The pendulum is perhaps the simplest experimental devices ever constructed, and yet for all its simplicity it has historically enabled scientists to both investigate and enumerate gravity; the fundamental force that shapes the very universe. The pendulum has also allowed astronomers and geologists to measure the motion, mass and distribution of matter within the Earth, and its stately swing is at the very heartbeat of time. This book explores the many applications of the pendulum, from its employment as a fundamental experimental device, such as in the Cavendish torsion balance for measuring the universal gravitational constant, to its everyday, practical use in geology, astronomy and horology.

The pendulum is a universal topic in primary and secondary schools, but its full potential for learning about physics, the nature of science, and the relationships between science, mathematics, technology, society and culture is seldom realised. Contributions to this 32-chapter anthology deal with the science, history, methodology and pedagogy of pendulum motion. There is ample material for the richer and more cross-disciplinary treatment of the pendulum from elementary school to high school, and through to advanced university classes. Scientists will value the studies on the physics of the pendulum; historians will appreciate the detailed treatment of Galileo, Huygens, Newton and Foucault’s pendulum investigations; psychologists and educators will learn from the papers on Piaget; teachers will welcome the many contributions to pendulum pedagogy. All readers will come away with a new awareness of the importance of the pendulum in the foundation and development of modern science; and for its centrality in so many facets of society and culture.

This open access book coherently gathers well-founded information on the fundamentals of and formalisms for modelling cyber-physical systems (CPS). Highlighting the cross-disciplinary nature of CPS modelling, it also serves as a bridge for anyone entering CPS from related areas of computer science or engineering. Truly complex, engineered systems—known as cyber-physical systems—that integrate physical, software, and network aspects are now on the rise. However, there is no unifying theory nor systematic design methods, techniques or tools for these systems. Individual (mechanical, electrical, network or software) engineering disciplines only offer partial solutions. A technique known as Multi-Paradigm Modelling has recently emerged suggesting to model every part and aspect of a system explicitly, at the most appropriate level(s) of abstraction, using the most appropriate modelling formalism(s), and then weaving the results together to form a representation of the system. If properly applied, it enables, among other global aspects, performance analysis, exhaustive simulation, and verification. This book is the first systematic attempt to bring together these formalisms for anyone starting in the field of CPS who seeks solid modelling foundations and a comprehensive introduction to the distinct existing techniques that are multi-paradigmatic. Though chiefly intended for master and post-graduate level students in computer science and engineering, it can also be used as a reference text for practitioners.

The book comprises a broad panorama of phenomena occurring in four major classes of radiophysical and mechanical systems — linear, nonlinear, parametric, and nonlinear-parametric. An analytical technique for the broad circle of issues under consideration is developed. It is presented in a user-friendly form, allowing its further direct application in research practices.Analytical methods are presented for investigating modulation-parametric and nonlinear systems, oscillating systems with periodic and almost periodic time-dependent parameters, effects of adaptive self-organization in coupled resonance systems and oscillating systems under the action of external forces, nonlinear with respect to the coordinates of excited systems.Of an interdisciplinary nature, this volume can serve as a handbook for developing lecture courses such as Fundamentals of Nonlinear Dynamics and Theory of Nonlinear Oscillations, Theory of Nonlinear Circuits and Systems, Fundamentals of Radiophysics and Electronics, Theory of Signals and Theoretical Radiophysics, Theoretical Mechanics and Electrodynamics.

2018: the world seems incomprehensibly absurd. Wars of all shapes and sizes pock-mark a planet that is already weary and feeble from a century of brutal exploitation of its resources and the steady flow of poisonous elements spewed back into the water, land and air after their consumption. Resource-greedy nations imperialistically wage or exploit wars in resource rich, mainly Islamic states of the Middle East and Africa. At the same time, Islamic fundamentalists unleash their own attacks on the increasingly illogical, globalising status quo, wielding violence within the heartlands of not just their Western enemies, but against the Islamic world they want to reform as well. Floods of refugees, fleeing these incomprehensible wars, pour into safer, more prosperous and democratic countries, that subsequently erect walls against the invasion of the outsiders. Involuntary migrants, victims of the same wall-builders' unscrupulously selfish meddling, become a human paradox, condemned to flounder in the purgatory of a political, economic and ideological no-man's land.Meanwhile, the USA elects an incomprehensible leader, President Trump, rendering the world's most emblematic democracy incomprehensible. This incomprehensible president has an incomprehensible partnership with Vladimir Putin's Russia which renders the entire world-scenario incomprehensible. Absurd man-child leaders in the USA and North Korea have their fingers on the buttons of nuclear weapons and scream petulant threats at each other. Quite understandably the planet's climate groans under the burdens of human absurdity, but capitalist Civilisation insists on the incomprehensible need for maintaining a steady increase in that same consummation of the planet ...We have been driving a giant, juggernaut bus, along a road leading directly toward a cliff edge. If we continue going straight, we will topple into an abyss. Obviously, we cannot continue the way we are going. To avoid annihilation, we have one of two choices: we can either turn left toward a green Utopia with clean, fresh water and air, or right into the murky, greyness of a choking, totalitarian Dystopia. It seems obvious to us which decision is the best one. And yet ... most of those on board started screaming to the driver to turn right ... and he has.But why ... ?Dismantling the Paradigm analyses the anti-human reality we live in today, the nihilistic spirit of our times and its threat to our existence in the world. It examines the acute crisis in which our civilisation finds itself, with the world and with humanity. It outlines a belief that we now have an obligation to revaluate our relationship with our civilisation in order to reconstitute our relationship with the world we are in. A belief that a radical change of priorities is absolutely necessary.