Computational Mechanics

Biological monitoring; theory and applications, bioindicators and biomarkers for environmental quality and human exposure assessment.

Editor Conti (environmental impact assessment, U. of Rome and U. of Urbino) and his contributors describe and assess significant biomarkers required and revealed by environmental impact assessments (EIAs). They describe the various kinds of environmental biological monitoring and types of significant biomarkers; biomonitoring of freshwater environments; marine organisms that serve well as biomarkers; biomarkers for human biomonitoring, including chemical elements, polychlorinated biphenyls, solvents, pesticides and aromatic amines; and multivariate approaches to biomonitoring studies, including supervised and unsupervised pattern recognition. Articles are well-illustrated and include references. The US office of WIT Press is Computational Mechanics. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Electromagnetic field interaction with transmission lines; from classical theory to hf radiation effects.

European electrical engineering instructors describe classical transmission line theory and its recent enhancements to deal with the higher frequencies both of the electromagnetic signals being transmitted, and of the external disturbances that must be accounted for. Intended readers are graduate students, researchers, and engineers. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Environment and health; protecting our common future.

Through anecdotal, practical, and statistical evidence linking action on the environment and health with financial performance, Duncan (health studies, U. of Toronto, Canada) examines ways that organizations can make a positive difference to the environment, human health, and their bottom lines. While the focus is on corporations, the material presented also applies to civil society and government and non-government organizations. An opening section on the global and regional environment defines environmental sustainability and the interconnections between organizations, industry, and the environment, and examines best environmental practices. Subsequent health-oriented chapters explore the determinants of health; where corporations can affect health and wellness among their employees, their host communities, and globally; and best practices to fight disease and illness and promote health. For organization leaders; practitioners in corporate social responsibility; managers involved in environmental, health, and safety issues; and business students. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Influence function approach; selected topics of structural mechanics.

Melnikov (mathematics, Middlesex Tennessee State U.) works through a comprehensive set of standard problems that study the effects that forces of different physical origins (mechanical, thermal, and magnetic, etc.) produce on elements of structures such as cables, pillars, beams, plates and shells. He takes a single mathematical approach based upon the influence function (Green's) method, thereby combining structural mechanics with mathematics. Melnikov explains the mathematics behind the influence function methods (including an introduction to Fourier series), Green's functions, including construction based on defining properties, symmetry of the function, alternate construction of Green's functions and boundary-contact value problems, Kirchoff beam problems, including the bending of beams of uniform rigidity and beams on elastic foundations, other beam problems, including Euler buckling problems, and bending of plates and shells. He includes answers to the exercises at the end of chapters. The US office of WIT Press is Computational Mechanics. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Learning from failure; long-term behaviour of heavy masonry structures.

Working with masonry structures can be tricky, especially when those structures have a long history without the benefit of modern engineering. These nine articles describe incidents of structural failure and how engineers determined the cause of collapse, addressing failures due to long-term behavior typical of heavy structures, experimental research, collapse prediction and creep effects, the effects of creep on new structures, experimental studies on damaged pillars, monitoring of long-term damage in long-span masonry construction, modeling of the long-term behavior of masonry towers, repair techniques and long-term damage of massive structures, and simple checks engineers can use to prevent the collapse of heavy historical structures and residual life prevision through a model. The US office of WIT Press is Computational Mechanics. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Magic is no magic; the wonderful world of Simon Stevin.

Devreese (theoretical physics, University of Antwerp) and Berghe (numerical mathematics, University of Ghent) honor a forerunner and fellow countryman, Simon Stevin, in this mathematical biography. Stevin (c.1548-1620) was a child of the Northern Renaissance. He invented the decimal system, designed hydraulic systems, military camps and houses. He applied decimal mathematics to economics, was an innovator in the science of hydrostatics, and was able to explain perspective in a way that even a prince could understand. The book begins with an overview of the time and the events of Stevin's life, but the emphasis is on the many accomplishments of this scientist and his desire to share his discoveries outside of fellow educated men by publishing his work in Dutch. The authors share this desire, keeping explanations of Stevin's work largely free of jargon and formulae. The US office of WIT is Computational Mechanics. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Transport phenomena in fires.

Numerical models are used to simulate the transport mechanisms of fire for this textbook, which maintains that computational procedures can be used to increase fire protection and fire safety. Sundén (Lund U., Sweden) and Faghri (U. of Rhode Island) edit the work of contributors from all over the world on topics such as fire release rates, soot formation, gas radiation patterns, mechanisms of ignition and temperature-dependent properties in this latest entry of the International Series on Developments in Heat Transfer from WIT Press. The US office of WIT Press is Computational Mechanics. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Trefftz and collection methods.

This mathematics textbook covers Collocation Methods, which differ from Finite Element and Finite Difference Methods by involving unstructured points in space. Li and Lu (both from the National Sun Yat-sen U., Taiwan), Hu (Tunghai U., Taiwan) and Cheng (U. of Mississippi) discuss the Trefftz method for collocation by describing coupling techniques, biharmonic equations and combinations of collocation and finite element methods for advanced students in mathematics. The US office of WIT Press is Computational Mechanics. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)