There are few truths about the modern world that are more self-evident than this: it is flat. We write on flat paper laid atop flat desks. We look at flat images on flat screens mounted on flat walls, or we press flat icons on flat phones while we navigate flat streets. Everywhere we go it seems the structures around us at one time or another had a level placed upon them to ensure they were perfectly flat. Yet such engineered planar surfaces have become so pervasive and fundamental to our lives that we barely notice their existence. In this highly original study, B. W. Higman employs a wide variety of approaches to better understand flatness, that level platform upon which the dramas of modern life have played out. Higman looks at the ways that humans have perceived the natural world around them, moving from Flat Earth theories to abstract geometric concepts to the flatness problem of modern cosmology. Along the way he shows that we have simultaneously sought flatness in our everyday lives and also disparaged it as a featureless, empty, and monotonous quality. He discusses the ways flatness figures as a metaphor for those things or people who are boring, dull, or lacking energy or inspiration, and he shows how the construction of flat surfaces has contributed to a degradation of visual diversity. At the same time, he also shows how we have pursued flatness as an engineering ideal and how we have used it conceptually in art, music, and literature. Written with wit and wisdom, and splendidly illustrated throughout, this book will appeal to all those who are interested in the topography of the modern world, to anyone who has ever marveled at the feel of its smooth surfaces or felt oppressed by the tyranny of its featurelessness.

This monograph presents recent advances in differential flatness theory and analyzes its use for nonlinear control and estimation. It shows how differential flatness theory can provide solutions to complicated control problems, such as those appearing in highly nonlinear multivariable systems and distributed-parameter systems. Furthermore, it shows that differential flatness theory makes it possible to perform filtering and state estimation for a wide class of nonlinear dynamical systems and provides several descriptive test cases. The book focuses on the design of nonlinear adaptive controllers and nonlinear filters, using exact linearization based on differential flatness theory. The adaptive controllers obtained can be applied to a wide class of nonlinear systems with unknown dynamics, and assure reliable functioning of the control loop under uncertainty and varying operating conditions. The filters obtained outperform other nonlinear filters in terms of accuracy of estimation and computation speed. The book presents a series of application examples to confirm the efficiency of the proposed nonlinear filtering and adaptive control schemes for various electromechanical systems. These include: · industrial robots; · mobile robots and autonomous vehicles; · electric power generation; · electric motors and actuators; · power electronics; · internal combustion engines; · distributed-parameter systems; and · communication systems. Differential Flatness Approaches to Nonlinear Control and Filtering will be a useful reference for academic researchers studying advanced problems in nonlinear control and nonlinear dynamics, and for engineers working on control applications in electromechanical systems.

This monograph provides a state-of-the-art, self-contained account on the effectiveness of the method of boundary layer potentials in the study of elliptic boundary value problems with boundary data in a multitude of function spaces. Many significant new results are explored in detail, with complete proofs, emphasizing and elaborating on the link between the geometric measure-theoretic features of an underlying surface and the functional analytic properties of singular integral operators defined on it. Graduate students, researchers, and professionals interested in a modern account of the topic of singular integral operators and boundary value problems – as well as those more generally interested in harmonic analysis, PDEs, and geometric analysis – will find this text to be a valuable addition to the mathematical literature.

(3) The Southwell plot method of predicting theoretical critical stresses for perfect specimens from experimental observations on actual specimens may not be expected to give, in general, satisfactory results when applied to flat plates.

In recent architecture theory and practise there has been a tendency to refer to exteriors as a skin concealing an interior, as opposed to the traditional and more physical concepts of surface, flatness, and depth. The computer now enables the architect to call his design into life, free from the rigid material form, and view it as a flexible and interactive creation. In this book, the concepts of flatness and surface tension are examined in the light of virtual design and built reality. A selection of projects are presented to show how the architects regard space and surfaces in modern architectural practice in a digital age.

The Light Metals symposia are a key part of the TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition, presenting the most recent developments, discoveries, and practices in primary aluminum science and technology. Publishing the proceedings from these important symposia, the Light Metals volume has become the definitive reference in the field of aluminum production and related light metal technologies. Light Metals 2011 offers a mix of the latest scientific research findings and applied technology, covering alumina and bauxite, aluminum reduction technology, aluminum rolling, cast shop for aluminum production, electrode technology, and furnace efficiency.

In these essays, the flatness of the Midwest becomes the author's canvas for a richly textured, multidimensional exploration of its culture and history. From depicting the details of mechanized cow-milking to relating the similarities between the Greek city of Sparta and Indianapolis, Martone subtly connects different cultures, times, and stories.