters. Half of his letters have not been previously published; the other half are brought together in one place for the first time. The letters touch on all aspects of his career, and because they are in his words, they help bring the subject to life. His publications were not many, a slim book on magnets and magnetism, one paper on geology, two papers on astronomy, and a few brief papers on other topics, but they were enough to leave a mark on several sciences. He has been called a geologist, an astronomer, and a physicist, which he was, though we best remember him as a natural philosopher, as one who investigated physical nature broadly. His scientific contribution is not easy to summarize. Arguably he had the broadest competence of any British natural philosopher of the eighteenth century: equally skilled in experiment and observation, mathematical theory, and instruments, his field of inquiry was the universe. From the structure of the heavens through the structure of the Earth to the forces of the elementary particles of matter, he carried out original and far-reaching researches on the workings of nature.

Weighing the World

The Small Screen

The Small Screen

Television is one of the most important socializing forces in contemporary culture. This book is a cultural history of prime-time television in America during the 1990s.

The Small Screen

Convergence in Shareholder Law

Convergence in Shareholder Law

On the one hand, it can be argued that the increasing economic and political interdependence of countries has led to the convergence of national legal systems. On the other hand, advocates of the counterhypothesis maintain that this development is both unrealistic and unnecessary. Mathias Siems examines the company law of the UK, the USA, Germany, France, Japan and China to see how this issue affects shareholder law. The author subsequently analyses economic and political factors which may or may not lead to convergence, and assesses the extent of this development. Convergence of Shareholder Law, which was originally published in 2007, not only provides a thorough comparative legal analysis but also shows how company law interconnects with political forces and economic development and helps in evaluating whether harmonisation and shareholder protection should be enhanced.

Convergence in Shareholder Law

Time and the Moment in Victorian Literature and Society

Time and the Moment in Victorian Literature and Society

Sudden changes, opportunities or revelations have always carried a special significance in western culture, from the Greek and later the Christian kairos to Evangelical experiences of conversion. This fascinating book explores the ways in which England, under the influence of industrializing forces and increased precision in assessing the passing of time, attached importance to moments and events that compress great significance into small units of time. Sue Zemka questions the importance that modernity invests in momentary events, from religion to aesthetics and philosophy. She argues for a strain in Victorian and early modern novels critical of the values the age invested in moments of time, and suggests that such novels also offer a correction to contemporary culture and criticism, with its emphasis on the momentary event as an agency of change.

Time and the Moment in Victorian Literature and Society

Generic and Indexed Programming

Generic and Indexed Programming

Generic programming is about making programs more widely applicable via exotic kinds of parametrization—not just along the dimensions of values or of types, but also of things such as the shape of data, algebraic structures, strategies, computational paradigms, and so on. Indexed programming is a lightweight form of dependently typed programming, constraining flexibility by allowing one to state and check relationships between parameters: that the shapes of two arguments agree, that an encoded value matches some type, that values transmitted along a channel conform to the stated protocol, and so on. The two forces of genericity and indexing balance each other nicely, simultaneously promoting and controlling generality. The 5 lectures included in this book stem from the Spring School on Generic and Indexed Programming, held in Oxford, UK, in March 2010 as a closing activity of the generic and indexed programming project at Oxford which took place in the years 2006-2010.

Generic and Indexed Programming

Transport and Reactivity of Solutions in Confined Hydrosystems

Transport and Reactivity of Solutions in Confined Hydrosystems

The present work reflects a multi-disciplinary effort to address the topic of confined hydrosystems developed with a cross-fertilization panel of physics, chemists, biologists, soil and earth scientists. Confined hydrosystems include all situations in natural settings wherein the extent of the liquid phase is limited so that the solid-liquid and/or liquid-air interfaces may be critical to the properties of the whole system. Primarily, this so-called residual solution is occluded in pores/channels in such a way that decreases its tendency to evaporation, and makes it long-lasting in arid (Earth deserts) and hyper-arid (Mars soils) areas. The associated physics is available from domains like capillarity, adsorption and wetting, and surface forces. However, many processes are still to understand due to the close relationship between local structure and matter properties, the subtle interplay between the host and the guest, the complex intermingling among static reactivity and migration pathway.

