This book presents a general classical field theory, incorporating continuum mechanics, electrodynamics, and thermodynamics. The continuum equations of material behavior are derived from the principles of Onsager's non-equilibrium thermodynamics supplemented with dynamic degrees of freedom.
The book contains the basic principles and methods of modern continuum mechanics and of rheology. Non-equilibrium thermodynamics is discussed in detail.
Applications include elasticity, thermoelasticity, viscoelasticity, plasticity, rheooptics, etc. The models of rheology are developed within a...

During the last three decades, breakthroughs in computer technology have made a tremendous impact on optimization. In particular, parallel computing has made it possible to solve larger and computationally more difficult prob lems. This volume contains mainly lecture notes from a Nordic Summer School held at the Linkoping Institute of Technology, Sweden in August 1995. In order to make the book more complete, a few authors were invited to contribute chapters that were not part of the course on this first occasion. The purpose of this Nordic course in advanced studies was three-fold. One goal...

The theory of operator algebras acting on a Hilbert space was initiated in thirties by papers of Murray and von Neumann. In these papers they have studied the structure of algebras which later were called von Neu mann algebras or W* -algebras. They are weakly closed complex *-algebras of operators on a Hilbert space. At present the theory of von Neumann algebras is a deeply developed theory with various applications. In the framework of von Neumann algebras theory the study of fac tors (i.e. W* -algebras with trivial centres) is very important, since they are comparatively simple and...

The present book fmds its roots in the International Conference on Methods and Applications of Multiple Criteria Decision Making held in Mons in May 1997. A small number of contributions to that conference were selected via a refereeing procedure and retained authors were requested to include in their final version their more recent results. This explains why some papers differ significantly from the original presentation. The introductory paper of Raynaud addresses the long range forecasts in Multiple Criteria Decision Making on the basis of a Delphi process that was run before and during...

During the past decade interest in quality management has greatly increased. One of the central elements of Total Quality Management is Statistical Process Control, more commonly known as SPC.
This book describes the pitfalls and traps which businesses encounter when implementing and assuring SPC. Illustrations are given from practical experience in various companies. The following subjects are discussed: implementation of SPC, activity plan for achieving statistically controlled processes, statistical tools, and lastly, consolidation and improvement of the results. Also, an extensive...

The aim of this book is to present a rigorous phenomenological and mathematical formulation of sedimentation processes and to show how this theory can be applied to the design and control of continuous thickeners. The book is directed to stu- dents and researchers in applied mathematics and engineering sciences, especially in metallurgical, chemical, mechanical and civil engineering, and to practicing en- gineers in the process industries. Such a vast and diverse audience should read this book differently. For this reason we have organized the chapters in such a way that the book can be read...

The complexity of issues requiring rational decision making grows and thus such decisions are becoming more and more difficult, despite advances in methodology and tools for decision support and in other areas of research. Globalization, interlinks between environmental, industrial, social and political issues, and rapid speed of change all contribute to the increase of this complexity. Specialized knowledge about decision-making processes and their support is increasing, but a large spectrum of approaches presented in the literature is typically illustrated only by simple examples. Moreover,...

The ability to analyze and understand massive data sets lags far behind the ability to gather and store the data. To meet this challenge, knowledge discovery and data mining (KDD) is growing rapidly as an emerging field. However, no matter how powerful computers are now or will be in the future, KDD researchers and practitioners must consider how to manage ever-growing data which is, ironically, due to the extensive use of computers and ease of data collection with computers. Many different approaches have been used to address the data explosion issue, such as algorithm scale-up and data...

It is generally acknowledged that deterministic formulations of dy namical phenomena in the social sciences need to be treated differently from similar formulations in the natural sciences. Social science phe nomena typically defy precise measurements or data collection that are comparable in accuracy and detail to those in the natural sciences. Con sequently, a deterministic model is rarely expected to yield a precise description of the actual phenomenon being modelled. Nevertheless, as may be inferred from a study of the models discussed in this book, the qualitative analysis of...

Conventional digital computation methods have run into a se- rious speed bottleneck due to their serial nature. To overcome this problem, a new computation model, called Neural Networks, has been proposed, which is based on some aspects of neurobiology and adapted to integrated circuits. The increased availability of com- puting power has not only made many new applications possible but has also created the desire to perform cognitive tasks which are easily carried out by the human brain. It become obvious that new types of algorithms and/or circuits were necessary to cope with such tasks....