Self-Organized Criticality in Earth Systems

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Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3662043904
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (62 download)

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Book Synopsis Self-Organized Criticality in Earth Systems by : Stefan Hergarten

Download or read book Self-Organized Criticality in Earth Systems written by Stefan Hergarten and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-14 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Self-organized criticality (SOC) has become a magic word in various scientific disciplines; it provides a framework for understanding complexity and scale invariance in systems showing irregular fluctuations. In the first 10 years after Per Bak and his co-workers presented their seminal idea, more than 2000 papers on this topic appeared. Seismology has been a field in earth sciences where the SOC concept has already deepened the understanding, but there seem to be much more examples in earth sciences where applying the SOC concept may be fruitful. After introducing the reader into the basics of fractals, chaos and SOC, the book presents established and new applications of SOC in earth sciences, namely earthquakes, forest fires, landslides and drainage networks.

How Nature Works

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Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1475754264
Total Pages : 229 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (757 download)

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Book Synopsis How Nature Works by : Per Bak

Download or read book How Nature Works written by Per Bak and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-11 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Self-organized criticality, the spontaneous development of systems to a critical state, is the first general theory of complex systems with a firm mathematical basis. This theory describes how many seemingly desperate aspects of the world, from stock market crashes to mass extinctions, avalanches to solar flares, all share a set of simple, easily described properties. "...a'must read'...Bak writes with such ease and lucidity, and his ideas are so intriguing...essential reading for those interested in complex systems...it will reward a sufficiently skeptical reader." -NATURE "...presents the theory (self-organized criticality) in a form easily absorbed by the non-mathematically inclined reader." -BOSTON BOOK REVIEW "I picture Bak as a kind of scientific musketeer; flamboyant, touchy, full of swagger and ready to join every fray... His book is written with panache. The style is brisk, the content stimulating. I recommend it as a bracing experience." -NEW SCIENTIST

Self-Organized Criticality

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521483711
Total Pages : 172 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (837 download)

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Book Synopsis Self-Organized Criticality by : Henrik Jeldtoft Jensen

Download or read book Self-Organized Criticality written by Henrik Jeldtoft Jensen and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A clear and concise introduction to this new, cross-disciplinary field.

Self-Organized Criticality in Astrophysics

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Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3642150012
Total Pages : 416 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (421 download)

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Book Synopsis Self-Organized Criticality in Astrophysics by : Markus Aschwanden

Download or read book Self-Organized Criticality in Astrophysics written by Markus Aschwanden and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-01-11 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Markus Aschwanden introduces the concept of self-organized criticality (SOC) and shows that due to its universality and ubiquity it is a law of nature for which he derives the theoretical framework and specific physical models in this book. He begins by providing an overview of the many diverse phenomena in nature which may be attributed to SOC behaviour. The author then introduces the classic lattice-based SOC models that may be explored using numerical computer simulations. These simulations require an in-depth knowledge of a wide range of mathematical techniques which the author introduces and describes in subsequent chapters. These include the statistics of random processes, time series analysis, time scale distributions, and waiting time distributions. Such mathematical techniques are needed to model and understand the power-law-like occurrence frequency distributions of SOC phenomena. Finally, the author discusses fractal geometry and scaling laws before looking at a range of physical SOC models which may be applicable in various aspects of astrophysics. Problems, solutions and a glossary will enhance the pedagogical usefulness of the book. SOC has been receiving growing attention in the astrophysical and solar physics community. This book will be welcomed by students and researchers studying complex critical phenomena.

Self-Organised Criticality

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 0521853354
Total Pages : 517 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (218 download)

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Book Synopsis Self-Organised Criticality by : Gunnar Pruessner

Download or read book Self-Organised Criticality written by Gunnar Pruessner and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-08-30 with total page 517 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An overview of results and methods, written for graduates and researchers in physics, mathematics, biology, sociology, finance, medicine and engineering.

Critical Phenomena in Natural Sciences

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Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 366204174X
Total Pages : 445 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (62 download)

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Book Synopsis Critical Phenomena in Natural Sciences by : Didier Sornette

Download or read book Critical Phenomena in Natural Sciences written by Didier Sornette and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-04-17 with total page 445 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A modern up-to-date introduction for readers outside statistical physics. It puts emphasis on a clear understanding of concepts and methods and provides the tools that can be of immediate use in applications.

