The modern theory of singularities provides a unifying theme that runs through fields of mathematics as diverse as homological algebra and Hamiltonian systems. It is also an important point of reference in the development of a large part of contemporary algebra, geometry and analysis. Presented by internationally recognized experts, the collection of articles in this volume yields a significant cross-section of these developments.The wide range of surveys includes an authoritative treatment of the deformation theory of isolated complex singularities by prize-winning researcher K Miyajima. Graduate students and even ambitious undergraduates in mathematics will find many research ideas in this volume and non-experts in mathematics can have an overview of some classic and fundamental results in singularity theory. The explanations are detailed enough to capture the interest of the curious reader, and complete enough to provide the necessary background material needed to go further into the subject and explore the research literature.

A phenomenon which appears in nature, or human behavior, can sometimes be explained by saying that a certain potential function is maximized, or minimized. For example, the Hamiltonian mechanics, soapy films, size of an atom, business management, etc. In mathematics, a point where a given function attains an extreme value is called a critical point, or a singular point. The purpose of singularity theory is to explore the properties of singular points of functions and mappings.This is a volume on the proceedings of the fourth Japanese-Australian Workshop on Real and Complex Singularities held in Kobe, Japan. It consists of 11 original articles on singularities. Readers will be introduced to some important new notions for characterizations of singularities and several interesting results are delivered. In addition, current approaches to classical topics and state-of-the-art effective computational methods of invariants of singularities are also presented. This volume will be useful not only to the singularity theory specialists but also to general mathematicians.

Thecircleisclosed.The European Modula-2 Conference was originally launched with the goal of increasing the popularity of Modula-2, a programming language created by Niklaus Wirth and his team at ETH Zuric ̈ h as a successor of Pascal. For more than a decade, the conference has wandered through Europe, passing Bled,Slovenia,in1987,Loughborough,UK,in1990,Ulm,Germany,in1994,and Linz, Austria, in 1997. Now, at the beginning of the new millennium, it is back at its roots in Zuric ̈ h, Switzerland. While traveling through space and time, the conference has mutated. It has widened its scope and changed its name to Joint Modular Languages Conference (JMLC). With an invariant focus, though, on modularsoftwareconstructioninteaching,research,and“outthere”inindustry. This topic has never been more important than today, ironically not because of insu?cient language support but, quite on the contrary, due to a truly c- fusing variety of modular concepts o?ered by modern languages: modules, pa- ages, classes, and components, the newest and still controversial trend. “The recent notion of component is still very vaguely de?ned, so vaguely, in fact, that it almost seems advisable to ignore it.” (Wirth in his article “Records, Modules, Objects, Classes, Components” in honor of Hoare’s retirement in 1999). Clar- cation is needed.

A Mathematical Introduction to Robotic Manipulation presents a mathematical formulation of the kinematics, dynamics, and control of robot manipulators. It uses an elegant set of mathematical tools that emphasizes the geometry of robot motion and allows a large class of robotic manipulation problems to be analyzed within a unified framework. The foundation of the book is a derivation of robot kinematics using the product of the exponentials formula. The authors explore the kinematics of open-chain manipulators and multifingered robot hands, present an analysis of the dynamics and control of robot systems, discuss the specification and control of internal forces and internal motions, and address the implications of the nonholonomic nature of rolling contact are addressed, as well. The wealth of information, numerous examples, and exercises make A Mathematical Introduction to Robotic Manipulation valuable as both a reference for robotics researchers and a text for students in advanced robotics courses.