Transport and Reactivity of Solutions in Confined Hydrosystems

Ecko Burning

Ecko Burning

Ruthless and ambitious, Lord Phylos has control of Fhaveon city, and is using her forces to bring the grasslands under his command. His last opponent is an elderly scribe whos lost his best friend and wants only to do the right thing. Seeking weapons, Ecko and his companions follow a trail of myth and rumour to a ruined city where both nightmare and shocking truth lie in wait.

Ecko Burning

Dispersion Forces II

Dispersion Forces II

In this book, a modern unified theory of dispersion forces on atoms and bodies is presented which covers a broad range of different aspects and scenarios. Macroscopic quantum electrodynamics is applied within the context of dispersion forces. In contrast to the normal-mode quantum electrodynamics traditionally used to study dispersion forces, the new approach allows to consider realistic material properties including absorption and is flexible enough to be applied to a broad range of geometries. Thus general properties of dispersion forces like their non-additivity and the relation between microscopic and macroscopic dispersion forces are discussed. It is demonstrated how the general results can be used to obtain dispersion forces on atoms in the presence of bodies of various shapes and materials. In particular, nontrivial magnetic properties of the bodies, bodies of irregular shapes, the role of material absorption, and dynamical forces for excited atoms are discussed. This volume 2 deals especially with quantum electrodynamics, dispersion forces, Casimir forces, asymptotic power laws, quantum friction and universal scaling laws. The book gives both the specialist and those new to the field a thorough overview over recent results in the context of dispersion forces. It provides a toolbox for studying dispersion forces in various contexts.

Dispersion Forces II

History

History

Homo sapiens have remained the same species, largely unchanged in genetic makeup and anatomy since the Cro-Magnon era. By contrast, the cultural, social, and technological changes since then have been nothing less than extraordinary. Telling our story, from prehistory to the present day, DK’s History is a thought-provoking journey, revealing the common threads and forces that have shaped human history.

History

Statics of Rods

Statics of Rods

The volume is devoted to the mechanics of rods, which is a branch of the mechanics of deformable bodies. The main goal of the book is to present systematically theoretical fundamentals of the mechanics of rods as well as numerical methods used for practical purposes. The monograph is concerned with the most general statements of the problems in the mechanics of rods. Various types of external loads that a rod may be subject to are discussed. Advanced techniques that includes vector analyses, linear algebra, and distributions is used in the derivation of linear and nonlinear equilibrium equations. The use of these techniques helps us to make transformations and rearrangements of equations more transparent and compact. Theoretical basics of rods interacting with external and internal flows of fluid and the derivation of the formulas for the hydrodynamic and aerodynamic forces are presented.

Statics of Rods

Art, Culture and the Semiotics of Meaning

Art, Culture and the Semiotics of Meaning

Do the arts mean? Do all the arts mean? Do they all mean in the same way? Does an art work mean in the same way in which a street sign means? More importantly, do all art works mean in a semiotically interesting way? This book argues for the importance of those formal meanings in the arts which most effectively enrich our knowledge of ‘the way things are’ and train our cognitive faculties to deal with them. Jackson Barry examines the meaning of art works as read through their material and formal constituents using a semiotic approach which clarifies the historical and cultural forces molding these sensorially elaborated ‘signs.’ Medieval wheel-of-fortune diagrams, a Shakespeare play, non-objective painting, and a stage set for Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, all demonstrate the interplay between concepts struggling for expression and the available matter and form for their manifestation. At the end, the author considers the biological basis for art as defined in contemporary cognitive science.

Art, Culture and the Semiotics of Meaning

Crises of Global Economy and the Future of Capitalism

Crises of Global Economy and the Future of Capitalism

Recent events in the global financial markets and macro economies have served as a strong reminder for a need of a coherent theory of capitalist crisis and analysis. This book helps to fill the gap with well-grounded alternative articulations of the forces which move today’s economic dynamics, how they interact and how ideas of foundational figures in economic theory can be used to make sense of the current predicament. The book presents a comprehensive collection of reflections on the origins, dynamics and implications of the interlinked crises of the U.S. and global economies.