Self-organized Complexity in the Physical, Biological, and Social Sciences

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Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309082854
Total Pages : 385 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (9 download)

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Book Synopsis Self-organized Complexity in the Physical, Biological, and Social Sciences by : Donald Lawson Turcotte

Download or read book Self-organized Complexity in the Physical, Biological, and Social Sciences written by Donald Lawson Turcotte and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Rain Formation in Warm Clouds

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Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319132695
Total Pages : 98 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (191 download)

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Book Synopsis Rain Formation in Warm Clouds by : A. M. Selvam

Download or read book Rain Formation in Warm Clouds written by A. M. Selvam and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-02-12 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book aims to promote the understanding of some of the basic mathematical and scientific issues in the subjects relating to climate dynamics, chaos and quantum mechanics. It is based on substantial research work in atmospheric science carried out over twenty years. Atmospheric flows exhibit self similar fractal fluctuations, a signature of long-range correlations on all space-time scales. Realistic simulation and prediction of atmospheric flows requires the incorporation of the physics of observed fractal fluctuation characteristics in traditional meteorological theory. A general systems theory model for fractal space-time fluctuations in turbulent atmospheric flows is presented and applied to the formation of rain in warm clouds. This model gives scale-free universal governing equations for cloud growth processes. The model predicted cloud parameters are in agreement with reported observations, in particular, the cloud drop-size distribution. Rain formation can occur in warm clouds within 30 minutes as observed in practice under favourable conditions of moisture supply in the environment. Traditional cloud physical concepts for rain development requires over an hour for a full-sized raindrop to form. The book provides background reading for postgraduate students of Meteorology, Atmospheric Sciences/Physics, Environmental Sciences, and scientists working in the field of the topic of the book as well as the multidisciplinary field of Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos.

Multiscale Coupling of Sun-Earth Processes

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Publisher : Elsevier
ISBN 13 : 008045769X
Total Pages : 527 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (84 download)

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Book Synopsis Multiscale Coupling of Sun-Earth Processes by : A.T.Y. Lui

Download or read book Multiscale Coupling of Sun-Earth Processes written by A.T.Y. Lui and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2005-07-06 with total page 527 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many approaches exist for scientific investigations and space research is no exception. The early approach during which each space plasma region within the Sun-Earth system was investigated separately with physics-based tools has now progressed to encompass investigations on coupling between these regions. Ample evidence now exists indicating the dynamic processes in these regions exhibit disturbances over a wide range of scales both in time and space. This new reckoning naturally leads to an emerging perspective of probing these natural phenomena with concepts and tools developed in modern statistical mechanics for physical processes governing the evolution of out-of-equilibrium and complex systems. These new developments have prompted a topical conference on Sun-Earth connection, held on February 9-13, 2004 at Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, USA, with the goal of promoting interactions among scientists practicing the traditional physics-based approach and those utilizing modern statistical techniques. This monograph is a product of this conference, a compilation of thirty-nine articles assembled into seven chapters: (1) multiscale features in complexity dynamics, (2) space storms, (3) magnetospheric substorms, (4) turbulence and magnetic reconnection, (5) modeling and coupling of space phenomena, (6) techniques for multiscale space plasma problems, and (7) present and future multiscale space missions. These articles show a diversity of space phenomena exhibiting scale free characteristics, intermittency, and non-Gaussian distributions of probability density function of fluctuations in the physical parameters of the Sun-Earth system. The scope covers the latest observations, theories, simulations, and techniques on the multiscale nature of Sun-Earth phenomena and underscores the usefulness in cross-disciplinary exchange needed to unravel the underlying physical processes, which may eventually lead to a possible unified description and prediction for space disturbances. * Extensive collection of state-of-the-art papers on multiscale coupling of Sun-Earth Processes * Present and future multiscale space missions * New techniques and models for performing multiscale analysis

Complexity and Criticality

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Publisher : Imperial College Press
ISBN 13 : 186094504X
Total Pages : 412 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (69 download)

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Book Synopsis Complexity and Criticality by : Kim Christensen

