New Releases by Maciej

In modern society services and support provided by computer-based systems have become ubiquitous and indeed have started to fund amentally alter the way people conduct their business. Moreover, it has become apparent that among the great variety of computer technologies available to potential users a crucial role will be played by concurrent systems. The reason is that many commonly occurring phenomena and computer applications are highly con current : typical examples include control systems, computer networks, digital hardware, business computing, and multimedia systems. Such systems are characterised by ever increasing complexity, which results when large num bers of concurrently active components interact. This has been recognised and addressed within the computing science community. In particular, sev eral form al models of concurrent systems have been proposed, studied, and applied in practice. This book brings together two of the most widely used formalisms for de scribing and analysing concurrent systems: Petri nets and process algebras. On the one hand , process algebras allow one to specify and reason about the design of complex concurrent computing systems by means of algebraic operators corresponding to common programming constructs. Petri nets, on the other hand, provide a graphical representation of such systems and an additional means of verifying their correctness efficiently, as well as a way of expressing properties related to causality and concurrency in system be haviour.

On the wave of Pope John Paul II''s recent extraordinary journeys to places such as Cuba and Israel comes this new, accessible survey of his teachings from one of his closest associates. Father Maciej Zieba, a Pole who came back to Catholicism after studies in physics and activist efforts with Solidarnosc, was ordained as a Dominican priest. Young, media-savvy, and down-to-earth as well as erudite and profound, Father Zieba has become known in Poland as an engaging interpreter of the Pope''s teachings. Published here in English are eleven "conversations"--originally interviews conducted for a series of programs on Polish television--on the most important points of John Paul II''s teachings. Journalist Adam Pawlowicz represents the reader in dialogue with Zieba, who not only clarifies these teachings but also confronts contemporary critiques. Tackling such complex issues as freedom, democracy, ecumenicalism, and sexuality with grace and equanimity, The Surprising Pope is a major contribution to our understanding of the papacy of John Paul II.

The basic procedures for designing and analysing electronic systems are based largely on the assumptions of linear behavior of the system. Nonlinearities inherent in all real applications very often cause unexpected and even strange behavior. This book presents an electronic engineer''s perspective on chaos and complex behavior. It starts from basic mathematical notions which enable understanding of the observed phenomena, and guides the reader through the methodology and tools used in the laboratory and numerical experiments to interpretation and explanation of basic mechanisms. On typical circuit examples, it shows how the theoretical and empirical developments can be used in practice. Attention is drawn to applications of chaotic circuits as noise generators and the possible use of synchronized chaotic systems in information transmission and encryption. Chaos control is considered as a new, emerging area where electronic equipment and chaos theory could turn vital in biomedical and engineering issues.

The physics of strongly interacting many-body systems known as nuclear physics is a mature discipline which has achieved a remarkably quantitative success. It has explained with an impressive accuracy the properties of nuclei from the deuteron to heavy nuclei containing several hundreds of nucleons. This is the more remarkable when one realizes that in no way did the success depend on the existence of, or knowledge derived from, the fundamental theory of strong interactions now believed to be quantum chromodynamics (QCD).This monograph is a first, albeit embryonic, attempt to explain how a nucleus can be understood without invoking the explicit degrees of freedom of quarks and gluons while still staying within the basic premise of QCD and furthermore why do quark-gluon signatures not show up prominently in nuclear processes, including those processes involving short-distance encounters within nuclei. Such an understanding is largely based on the modern concepts of broken chiral symmetry and is believed to be essential in uncovering new physics expected to figure in the hadronic environment under extreme conditions of high temperature and/or high density.

Andrzej Wajda stands as one of the leading film-makers in contemporary European cinema, although his equally important theatrical achievements have remained less well-known. This book provides the first account and critical evaluation of this Polish director''s work for the theatre. Maciej Karpinski examines Wajda''s theatrical career focusing especially on such milestone productions as his internationally acclaimed adaptations of Dostoyevsky. Through an analysis of Wajda''s aesthetic views and resultant productions, the study also reveals the vital link between his art and contemporary Polish culture. Karpinski is in a unique position to present a study of Wajda. Since 1974 he has collaborated with the director on a number of productions including The Affair, The Emigrants, and Nastasya Filippovna. As the most complete study of Wajda in the theatre, this book will enable students and teachers to have a fuller knowledge of this important twentieth-century director. The book also contains a full chronology of his theatrical career as well as photographs from productions.