Mean curvature flow is a term that is used to describe the evolution of a hypersurface whose normal velocity is given by the mean curvature. In the simplest case of a convex closed curve on the plane, the properties of the mean curvature flow are described by Gage-Hamilton's theorem. This theorem states that under the mean curvature flow, the curve collapses to a point, and if the flow is diluted so that the enclosed area equals $pi$, the curve tends to the unit circle. In this book, the author gives a comprehensive account of fundamental results on singularities and the asymptotic behavior...

Presents the proceedings of a conference on geometry and nonlinear partial differential equations dedicated to Professor Buqing Su in honour of his 100th birthday. It offers a look at current research by Chinese mathematicians in differential geometry and geometric areas of mathematical physics. The book is suitable for advanced graduate students and research mathematicians interested in geometry, topology, differential equations and mathematical physics.

Phenomena of contact between deformable bodies or between deformable and rigid bodies abound in industry and in everyday life. A few simple examples are brake pads with wheels, tyres on roads, and pistons with skirts. Common industrial processes such as metal forming and metal extrusion involve contact evolutions. Because of the importance of contact processes in structural and mechanical systems, considerable effort has been put into modeling and numerical simulations. This book introduces readers to a mathematical theory of contact problems involving deformable bodies. It covers mechanical...

This title presents articles on material from invited talks given at the IMS Workshop on Applied Probability organized by the Institute of Mathematical Sciences at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in May 1999. The goal of the workshop was to promote research in applied probability for local mathematicians and engineers and to foster exchange with experts from other parts of the world. The main themes were mathematical finance and stochastic networks.

This work is devoted to the theory of topological higher Franz-Reidemeister torsion in $K$-theory. The author defines the higher Franz-Reidemeister torsion based on Volodin's $K$-theory and Borel's regulator map. He describes its properties and generalizations and studies the relation between the higher Franz-Reidemeister torsion and other torsions used in $K$-theory: Whitehead torsion and Ray-Singer torsion. He also presents methods of computing higher Franz-Reidemeister torsion, illustrates them with numerous examples, and describes various applications of higher Franz-Reidemeister torsion,...

Wavelet analysis has become one of the major research directions in science. More and more mathematicians and scientists have joined this research area and wavelet analysis has had a great impact in areas such as approximation theory, harmonic analysis, and scientific computation. More importantly, wavelet analysis has shown great potential in applications to information technology such as signal processing, image processing, and computer graphics.

There are a number of specialties in low-dimensional topology that can find in their family tree a common ancestry in the theory of surface mappings. These include knot theory as studied through the use of braid representations, and 3-manifolds as studied through the use of Heegaard splittings. The study of the surface mapping class group (the modular group) is of course a rich subject in its own right, with relations to many different fields of mathematics and theoretical physics. However, its most direct and remarkable manifestation is probably in the vast area of low-dimensional topology.

Discusses the differential geometric aspects of complex manifolds. This work contains standard materials from general topology, differentiable manifolds, and basic Riemannian geometry. It discusses complex manifolds and analytic varieties, sheaves and holomorphic vector bundles. It also gives a brief account of the surface classification theory.

For two centuries, the relation between analytic functions of one complex variable, their boundary values, harmonic functions, and the theory of Fourier series has been one of the central topics of study in mathematics. The topic stands on its own, yet also provides very useful mathematical applications.

Computational geometry is a borderline subject related to pure and applied mathematics, computer science, and engineering. The book contains articles on various topics in computational geometry based on invited lectures and contributed papers presented during the program on computational geometry at the Morningside Center of Mathematics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing). The opening article by R.-H. Wang gives a nice survey of various aspects of computational geometry, many of which are discussed in detail in the volume. Topics of the other articles include problems of optimal...