No comments about Acoustic Emission Testing: Basics for Research - Applications in Civil Engineering.

2 comments about Handbook of Acoustics.

1. Eliminates the need to consult 15 journals and 4 books just to gain an understanding of a particular acoustics topic of interest. Get the basic overview of current knowledge from a book that doesn't assume you're already on the cutting edge of knowledge.



2. This book contains a myriad of case studies concerning a wide variety of acoustical problems. Very rich in detail. I found it helpful when trying to tackle challenging acoustical problems.

No comments about Water Treatment (Water Supply Operations Training Series).

2 comments about Colour: Why the World Isn't Grey.

1. I discovered the first edition of this book as an undergraduate, and 10 years later I still possess the eight pages I photocopied. The writing is simple, and detailed enough to please a scientist. The line drawings are illustrate without clutter. The book is not light-weight reading, but skimps on the math so artists can read it w/o distraction.



2. I just bought my third copy of this book because I keep giving it away. The book is full of interesting bits of information about color. It is somewhat technical, but not too heavy.

No comments about Acoustics.

2 comments about Detailing for Acoustics.

1. An excellent source for construction details related to acoustics, noise control, etc



2. As an acoustics consultant, I frequently use this well organised, to-the-point book as a reference.Lots of construction details, technical drawings and test results allow you to grab the essence of the subject very quickly. Sometimes, I bring my copy to workshops and manufacturers to discuss details. The graphical language of the authors makes my life easier during those discussions.
   
   If a new edition would have been released, I would buy this one too. - Turker Talayman

1 comments about Quantum Signatures of Chaos (Springer Series in Synergetics, Vol 54).

1. The quantization of classical physical systems whose dynamics is regular or `integrable' is fairly well understood. In fact such systems were thought to be of predominant interest until the discovery of chaotic dynamics back in the early 1970's. The presence of chaos in classical systems is fairly well characterized, and so the natural thing to ask is to what extent this chaotic behavior is preserved when quantizing these systems. The quantization of classical chaotic systems is frequently described as `quantum chaos' although there are some researchers who believe that this designation should be reserved to efforts for characterizing when an actual quantum system could exhibit behavior that is similar to that which occurs in classical chaotic systems. This book exemplifies an approach to quantum chaos that is a mixture of these two outlooks, as it attempts to summarize the tools for studying the `signature' of quantum effects on classical chaos. Ideally, this signature is a collection of criteria that would reduce to the criteria used to characterize classical chaos when Planck's constant approaches zero. The author discusses various approaches to obtaining a "quantum signature" of classical chaos, some of these being techniques drawn from other fields of physics, such as nuclear and condensed matter physics. There are some interesting issues that arise in this book from a mathematical standpoint, such as connections of quantum chaos with the zeros of the Riemann zeta function, but the author refrains from an in-depth discussion because of lack of space.
   
   The book is a fairly comprehensive treatment, and space prohibits a detailed review, but some of the main topics or issues of interest include the following:
   
   Unitarity of the quantum time evolution of state vectors.
   In quantum physics, the time evolution of state vectors is represented by an evolution operator that is unitary, which means that for a given Hamiltonian, the distance between two state vectors is preserved under time evolution. This rules out any notion of `sensitive dependence on initial conditions' as is the case in classical chaotic systems. The author though argues for an alternative notion that views quantum dynamics as being dependent on a control parameter. Thus one speaks of the sensitivity to the dynamics that is under the direction of the control parameter. Two states evolving from the same initial state but having slightly different values of the control parameter may have radically different behavior, depending on where the initial state is located (in either the regular or classically chaotic region). Quantum chaos in this view is a kind of measure of "mobility" of the state vectors under slight changes of dynamics (control parameter(s)).
   
   The Ehrenfest time and the correspondence principle
   Interestingly, the author seems not to worry too much about the issues with the Ehrenfest time that other researchers do. For regular systems the Ehrenfest time is long enough to not cause worry when comparing classical dynamics with the time evolution of quantum expectation values. For chaotic classical systems though the Ehrenfest time can be much shorter, and so the correspondence principle seems to be problematic for the quantization of classical chaotic systems. The main issue of the Ehrenfest time for the author arises in the validity of the "diagonal" approximation for the short-time form factor in the Gutzwiller semiclassical theory of periodic orbits. In that discussion the Ehrenfest time gives an estimate for the limiting time above which the diagonal approximation fails (due to constructive interference between the periodic orbits). The Ehrenfest time is to be contrasted with the `Heisenberg time', which is the time needed to resolve the discreteness of the quasi-energy spectrum, and which, as the author remarks, gives an optimistic estimate for the range of validity of the diagonal approximation. The Ehrenfest time is proportional to the logarithm of Planck's constant while the Heisenberg time is proportional to the inverse of Planck's constant. Thus the Ehrenfest time is considerably shorter than the Heisenberg time.
   
   Quantum localization
   One way of understanding quantum localization is to examine the opposite situation, where the states are "spread out" and the probability amplitudes are the same everywhere up to a change of phase. Such is the situation for example for an electron in a periodic potential, where the states of the electron are the famous `Bloch states.' As is well known, the electron is viewed as a wave that is spread out through the whole solid. Localization then is the case where the wave function of the electron has most of its "support" on a given location, and thus the probability amplitude decays rapidly with increasing distance from this location. Intuitively, one would expect that this would be the case where the perfect periodic lattice is disrupted by the presence of an impurity. This intuition is verified by calculation, with one of the well-known examples being that of `Anderson localization'. The main example studied in this book is that of the `periodically kicked rotator', whose quasi-energy eigenfunctions are localized in the angular momentum representation. But as it turns out, and this is studied in detail in the book, the kicked rotator is related to the Anderson model. This relation is established by considering the eigenvalue problem for the Floquet operator of the kicked rotator. The resulting algebraic equation for the eigenfunctions in the momentum representation has the form of the Schroedinger equation for a particle in a one-dimensional lattice of pseudorandom potentials (in the strict Anderson model these potentials are random). The author is careful to note that a rigorous proof of localization for the kicked rotator has not been accomplished, but that numerical evidence points to an equivalence between the Anderson model and the kicked rotator. And to make the case that not every periodically kicked system will display localization, the author discusses the `kicked top.'
   