Download or read book Complexity and Criticality written by Kim Christensen and published by Imperial College Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a challenging and stimulating introduction to the contemporary topics of complexity and criticality, and explores their common basis of scale invariance, a central unifying theme of the book.Criticality refers to the behaviour of extended systems at a phase transition where scale invariance prevails. The many constituent microscopic parts bring about macroscopic phenomena that cannot be understood by considering a single part alone. The phenomenology of phase transitions is introduced by considering percolation, a simple model with a purely geometrical phase transition, thus enabling the reader to become intuitively familiar with concepts such as scale invariance and renormalisation. The Ising model is then introduced, which captures a thermodynamic phase transition from a disordered to an ordered system as the temperature is lowered in zero external field. By emphasising analogies between percolation and the Ising model, the reader's intuition of phase transitions is developed so that the underlying theoretical formalism may be appreciated fully. These equilibrium systems undergo a phase transition only if an external agent finely tunes certain external parameters to particular values.Besides fractals and phase transitions, there are many examples in Nature of the emergence of such complex behaviour in slowly driven non-equilibrium systems: earthquakes in seismic systems, avalanches in granular media and rainfall in the atmosphere. A class of non-equilibrium systems, not constrained by having to tune external parameters to obtain critical behaviour, is addressed in the framework of simple models, revealing that the repeated application of simple rules may spontaneously give rise to emergent complex behaviour not encoded in the rules themselves. The common basis of complexity and criticality is identified and applied to a range of non-equilibrium systems. Finally, the reader is invited to speculate whether self-organisation in non-equilibrium systems might be a unifying concept for disparate fields such as statistical mechanics, geophysics and atmospheric physics.Visit http: //www.complexityandcriticality.com for animations for the models in the book (available for Windows and Linux), solutions to exercises, as well as a list with corrections.

Fractal Behaviour of the Earth System

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Author :
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 9783540265320
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (653 download)

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Book Synopsis Fractal Behaviour of the Earth System by : Vijay Prasad Dimri

Download or read book Fractal Behaviour of the Earth System written by Vijay Prasad Dimri and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2005-10-04 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is with pleasure that I write the foreword to this excellent book. A wide range of observations in geology and solid-earth geophysics can be - plained in terms of fractal distributions. In this volume a collection of - pers considers the fractal behavior of the Earth's continental crust. The book begins with an excellent introductory chapter by the editor Dr. V.P. Dimri. Surface gravity anomalies are known to exhibit power-law spectral behavior under a wide range of conditions and scales. This is self-affine fractal behavior. Explanations of this behavior remain controversial. In chapter 2 V.P. Dimri and R.P. Srivastava model this behavior using Voronoi tessellations. Another approach to understanding the structure of the continental crust is to use electromagnetic induction experiments. Again the results often exhibit power law spectral behavior. In chapter 3 K. Bahr uses a fractal based random resister network model to explain the observations. Other examples of power-law spectral observations come from a wide range of well logs using various logging tools. In chapter 4 M. Fedi, D. Fiore, and M. La Manna utilize multifractal models to explain the behavior of well logs from the main KTB borehole in Germany. In chapter 5 V.V. Surkov and H. Tanaka model the electrokinetic currents that may be as- ciated with seismic electric signals using a fractal porous media. In chapter 6 M. Pervukhina, Y. Kuwahara, and H. Ito use fractal n- works to correlate the elastic and electrical properties of porous media.

At Home in the Universe

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Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 019984030X
Total Pages : 335 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (998 download)

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Book Synopsis At Home in the Universe by : Stuart Kauffman

