Robotic technology offers two potential benefits for future space exploration. One benefit is minimizing the risk that astronauts face. The other benefit is increasing their productivity.

The fundamental goal of physics is an understanding of the forces of nature in their simplest and most general terms. Yet there is much more involved than just a basic set of equations which eventually has to be solved when applied to specific problems. We have learned in recent years that the structure of the ground state of field theories (with which we are generally concerned) plays an equally funda­ mental role as the equations of motion themselves. Heisenberg was probably the first to recognize that the ground state, the vacuum, could acquire certain prop­ erties (quantum numbers) when he devised a theory of ferromagnetism. Since then, many more such examples are known in solid state physics, e. g. supercon­ ductivity, superfluidity, in fact all problems concerned with phase transitions of many-body systems, which are often summarized under the name synergetics. Inspired by the experimental observation that also fundamental symmetries, such as parity or chiral symmetry, may be violated in nature, it has become wide­ ly accepted that the same field theory may be based on different vacua. Practical­ ly all these different field phases have the status of more or less hypothetical models, not (yet) directly accessible to experiments. There is one magnificent ex­ ception and this is the change of the ground state (vacuum) of the electron-posi­ tron field in superstrong electric fields.

This book contains the proceedings of the conference "Fractals in Graz 2001 - Analysis, Dynamics, Geometry, Stochastics" that was held in the second week of June 2001 at Graz University of Technology, in the capital of Styria, southeastern province of Austria. The scientific committee of the meeting consisted of M. Barlow (Vancouver), R. Strichartz (Ithaca), P. Grabner and W. Woess (both Graz), the latter two being the local organizers and editors of this volume. We made an effort to unite in the conference as well as in the present pro­ ceedings a multitude of different directions of active current work, and to bring together researchers from various countries as well as research fields that all are linked in some way with the modern theory of fractal structures. Although (or because) in Graz there is only a very small group working on fractal structures, consisting of "non-insiders", we hope to have been successful with this program of wide horizons. All papers were written upon explicit invitation by the editors, and we are happy to be able to present this representative panorama of recent work on poten­ tial theory, random walks, spectral theory, fractal groups, dynamic systems, fractal geometry, and more. The papers presented here underwent a refereeing process.

This volume includes chapters covering new vortex theories, vortex identification methods, and vortex simulation and applications. Vortices are ubiquitous in the universe and include tornados, hurricanes, airplane tip vortices, polar vortices, and even star vortices in the galaxy. Vortices are also building blocks, muscles, and sinews of turbulent flows.

This book provides the presentation of the motion of pure nonlinear oscillatory systems and various solution procedures which give the approximate solutions of the strong nonlinear oscillator equations. The book presents the original author’s method for the analytical solution procedure of the pure nonlinear oscillator system. After an introduction, the physical explanation of the pure nonlinearity and of the pure nonlinear oscillator is given. The analytical solution for free and forced vibrations of the one-degree-of-freedom strong nonlinear system with constant and time variable parameter is considered. Special attention is given to the one and two mass oscillatory systems with two-degrees-of-freedom. The criteria for the deterministic chaos in ideal and non-ideal pure nonlinear oscillators are derived analytically. The method for suppressing chaos is developed. Important problems are discussed in didactic exercises. The book is self-consistent and suitable as a textbook for students and also for professionals and engineers who apply these techniques to the field of nonlinear oscillations.

This book explores the diverse types of Schrödinger equations that appear in nonlinear systems in general, with a specific focus on nonlinear transmission networks and Bose–Einstein Condensates. In the context of nonlinear transmission networks, it employs various methods to rigorously model the phenomena of modulated matter-wave propagation in the network, leading to nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equations. Modeling these phenomena is largely based on the reductive perturbation method, and the derived NLS equations are then used to methodically investigate the dynamics of matter-wave solitons in the network. In the context of Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs), the book analyzes the dynamical properties of NLS equations with the external potential of different types, which govern the dynamics of modulated matter-waves in BECs with either two-body interactions or both two- and three-body interatomic interactions.

This book provides the presentation of the motion of pure nonlinear oscillatory systems and various solution procedures which give the approximate solutions of the strong nonlinear oscillator equations. The book presents the original author’s method for the analytical solution procedure of the pure nonlinear oscillator system. After an introduction, the physical explanation of the pure nonlinearity and of the pure nonlinear oscillator is given. The analytical solution for free and forced vibrations of the one-degree-of-freedom strong nonlinear system with constant and time variable parameter is considered. Special attention is given to the one and two mass oscillatory systems with two-degrees-of-freedom. The criteria for the deterministic chaos in ideal and non-ideal pure nonlinear oscillators are derived analytically. The method for suppressing chaos is developed. Important problems are discussed in didactic exercises. The book is self-consistent and suitable as a textbook for students and also for professionals and engineers who apply these techniques to the field of nonlinear oscillations.