   Random matrices
   The topic of random matrices has generated a lot of excitement in the mathematical community in recent years due to a possible connection (and resolution) of the Riemann conjecture. In this book, the role of random matrices arises in the discussion of the presence of universality in the local fluctuations in the quasi-energy spectra of classical systems that display global chaos. Random matrices come into play when analyzing the level dynamics of a classical Hamiltonian flow in a manner that is similar to what is done in ordinary equilibrium statistical mechanics.

5 comments about Desktop DVD Authoring.

1. The key to any good technology book is its ability to teach the reader something new and complicated in a way that is entertaining. Some tech books read like high school Calculus books, this isn't one of them. Dixon does a solid job of covering the entire complex world of DVD authoring in a very straightforward and easy to understand way. Highly recommended for those just getting started in DVD or for old pros who want to brush up on the latest and greatest.



2. Dixon and Matey have done an excellent job in putting together a text that will certainly help those who are new to this complex subject. Although there are other well-written and broader books on DVD (most notably as DVD Demystified by Jim Taylor), I'd recommend this book first to anyone looking to specifically get started in creating personal DVD-Videos. In fact, if at all possible, buy this book *before* investing in any hardware or software for the task!!

   "Desktop DVD Authoring" really cuts through the complexities of DVD, focuses exclusively on what matters, and provides a remarkably up-to-date breakdown on what is available in the market as of late 2002/early 2003. The authors are also to be commended for taking a very "platform independent" approach to the topic, with equal weight given to both Windows and Mac platforms.

   Also impressive is the logical way the material is organized, and the way it scales from "Automated DVD Authoring" for absolute beginners, to "Personal DVD Authoring" for those who crave more customization in their work, to "Professional DVD Authoring" for professional and feature film production. Considering that companies in the digital video and DVD authoring application industry do such a poor job in their marketing and dissemination of this information, "Desktop DVD Authoring" is an invaluable and unique resource for getting through the hype, and understanding exactly what is required to do your own high-quality productions.

   Again, I cannot recommend highly enough that you pick up this book *before* heading off to the store to buy anything to make your own DVDs. Doing so will save you a great deal of the time, money and pain currently associated with trying to get your own videos onto DVD. And unlike many technical books, this is an easy and pleasurable read without any hardware or software in front of you.

   Kudos to the authors and New Riders Publishing for delivering a fluff-free, timely resource for DVD authoring, and for filling a gap that exists right now.




3. Do not purchase this book if your intention is to learn the technicalities of DVD authoring. It is only an introduction to most of the software products out there right now.
   Purchase this book if you intend to attain a software product and are unsure which to select among the many choices out there.
   It is a good overview of these products and would be a very useful book for this purpose.
   There is discussion about DVD authoring but it is weak and vastly incomplete. As a long time author and owner of several products, and all books on the subject I am dissappointed with this book. I would have liked to have seen at least some command sequence examples. There are none. If you wish to learn the intricacies of DVD authoring,do a course.



4. As a newbie getting acquainted with Apple's DVD Studio Pro, I found this book to be a great suppliment to the manual. It also contains useful user guides to other authoring packages such as iDVD, Sonic DVDit!, Sonic ReelDVD and Sonic Scenarist. An interesting read if you already own or are considering any of these products. The book also covers other DVD related topics, from buying a DVD player, to technical summaries. A great starting point for those ready to take the DVD plunge.



5. The author appears to have done little more than collect a sheaf of manufacturers' literature and then rewrite it for this book. A typical chapter contains a step by step description of the tutorial that comes with Apple's DVD Studio Pro software. You'll get a lot more more from simply working through the tutorial than from reading Dixon's rehash of same, and you won't have to waste money on this book. Some overlap is perhaps inevitable, but 500+ pages of regurgitated material? No thanks! Save your money and wait for David Pogue to cover this topic.

3 comments about Thinking in Complexity.

1. This book is an extremely well-informed cataloguing of the many areas of human experience in which self-organisation and complexity phenomena play an important role. However the writer's style becomes very heavy as a result of transferring German constructions into English - so much so that I was forced to skim read many sections.



2. The book covers a broad field - all parts in close connection with the others and its background in modern science and historic cultural connotations. The theoretical aspects are merged with lively explanations. Readable for the non-specialist, understandable for the average science-educated and meaningful for the specilaists, both in physical systems science and in philosophy. A top-notch guide through this topic of multidisciplinary novelties.



3. [A review of the 4th Edition, 2003.]
   This book studies complexity and nonlinearity across a diverse range of applications. Much of the book revolves around organic evolution and the evolution of a sentient mind. And how complexity analysis might aid in the understanding of these fields. Not the least in devising deeper forms of artificial intelligence.
   
   So intriguing techniques like cellular automata and neural networks are studied. There is a fair amount of speculation as to how these and other topics might ultimately relate to sentience or consciousness. But the musings are grounded in solid science. Like that of a Hopfield system or a Boltzmann machine. This 4th edition is a good reflection of the boundaries of our knowledge.

No comments about Solitons in Field Theory and Nonlinear Analysis (Springer Monographs in Mathematics).