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Nonlinear automatic control
I78
B o o t ~ NOTES
NONLINEAR AUTOMATIC CONTROL, by John E. Gibson. 585 pages, diagrams, 6 X 9 in. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1963. Price, $16.50. Written for the first-year graduate student, this text not only provides the conventional analytic tools, but it also discusses advanced research topics which the reader may wish to investigate. The author's approach is based on the assumption that although control theory may be simpler in terms of linear analysis, the world is, in reality, nonlinear, and engineering students must come to grips with it on nonlinear terms. The book reviews linear continuous systems, statistical design principles, and sampled data systems. After this, there is extensive treatment of all the analytic techniques used in nonlinear control. The remainder of the text is concerned with the design of optimum systems and adaptive systems. Almost all the topics are of immediate research importance. SEA. Volume Two, Composition of Sea-water, Comparative and Descriptive Oceanography, edited by M. N. Hill. 554 pages, diagrams, illustrations, 7 X 10 in. New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1963. Price, $20.00.
THE
This is the second volume in a planned three volume reference work which is the most upto-date study available on the progress in the study of the seas. In a work of this nature, the study of oceanography is too vast to be treated by a small number of contributors. As a result of the great diversity of subject matter included in this volume, 29 contributors have authored 24 chapters covering their specialized fields of study. The work is divided into five sections: Chemistry, Fertility of the Oceans, Currents, Biological Oceanography, and Oceanographical Miscellanea. Sections I and II deal with the composition of sea-water. Chapters cover: oceans as a chemical system ; influence of organisms on the composition of sea-water; artificial radioactivity in the sea; radioisotopes and largescale oceanic mixing; chemical intrumentation; and water sampling and thermometers. Section II, Fertility of the Oceans, has three excellent chapters on: productivity, definition, and measurement; organic regulation of phytoplankton fertility ; and bioassay of trace substances. In Sections III and IV, currents
[J. F . I .
and biological oceanography are examined thoroughly. The fifth and concluding section discusses oceanographical miscellanea in three chapters: seasonal changes in sea-level ; bathyscaphs and other deep submersibles; and deep-sea anchoring and mooring. In addition to the excellence of the articles, the diagrams, charts and illustrations add to the over-all quality of this outstanding reference. AN
INTRODUCTION TO WAVES,
RAYS AND
RADIATION IN PLASMA MEDIA, by Julius J. Brandstatter. 690 pages, diagrams, 7 X 10 in. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1963. Price, $15.00. The author presents a unified treatment of the various factors which affect the propagation of waves, rays and radiation in anisotropic plasma media. The book covers both the macroscopic and microscopic description of such media and combines, in a synthetic manner, the electrodynamic and hydrodynamic coupling that can exist in a plasma. Specifically, Chapter I discusses the basic mathematical concepts of waves and rays in plasmas. Chapter II develops the concepts and formulas necessary for the understanding of wave propagation in a homogeneous electron plasma in a uniform magnetic field, while Chapter III is a resum6 of the hydrodynamical equations and shock conditions for gases. In the fourth chapter, the author discusses the propagation of waves in a homogeneous ionic plasma in the presence of a magnetic field. In Chapter V, energy considerations and electrodynamics of moving plasmas are treated, and in Chapter VI electromagnetic waves in anisotropie inhomogeneous plasmas for plane and cylindrical geometries are studied. Chapter VII presents the theory and application of propagation of rays in an inhomogeneous, anisotropic, dispersive and absorbing medium. Chapter VIII discusses propagation phenomena based on the Boltzmann equation. The final chapter considers material on radiation ir~ anisotropic media. COLD CATHODE DISCHARGE TUBES, by J. B. Acton and J. D. Swift. 351 pages, diagrams, 6 X 9 in. New York, Academic Press Inc., 1963. Price, $12.00. This book is based largely on post-graduate lectures given at The Northern Polytechnic,
:~
B o o t ~ NOTES
NONLINEAR AUTOMATIC CONTROL, by John E. Gibson. 585 pages, diagrams, 6 X 9 in. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1963. Price, $16.50. Written for the first-year graduate student, this text not only provides the conventional analytic tools, but it also discusses advanced research topics which the reader may wish to investigate. The author's approach is based on the assumption that although control theory may be simpler in terms of linear analysis, the world is, in reality, nonlinear, and engineering students must come to grips with it on nonlinear terms. The book reviews linear continuous systems, statistical design principles, and sampled data systems. After this, there is extensive treatment of all the analytic techniques used in nonlinear control. The remainder of the text is concerned with the design of optimum systems and adaptive systems. Almost all the topics are of immediate research importance. SEA. Volume Two, Composition of Sea-water, Comparative and Descriptive Oceanography, edited by M. N. Hill. 554 pages, diagrams, illustrations, 7 X 10 in. New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1963. Price, $20.00.
THE
This is the second volume in a planned three volume reference work which is the most upto-date study available on the progress in the study of the seas. In a work of this nature, the study of oceanography is too vast to be treated by a small number of contributors. As a result of the great diversity of subject matter included in this volume, 29 contributors have authored 24 chapters covering their specialized fields of study. The work is divided into five sections: Chemistry, Fertility of the Oceans, Currents, Biological Oceanography, and Oceanographical Miscellanea. Sections I and II deal with the composition of sea-water. Chapters cover: oceans as a chemical system ; influence of organisms on the composition of sea-water; artificial radioactivity in the sea; radioisotopes and largescale oceanic mixing; chemical intrumentation; and water sampling and thermometers. Section II, Fertility of the Oceans, has three excellent chapters on: productivity, definition, and measurement; organic regulation of phytoplankton fertility ; and bioassay of trace substances. In Sections III and IV, currents
[J. F . I .
and biological oceanography are examined thoroughly. The fifth and concluding section discusses oceanographical miscellanea in three chapters: seasonal changes in sea-level ; bathyscaphs and other deep submersibles; and deep-sea anchoring and mooring. In addition to the excellence of the articles, the diagrams, charts and illustrations add to the over-all quality of this outstanding reference. AN
INTRODUCTION TO WAVES,
RAYS AND
RADIATION IN PLASMA MEDIA, by Julius J. Brandstatter. 690 pages, diagrams, 7 X 10 in. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1963. Price, $15.00. The author presents a unified treatment of the various factors which affect the propagation of waves, rays and radiation in anisotropic plasma media. The book covers both the macroscopic and microscopic description of such media and combines, in a synthetic manner, the electrodynamic and hydrodynamic coupling that can exist in a plasma. Specifically, Chapter I discusses the basic mathematical concepts of waves and rays in plasmas. Chapter II develops the concepts and formulas necessary for the understanding of wave propagation in a homogeneous electron plasma in a uniform magnetic field, while Chapter III is a resum6 of the hydrodynamical equations and shock conditions for gases. In the fourth chapter, the author discusses the propagation of waves in a homogeneous ionic plasma in the presence of a magnetic field. In Chapter V, energy considerations and electrodynamics of moving plasmas are treated, and in Chapter VI electromagnetic waves in anisotropie inhomogeneous plasmas for plane and cylindrical geometries are studied. Chapter VII presents the theory and application of propagation of rays in an inhomogeneous, anisotropic, dispersive and absorbing medium. Chapter VIII discusses propagation phenomena based on the Boltzmann equation. The final chapter considers material on radiation ir~ anisotropic media. COLD CATHODE DISCHARGE TUBES, by J. B. Acton and J. D. Swift. 351 pages, diagrams, 6 X 9 in. New York, Academic Press Inc., 1963. Price, $12.00. This book is based largely on post-graduate lectures given at The Northern Polytechnic,
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