The illusion of reality

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Emmanuel E. Gdoutos, Zaira P. Marioli-Riga

This state-of-the-art volume covers a wide range of subjects including micromechanical characterization, stress, failure, durability and perforation analysis, failure mechanisms, mechanical properties of composites and nanocomposite multilayers, nondestructive evaluation, metal matrix and oxide/oxide composites, instability analysis of cylindrical shells, design of composite joints, sandwich structures, manufacturing of structural components by resin transfer molding. Many applications of composite materials are also covered, including the design and analysis of a pedestrian bridge composed of a concrete bridge and truss girders made of IPC sandwich panels, strengthening of structures and patch repair of aircraft components. The book contains thirty-one papers presented at the symposium on "Recent Advances in Composite Materials", which was organized in honor of Professor S.A. Paipetis at the Democritus University of Thrace, in Greece, June 12-14, 2003. The book presents a thorough review of the latest problems and applications of composite materials.

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Barbara M. Wildemuth

For many practitioners, best practices are often developed through significant amounts of direct experience. However, they can also be developed through the examination and application of research findings. By critically assessing existing studies within library and information science, both aspiring and experienced professionals can acquire a deeper understanding of available methods, as well as design more effective studies. The author has created a book that mirrors the process of conducting a research study. At the same time, she exposes the reader to a wealth of competing and complementary techniques. Each chapter introduces a particular research method, points out its relative strengths and weaknesses, and provides a critique of two or more exemplary studies. Section One considers those research questions most often asked in the field of information and library science and explains how they can arise from practice and direct observation or from existing theories. Section Two covers a variety of research designs, as well as the sampling issues associated with those designs: case studies, naturalistic research, longitudinal studies, Delphi studies, and quasi-experimental and experimental designs. Section Three moves on to methods for collecting data: surveys, various types of interviews, historical and documentary studies, transaction log analysis, diaries, and participant observation. It concludes with a chapter discussing the ways in which any of these methods might be combined for use in a particular study.

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Mihajlo D. Mesarovic, Yasuhiko Takahara

This book reports on the new results in Abstract Systems Theory (AST). It shows the progress made so far in the effort launched in 1960 to develop a mathematical theory of systems based on the "top-down"-formalization-approach. The volume can be used as a supplementary reading in courses in systems theory and engineering. The material is organized in such a way that portions of the book relevant for the supplementary reading in different courses can be used independently from the rest of the text.

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Vladimir S. Lerner

The Variation Principle In Informational Macrodynamics (VP) introduces the process' integral information measure, which has a distinctive difference from traditional information approaches that use an entropy function. The VP's minimax mathematical mechanisms formalize the regularities of the cooperative informational dynamics, connecting randomness and regularities, stochastic and determinism, reversibility and irreversibility, symmetry and nonsymmetry, stability and instability, regular and chaotic dynamics, thermodynamics and informational dynamics, time-reversible and time-irreversible processes, reveals the information dynamic mechanisms of evolution and development. The mathematical formalisms and methods, implemented in the forms of computer models, algorithms and programs, provide new general tools for Information Systems' Modeling in such areas as biology, intelligent systems, computer and information technology, including communications, data modeling and data management. Variation Principle In Informational Macrodynamics, with its examples and applications, will meet the needs of a professional audience composed of researchers and practitioners in industry, as well as graduate-level students in computer science, mathematics and engineering.