This classic work gives an excellent overview of the subject, with an emphasis on clarity, explanation, and motivation. Extensive exercises and a valuable section containing hints and answers make this an excellent text for both classroom use and independent study.
This monograph presents a general mathematical theory for biological growth. It provides both a conceptual and a technical foundation for the understanding and analysis of problems arising in biology and physiology. The theory and methods are illustrated on a wide range of examples and applications. A process of extreme complexity, growth plays a fundamental role in many biological processes and is considered to be the hallmark of life itself. Its description has been one of the fundamental problems of life sciences, but until recently, it has not attracted much attention from mathematicians, physicists, and engineers. The author herein presents the first major technical monograph on the problem of growth since D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson’s 1917 book On Growth and Form. The emphasis of the book is on the proper mathematical formulation of growth kinematics and mechanics. Accordingly, the discussion proceeds in order of complexity and the book is divided into five parts. First, a general introduction on the problem of growth from a historical perspective is given. Then, basic concepts are introduced within the context of growth in filamentary structures. These ideas are then generalized to surfaces and membranes and eventually to the general case of volumetric growth. The book concludes with a discussion of open problems and outstanding challenges. Thoughtfully written and richly illustrated to be accessible to readers of varying interests and background, the text will appeal to life scientists, biophysicists, biomedical engineers, and applied mathematicians alike.
This textbook demonstrates the power of mathematics in solving practical, scientific, and technical problems through mathematical modelling techniques. It has been designed specifically for final year undergraduate and graduate students, and springs from the author's extensive teachingexperience. The text is combined with twenty-one carefully ordered problems taken from real situations, and students are encouraged to develop the skill of constructing their own models of new situations.
Recent advances in the study of the dynamic behavior of layered materials in general, and laminated fibrous composites in particular, are presented in this book. The need to understand the microstructural behavior of such classes of materials has brought a new challenge to existing analytical tools. This book explores the fundamental question of how mechanical waves propagate and interact with layered anisotropic media. The chapters are organized in a logical sequence depending upon the complexity of the physical model and its mathematical treatment.
Since the benefit of stress-induced tetragonal to monoclinic phase transformation of confined tetragonal zirconia particles was first recognized in 1975, the phenomenon has been widely studied and exploited in the development of a new class of materials known as transformation toughened ceramics (TTC). In all materials belonging to this class, the microstructure is so controlled that the tetragonal to monoclinic transformation is induced as a result of a high applied stress field rather than as a result of cooling the material below the martensitic start temperature.The significance of microstructure to the enhancement of thermomechanical properties of TTC is now well understood, as are the mechanisms that contribute beneficially to their fracture toughness. The micromechanics of these mechanisms have been extensively studied and are therefore presented here in a cogent manner.The authors also review dislocation formalism for the modelling of cracks and Eshelby's technique. In compiling this monograph the authors present the most up-to-date and complete review of the field and include several topics which have only recently been fully investigated.
Applied Mathematics: Made Simple provides an elementary study of the three main branches of classical applied mathematics: statics, hydrostatics, and dynamics. The book begins with discussion of the concepts of mechanics, parallel forces and rigid bodies, kinematics, motion with uniform acceleration in a straight line, and Newton's law of motion. Separate chapters cover vector algebra and coplanar motion, relative motion, projectiles, friction, and rigid bodies in equilibrium under the action of coplanar forces. The final chapters deal with machines and hydrostatics. The standard and content of the book covers C.S.E. and 'O' level G.C.E. examinations in Applied Mathematics and Mechanics as well as the relevant parts of the syllabuses for Physics and General Science courses related to Engineering, Building, and Agriculture. The book is also written for the home study reader who is interested in widening his mathematical appreciation or simply reviving forgotten ideas. The author hopes that the style of presentation will be found sufficiently attractive to recapture those who may at one time have lost interest.
Mathematics plays an important role in mechanics and other human endeavours. Validating examples in this first volume include, for instance: the connection between the golden ratio (the “divine proportion" used by Phidias and many other artists and enshrined in Leonardo's Vitruvian Man, shown on the front cover), and the Fibonacci spiral (observable in botany, e.g., in the placement of sunflower seeds); is the coast of Tuscany infinitely long?; the equal-time free fall of a feather and a lead ball in a vacuum; a simple diagnostic for changing your car's shocks; the Kepler laws of the planets; the dynamics of the Sun-Earth-Moon system; the tides' mechanism; the laws of friction and a wheel rolling down a partially icy slope; and many more. The style is colloquial. The emphasis is on intuition - lengthy but intuitive proofs are preferred to simple non-intuitive ones. The mathematical/mechanical sophistication gradually increases, making the volume widely accessible. Intuition is not at the expense of rigor. Except for grammar-school material, every statement that is later used is rigorously proven. Guidelines that facilitate the reading of the book are presented. The interplay between mathematics and mechanics is presented within a historical context, to show that often mechanics stimulated mathematical developments - Newton comes to mind. Sometimes mathematics was introduced independently of its mechanics applications, such as the absolute calculus for Einstein's general theory of relativity. Bio-sketches of all the scientists encountered are included and show that many of them dealt with both mathematics and mechanics.
Group analysis of differential equations has applications to various problems in nonlinear mechanics and physics. Group-Theoretic Methods in Mechanics and Applied Mathematics systematizes the group analysis of the main postulates of classical and relativistic mechanics. Exact solutions are given for the following equations: dynamics of rigid body, heat transfer, wave, hydrodynamics, Thomas-Fermi, and more. The author pays particular attention to the application of group analysis to developing asymptotic methods for problems with small parameters. This book is designed for a broad audience of scientists, engineers, and students in the fields of applied mathematics, mechanics and physics.
The optimal continuation parameter provides the best conditions in a linearized system of equations at any moment of the continuation process. This is one of the first books in which the best parametrization is regarded systematically for a wide class of problems. It is of interest to scientists, specialists, and postgraduate students of applied and numerical mathematics and mechanics.