Download or read book At Home in the Universe written by Stuart Kauffman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1996-11-21 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major scientific revolution has begun, a new paradigm that rivals Darwin's theory in importance. At its heart is the discovery of the order that lies deep within the most complex of systems, from the origin of life, to the workings of giant corporations, to the rise and fall of great civilizations. And more than anyone else, this revolution is the work of one man, Stuart Kauffman, a MacArthur Fellow and visionary pioneer of the new science of complexity. Now, in At Home in the Universe, Kauffman brilliantly weaves together the excitement of intellectual discovery and a fertile mix of insights to give the general reader a fascinating look at this new science--and at the forces for order that lie at the edge of chaos. We all know of instances of spontaneous order in nature--an oil droplet in water forms a sphere, snowflakes have a six-fold symmetry. What we are only now discovering, Kauffman says, is that the range of spontaneous order is enormously greater than we had supposed. Indeed, self-organization is a great undiscovered principle of nature. But how does this spontaneous order arise? Kauffman contends that complexity itself triggers self-organization, or what he calls "order for free," that if enough different molecules pass a certain threshold of complexity, they begin to self-organize into a new entity--a living cell. Kauffman uses the analogy of a thousand buttons on a rug--join two buttons randomly with thread, then another two, and so on. At first, you have isolated pairs; later, small clusters; but suddenly at around the 500th repetition, a remarkable transformation occurs--much like the phase transition when water abruptly turns to ice--and the buttons link up in one giant network. Likewise, life may have originated when the mix of different molecules in the primordial soup passed a certain level of complexity and self-organized into living entities (if so, then life is not a highly improbable chance event, but almost inevitable). Kauffman uses the basic insight of "order for free" to illuminate a staggering range of phenomena. We see how a single-celled embryo can grow to a highly complex organism with over two hundred different cell types. We learn how the science of complexity extends Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection: that self-organization, selection, and chance are the engines of the biosphere. And we gain insights into biotechnology, the stunning magic of the new frontier of genetic engineering--generating trillions of novel molecules to find new drugs, vaccines, enzymes, biosensors, and more. Indeed, Kauffman shows that ecosystems, economic systems, and even cultural systems may all evolve according to similar general laws, that tissues and terra cotta evolve in similar ways. And finally, there is a profoundly spiritual element to Kauffman's thought. If, as he argues, life were bound to arise, not as an incalculably improbable accident, but as an expected fulfillment of the natural order, then we truly are at home in the universe. Kauffman's earlier volume, The Origins of Order, written for specialists, received lavish praise. Stephen Jay Gould called it "a landmark and a classic." And Nobel Laureate Philip Anderson wrote that "there are few people in this world who ever ask the right questions of science, and they are the ones who affect its future most profoundly. Stuart Kauffman is one of these." In At Home in the Universe, this visionary thinker takes you along as he explores new insights into the nature of life.

Dynamics of Multiscale Earth Systems

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Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3540452567
Total Pages : 362 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (44 download)

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Book Synopsis Dynamics of Multiscale Earth Systems by : Horst J. Neugebauer

Download or read book Dynamics of Multiscale Earth Systems written by Horst J. Neugebauer and published by Springer. This book was released on 2008-01-26 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In many aspects science becomes conducted nowadays through technology and preferential criteria of economy. Thus investigation and knowledge is evidently linked to a speci?c purpose. Especially Earth science is confronted with two major human perspectives concerning our natural environment:sustainability of resources and assessment of risks. Both aspects are expressing urgent needs of the living society, but in the same way those needs are addressing a long lasting fundamental challenge which has so far not been met. Following on the patterns of economy and technology, the key is presumed to be found through a devel- mentoffeasibleconceptsforamanagement ofbothournaturalenvironmentand in one or the other way the realm of life. Although new techniques for obser- tion and analysis led to an increase of rather speci?c knowledge about particular phenomena, yet we fail now even more frequently to avoid unforeseen impli- tions and sudden changes of a situation. Obviously the improved technological tools and the assigned expectations on a management of nature still exceed our traditional scienti?c experience and accumulated competence. Earth- and Life- Sciences are nowadays exceedingly faced with the puzzling nature of an almost boundless network of relations, i. e. , the complexity of phenomena with respect to their variability. The disciplinary notations and their particular approaches arethusnolongeraccountingsu?cientlyfortherecordedcontextofphenomena, for their permanent variability and their unpredictable implications. The large environmental changes of glacial climatic cycles, for instance, demonstrate this complexity of such a typical phenomenology.

Fractal Behaviour of the Earth System

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Author :
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3540265368
Total Pages : 218 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (42 download)

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Book Synopsis Fractal Behaviour of the Earth System by : V.P. Dimri