Crises of Global Economy and the Future of Capitalism

Wulfrik

Wulfrik

Emerging from the mists, Wulfrik the Wanderer brings destruction and death everywhere he treads. Cursed by the Ruinous Powers, the champion must travel across the Old World and seek prizes to appease the forces of Chaos. But now dark forces plot against Wulfrik, and he must discover the enemy within or else his soul will be lost to the Dark Gods forever.

Wulfrik

Wave Forces on Offshore Structures

Wave Forces on Offshore Structures

A thorough understanding of the interaction of waves and currents with offshore structures has now become a vital factor in the safe and economical design of various offshore technologies. There has been a significant increase in the research efforts to meet this need. Although considerable progress has been made in the offshore industry and in the understanding of the interaction of waves, currents, and wind with ocean structures, most of the available books concentrate only on practical applications without a grounding in the physics. This text strives to integrate an understanding of the physics of ocean-structure interactions with numerous applications. This more complete understanding will allow the engineer and designer to solve problems heretofore not encountered, and to design new and innovative structures. The intent of this book is to serve the needs of future generations of engineers designing more sophisticated structures at ever increasing depths.

Wave Forces on Offshore Structures

The North Korean Peoples Army

The North Korean Peoples Army

For more than fifty years, the combined armed forces of the United States and the Republic of Korea have faced down the North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) along the world’s most militarized stretch of land known as the demilitarized zone. Despite the prolonged standoff, much remains unknown about the world’s third largest army. In this authoritative study, James M. Minnich blends academic knowledge with nearly twenty-five years of military experience to explain the NKPA’s origins, military ideology, strategy, combat formations, and tactics to ensure a full understanding of this reclusive belligerent. At the outset, Minnich examines the first crucial years of the North Korean state and its army. Solidly grounded in primary sources and buttressed by the judicious use of secondary sources, his work traces the formative elements of the Korean partisans, Soviet Army, and Chinese communists to show how each group contributed to the NKPA’s development and its ability to mount the first shooting campaign of the Cold War. This timely book then presents a vitally relevant examination of the NKPA’s current military tactics, including its seven forms of offensive maneuver, two forms of defense, and tactical artillery groupings. Required reading for military planners and personnel who must remain prepared to rapidly deploy to Korea, this concise profile will also appeal to students of Korean history and those seeking a deeper understanding of the NKPA.

The North Korean Peoples Army

The Book of the Crowman

The Book of the Crowman

The world has been condemned. Only Gordon Black and The Crowman can redeem it.The search for the shadowy figure known only as the Crowman continues, as the Green Men prepare to rise up against the forces of the Ward.It is the Bright Day, a time long generations hence, when a peace has descended across the world.It is the Black Dawn, a time of environmental apocalypse, the earth wracked and dying.

The Book of the Crowman

Gravitation

Gravitation

Although gravity is the dominant force of nature at large distances (from intermediate scales to the Hubble length), it is the weakest of forces in particle physics, though it is believed to become important again at very short scales (the Planck length). The conditions created in particle accelerators are similar to those at the time of the early universe. While particle physics offers insight to early universe physics, there is a need to understand gravity at extremes of large and short distances to further understand cosmology and the development of the universe. Gravitation: From the Hubble Length to the Planck Length fulfills this need by providing an overview of relativistic astrophysics, early universe physics, cosmology, and their interface with particle physics.

Gravitation

String Theory

String Theory

String Theory is our current best candidate for the unification of all fundamental forces, including gravity, in a consistent quantum framework. In this collection of lectures delivered at the Carghse Summer School String Theory: from Gauge Interactions to Cosmology”, world leading experts provide an up-to-date survey of the latest developments in this topic, including the gauge/gravity correspondence, superstring cosmology and cosmic strings, topological string theory and matrix models, physics beyond the standard model and the landscape of vacua of string theory, conformal field theory and critical phenomena in statistical mechanics. Many more topics are also discussed in shorter contributions by School participants. Written with an emphasis on pedagogy, this volume will be a invaluable resource to students and experts alike.

String Theory