It has been great fun to write this book, even though it has taken longer than planned, and occasionally been exasperating. The most difficult problem was deciding what to exclude among so many interesting things, because the available material usually exceeded the space. Because a book like this covers so many aspects, each component must be limited. This book is intended for graduate and undergraduate students as well as professional scientists who want to work with animal flight or to gain some insight into flight mechanics, aerodynamics, energetics, physiology, morpho­ logy, ecology and evolution. My aim has not been to give the whole mathe­ matical explanation of flight, but to provide an outline and summary of the main theories for the understanding of how aerofoils respond to an airflow. I also hope to give the reader some insight into how flight morphology and the various wing shapes have evolved and are adapted to different ecological niches and habitats.

This text on the statistical theory of nonequilibrium phenomena grew out of lecture notes for courses on advanced statistical mechanics that were held more or less regularly at the Physics Department of the Technical University in Munich. My aim in these lectures was to incorporate various developments of many-body theory made during the last 20-30 years, in particular the correlation function approach, not just as an "extra" alongside the more "classical" results; I tried to use this approach as a unifying concept for the presentation of older as well as more recent results. I think that after so many excellent review articles and advanced treatments, correlation functions and memory kernels are as much a matter of course in nonequilibrium statistical physics as partition functions are in equilibrium theory, and should be used as such in regular courses and textbooks. The relations between correlation functions and earlier vehicles for the formulation of nonequilibrium theory such askinetic equations, master equations, Onsager's theory, etc. , are discussed in detail in this volume. Since today there is growing interest in nonlinear phenomena I have included several chapters on related problems. There is some nonlinear response theory, some results on phenomenological nonlinear equations and some microscopic applications of the nonlinear response formalism. The main focus, however, is on the linear regime.

Historically, nonclassical physics developed in three stages. First came a collection of ad hoc assumptions and then a cookbook of equations known as "quantum mechanics". The equations and their philosophical underpinnings were then collected into a model based on the mathematics of Hilbert space. From the Hilbert space model came the abstaction of "quantum logics". This book explores all three stages, but not in historical order. Instead, in an effort to illustrate how physics and abstract mathematics influence each other we hop back and forth between a purely mathematical development of Hilbert space, and a physically motivated definition of a logic, partially linking the two throughout, and then bringing them together at the deepest level in the last two chapters. This book should be accessible to undergraduate and beginning graduate students in both mathematics and physics. The only strict prerequisites are calculus and linear algebra, but the level of mathematical sophistication assumes at least one or two intermediate courses, for example in mathematical analysis or advanced calculus. No background in physics is assumed.

Real problems concerning vibrations of elastic structures are among the most fascinating topics in mathematical and physical research as well as in applications in the engineering sciences. This book addresses the student familiar with the elementary mechanics of continua along with specialists. The authors start with an outline of the basic methods and lead the reader to research problems of current interest. An exposition of the method of spectra, asymptotic methods and perturbation is followed by applications to linear problems where elastic structures are coupled to fluids in bounded and unbounded domains, to radiation of immersed bodies, to local vibrations, to thermal effects and many more.

It is propitious that the 25th year of publication of the International Journal of Fracture should coincide with the opportunity to support the recognition by the Society of Engineer­ ing Science of the 65th birthday of the Founding Editor-in-Chief, Professor M.L. Williams. At its 24th Annual Meeting at the University of Utah in September 1987, the Organizing Committee of the Society chose to honor Professor Williams by reserving several sessions for contributions from his colleagues working in the mechanics of fracture and associated mechanical property-structure relationships. We are therefore pleased to welcome Professor E.S. Folias, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah, and a member of the Editorial Committee as the Guest Editor for the first three issues of Volume 39 of the Journal. We have also noted that the University of Utah was one of the three homes for the Journal, sandwiched between the original home at the California Institute of Technology in 1965 and its current location at the University of Pittsburgh. In observing these dual anniversaries, the publishers not only enthusiastically support the presentation of these special papers, but also wish to extend to Professor Williams our own best wishes on his personal anniversary, and to thank him and all the authors, reviewers, and particularly M.e. Williams, J.L. Swedlow and the Regional Editors for their respective contributions as we observe this 25th milestone.

L'autore è ricoverato in ospedale psichiatrico in un non meglio precisato paese baltico da diversi anni. Dai versi trapelano sia le terapie a cui è sottoposto (compreso uso di alcol non consentito dalle autorità sanitarie), sia le relazioni col personale, infermiere e infermieri, il rapporto con gli animali domestici (è una comunità controllata, con sperimentazione di pet therapy). I versi, sull'onda tra delirio e poesia, tra realtà e immaginazione, tra prescrizione e trasgressione, sono suggestivi dell'atmosfera unica che si respira all'interno dell'istituzione manicomiale o postmanicomiale.

Vuoi imparare a giocare a biliardo in modo semplice e veloce? Biliardo Facile è la guida completa per chi desidera avvicinarsi a questo gioco elegante e stimolante senza confusione o difficoltà. Grazie a un approccio chiaro e progressivo, questo libro ti accompagna passo dopo passo, dalle regole di base alle tecniche fondamentali, permettendoti di giocare con sicurezza, precisione e divertimento fin dalle prime partite.

Fa impressione constatare riga dopo riga la nostra ignoranza: tutti noi abbiamo sentito parlare soprattutto delle purghe staliniane, ma invece qui già nel ventennio 1917-1936 assistiamo alla teorizzazione e alla messa in pratica leniniana di questo sistema disumano. E i principali prigionieri in tutto questo periodo non sono i fascisti o gli aristocratici, ma i socialisti e i socialdemocratici, i socialrivoluzionari, i menscevichi, perfino gli ecclesiastici, ossia tutto quello che oggi chiameremmo «campo largo» e che farebbe parte del versante democratico del panorama politico.

Ah, che dolcezza la costa bretone in una giornata mite e spensierata, soprattutto se è la costa di granito rosa, il cui bagliore soprannaturale ammalia e incanta. O almeno, questo è ciò che dovrebbe pensare anche il commissario Georges Dupin, finalmente in vacanza al mare, a Trégastel, con Claire, la sua compagna. La vacanza piú lunga della sua vita lavorativa.

Questo libro è un dono che l'autrice fa a tutti i professionisti che si occupano della cura, dell'aiuto e della crescita delle persone condividendo anni di esperienza in supervisioni individuali e di gruppo. Un dono ancora più prezioso perché delinea un metodo di supervisione, quello relazionale, che accompagna il lettore nell'apprendimento di un modello psicosocioanalitico attraverso il racconto di situazioni complesse accolte in setting individuali, gruppali e istituzionali.