Download or read book Fractal Behaviour of the Earth System written by V.P. Dimri and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2005-12-27 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is with pleasure that I write the foreword to this excellent book. A wide range of observations in geology and solid-earth geophysics can be - plained in terms of fractal distributions. In this volume a collection of - pers considers the fractal behavior of the Earth's continental crust. The book begins with an excellent introductory chapter by the editor Dr. V.P. Dimri. Surface gravity anomalies are known to exhibit power-law spectral behavior under a wide range of conditions and scales. This is self-affine fractal behavior. Explanations of this behavior remain controversial. In chapter 2 V.P. Dimri and R.P. Srivastava model this behavior using Voronoi tessellations. Another approach to understanding the structure of the continental crust is to use electromagnetic induction experiments. Again the results often exhibit power law spectral behavior. In chapter 3 K. Bahr uses a fractal based random resister network model to explain the observations. Other examples of power-law spectral observations come from a wide range of well logs using various logging tools. In chapter 4 M. Fedi, D. Fiore, and M. La Manna utilize multifractal models to explain the behavior of well logs from the main KTB borehole in Germany. In chapter 5 V.V. Surkov and H. Tanaka model the electrokinetic currents that may be as- ciated with seismic electric signals using a fractal porous media. In chapter 6 M. Pervukhina, Y. Kuwahara, and H. Ito use fractal n- works to correlate the elastic and electrical properties of porous media.

Ubiquity

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Author :
Publisher : Crown
ISBN 13 : 0609504320
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (95 download)

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Book Synopsis Ubiquity by : Mark Buchanan

Download or read book Ubiquity written by Mark Buchanan and published by Crown. This book was released on 2002-04-23 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Critically acclaimed science journalist, Mark Buchanan tells the fascinating story of the discovery that there is a natural structure of instability woven into the fabric of our world, which explains why catastrophes-- both natural and human-- happen. Scientists have recently discovered a new law of nature and its footprints are virtually everywhere-- in the spread of forest fires, mass extinctions, traffic jams, earthquakes, stock-market fluctuations, the rise and fall of nations, and even trends in fashion, music and art. Wherever we look, the world is modelled on a simple template: like a steep pile of sand, it is poised on the brink of instability, with avalanches-- in events, ideas or whatever-- following a universal pattern of change. This remarkable discovery heralds what Mark Buchanan calls the new science of 'ubiquity', a science whose secret lies in the stuff of the everyday world. Combining literary flair with scientific rigour, this enthralling book documents the coming revolution by telling the story of the researchers' exploration of the law, their ingenious work and unexpected insights. Buchanan reveals that we are witnessing the emergence of an extraordinarily powerful new field of science that will help us comprehend the bewildering and unruly rhythms that dominate our lives and may even lead to a true science of the dynamics of human culture and history.

Complex Systems, Sustainability and Innovation

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Author :
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN 13 : 9535128418
Total Pages : 128 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (351 download)

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Book Synopsis Complex Systems, Sustainability and Innovation by : Ciza Thomas

Download or read book Complex Systems, Sustainability and Innovation written by Ciza Thomas and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2016-12-14 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book on complex systems, sustainability, and innovation explores a broad set of ideas and presents some of the state-of-the-art research in this field concisely in six chapters. In a complex system, it is difficult to know exactly how the individual components contribute to an observed behavior and the extent of each component's contributions. It is the interactions of the individual components that determine the emergent functionalities. This makes it difficult to understand and predict the behavior of complex systems and hence the effects of any innovations in this field. This necessitates for the emergence of a new age of innovations with the main focus on user orientation and sustainability. This book explores some of the complex systems and their dependence on the environment to provide a long-term perspective, aiding innovations and supporting a sustainable society. The intended audience of this book will mainly consist of researchers, research students, and practitioners in the field of complex systems and sustainability.

Living on an Active Earth

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Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309169097
Total Pages : 430 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Living on an Active Earth by : National Research Council

Download or read book Living on an Active Earth written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2003-08-22 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The destructive force of earthquakes has stimulated human inquiry since ancient times, yet the scientific study of earthquakes is a surprisingly recent endeavor. Instrumental recordings of earthquakes were not made until the second half of the 19th century, and the primary mechanism for generating seismic waves was not identified until the beginning of the 20th century. From this recent start, a range of laboratory, field, and theoretical investigations have developed into a vigorous new discipline: the science of earthquakes. As a basic science, it provides a comprehensive understanding of earthquake behavior and related phenomena in the Earth and other terrestrial planets. As an applied science, it provides a knowledge base of great practical value for a global society whose infrastructure is built on the Earth's active crust. This book describes the growth and origins of earthquake science and identifies research and data collection efforts that will strengthen the scientific and social contributions of this exciting new discipline.