The History of the Theory of Structures

The History of the Theory of Structures
Author: Karl-Eugen Kurrer
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 864
Release: 2008-06-23
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9783433018385

This book traces the evolution of theory of structures and strength of materials - the development of the geometrical thinking of the Renaissance to become the fundamental engineering science discipline rooted in classical mechanics. Starting with the strength experiments of Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo, the author examines the emergence of individual structural analysis methods and their formation into theory of structures in the 19th century. For the first time, a book of this kind outlines the development from classical theory of structures to the structural mechanics and computational mechanics of the 20th century. In doing so, the author has managed to bring alive the differences between the players with respect to their engineering and scientific profiles and personalities, and to create an understanding for the social context. Brief insights into common methods of analysis, backed up by historical details, help the reader gain an understanding of the history of structural mechanics from the standpoint of modern engineering practice. A total of 175 brief biographies of important personalities in civil and structural engineering as well as structural mechanics plus an extensive bibliography round off this work.

Membrane Computing

Membrane Computing
Author: David Corne
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 412
Release: 2009-01-20
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 3540958843

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed extended postproceedings of the 9th International Workshop on Membrane Computing, WMC 2008, held in Edinburgh, UK, in July 2008 under the auspices of the European Molecular Computing Consortium (EMCC) and the Molecular Computing Task Force of IEEE Computational Intelligence Society. The 22 revised full papers presented together with 5 invited papers went through two rounds of reviewing and improvement. The papers in this volume cover all the main directions of research in membrane computing, ranging from theoretical topics in mathematics and computer science to application issues. A special attention was paid to the interaction of membrane computing with biology and computer science, focusing both on the biological roots of membrane computing, on applications of membrane computing in biology and medicine, and on possible electronically based implementations.