The discrete vision of mechanics is based on the founding ideas of Galileo and the principles of relativity and equivalence, which postulate the equality between gravitational mass and inertial mass. To these principles are added the Hodge–Helmholtz decomposition, the principle of accumulation of constraints and the hypothesis of the duality of physical actions. These principles make it possible to establish the equation of motion based on the conservation of acceleration considered as an absolute quantity in a local frame of reference, in the form of a sum of the gradient of the scalar potential and the curl of the vector potential. These potentials, which represent the constraints of compression and rotation, are updated from the discrete operators. Discrete Mechanics: Concepts and Applications shows that this equation of discrete motion is representative of the compressible or incompressible flows of viscous or perfect fluids, the state of stress in an elastic solid or complex fluid and the propagation of nonlinear waves.

This volume resulted from presentations given at the international “Brainstorming Workshop on New Developments in Discrete Mechanics, Geometric Integration and Lie–Butcher Series”, that took place at the Instituto de Ciencias Matemáticas (ICMAT) in Madrid, Spain. It combines overview and research articles on recent and ongoing developments, as well as new research directions. Why geometric numerical integration? In their article of the same title Arieh Iserles and Reinout Quispel, two renowned experts in numerical analysis of differential equations, provide a compelling answer to this question. After this introductory chapter a collection of high-quality research articles aim at exploring recent and ongoing developments, as well as new research directions in the areas of geometric integration methods for differential equations, nonlinear systems interconnections, and discrete mechanics. One of the highlights is the unfolding of modern algebraic and combinatorial structures common to those topics, which give rise to fruitful interactions between theoretical as well as applied and computational perspectives. The volume is aimed at researchers and graduate students interested in theoretical and computational problems in geometric integration theory, nonlinear control theory, and discrete mechanics.

After a quarter century of discoveries that rattled the foundations of classical mechanics and electrodynamics, the year 1926 saw the publication of two works intended to provide a theoretical structure to support new quantum explanations of the subatomic world. Heisenberg's matrix mechanics and Schrodinger’s wave mechanics provided compatible but mathematically disparate ways of unifying the discoveries of Planck, Einstein, Bohr and many others. Efforts began immediately to prove the equivalence of these two structures, culminated successfully by John von Neumann’s 1932 volume "Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics." This forms the springboard for the current effort. We begin with a presentation of a minimal set of von Neumann postulates while introducing language and notation to facilitate subsequent discussion of quantum calculations based in finite dimensional Hilbert spaces. Chapters which follow address two-state quantum systems (with spin one-half as the primary example), entanglement of multiple two-state systems, quantum angular momentum theory and quantum approaches to statistical mechanics. A concluding chapter gives an overview of issues associated with quantum mechanics in continuous infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces.

The advent of fast computers and the search for efficient algorithms revolutionized combinatorics and brought about the field of discrete mathematics. This book is an introduction to the main ideas and results of discrete mathematics, and with its emphasis on algorithms it should be interesting to mathematicians and computer scientists alike. The book is organized into three parts: enumeration, graphs and algorithms, and algebraic systems. There are 600 exercises with hints and solutions to about half of them. The only prerequisites for understanding everything in the book are linear algebra and calculus at the undergraduate level. Praise for the German edition… This book is a well-written introduction to discrete mathematics and is highly recommended to every student of mathematics and computer science as well as to teachers of these topics. —Konrad Engel for MathSciNet Martin Aigner is a professor of mathematics at the Free University of Berlin. He received his PhD at the University of Vienna and has held a number of positions in the USA and Germany before moving to Berlin. He is the author of several books on discrete mathematics, graph theory, and the theory of search. The Monthly article Turan's graph theorem earned him a 1995 Lester R. Ford Prize of the MAA for expository writing, and his book Proofs from the BOOK with Günter M. Ziegler has been an international success with translations into 12 languages.

Volume is indexed by Thomson Reuters CPCI-S (WoS). This collection of peer-reviewed papers describes the latest advances in, and applications of: basic mechanics and research methods, dynamics and vibration, solid mechanics, fluid mechanics and thermodynamics, biomechanics and environmental mechanics, new materials and advanced materials, functional materials, materials processing technology, welding and mechanical connections, fracture, etc. the work is thus a usefully up-to-date guide to these topics.

This textbook compiles reports written by about 35 internationally recognized authorities, and covers a range of interests for geotechnical engineers. Topics include: fundamentals for mechanics of granular materials; continuum theory of granular materials; and discrete element approaches.