Tamas Vicsek

This book systematically interprets and documents new, unifying principles and basic laws describing the most relevant aspects of hierarchy. To do so, it discusses recent experiments and models that are simple and realistic enough to reproduce the observations, and develops concepts for a better understanding of the complexity of systems consisting of many organisms. The book covers systems ranging from flocks of birds to groups of people. Although it focuses on hierarchical collective behavior in general, two aspects pop up in the majority of cases: collective motion and dynamically changing, partially directed networks (and the natural relation between the two). In addition, it offers a brief description of the most relevant definitions and concepts involved in the context of hierarchies, presenting both a review of the current literature and a number of new experimental and computational results in more detail. It is a valuable resource for students and scholars pursuing research on the structure of interactions within the collectives of animals and humans.

The investigation of phenomena involving fractals has gone through a spectacular development in the last decade. Many physical, technological and biological processes have been shown to be related to and described by objects with non-integer dimensions. The physics of far-from-equilibrium growth phenomena represents one of the most important fields in which fractal geometry is widely applied. During the last couple of years considerable experimental, numerical and theoretical information has accumulated concerning such processes.This book, written by a well-known expert in the field, summarizes the basic concepts born in the studies of fractal growth and also presents some of the most important new results for more specialized readers. It also contains 15 beautiful color plates demonstrating the richness of the geometry of fractal patterns. Accordingly, it may serve as a textbook on the geometrical aspects of fractal growth and it treats this area in sufficient depth to make it useful as a reference book. No specific mathematical knowledge is required for reading this book which is intended to give a balanced account of the field.

The investigation of phenomena involving fractals has gone through a spectacular development in the last decade. Many physical, technological and biological processes have been shown to be related to and described by objects with non-integer dimensions. The physics of far-from-equilibrium growth phenomena represents one of the most important fields in which fractal geometry is widely applied. During the last couple of years considerable experimental, numerical and theoretical information has accumulated concerning such processes.This book, written by a well-known expert in the field, summarizes the basic concepts born in the studies of fractal growth and also presents some of the most important new results for more specialized readers. It also contains 15 beautiful color plates demonstrating the richness of the geometry of fractal patterns. Accordingly, it may serve as a textbook on the geometrical aspects of fractal growth and it treats this area in sufficient depth to make it useful as a reference book. No specific mathematical knowledge is required for reading this book which is intended to give a balanced account of the field.

The rich variety of complicated patterns in nature can be successfully modelled by simple fractal growth models which capture the essential physics behind the associated phenomena. Computer simulations of such aggregation models play an important role in our understanding of far-from-equilibrium growth processes.Designed to complement Tamas Vicsek's best-selling text on Fractal Growth Phenomena, this software contains twelve programs which are ideal for demonstrating on IBM XT/AT and compatible personal computers with major video standards (CGA, Hercules, EGA and VGA); how aggregation phenomena may lead to objects with non-integer dimensionality. Important features are: (i) the programs are menu driven and a short description of each type of phenomena (ballistic aggregation, Eden growth, diffusion-limited aggregation and local growth models) is readily accessible from the menu; (ii) Turbo Pascal source files are included so that the owner of the package can modify them in order to get further insight into the simulated growth processes.This Fractal Growth software will be useful for physics, chemistry and biology students as well as researchers who wish to gain a deeper understanding of far-from-equilibrium growth phenomena through direct observation of the growth of physically motivated fractal patterns.

The investigation of phenomena involving fractals has gone through a spectacular development in the last decade. Many physical, technological and biological processes have been shown to be related to and described by objects with non-integer dimensions. The physics of far-from-equilibrium growth phenomena represents one of the most important fields in which fractal geometry is widely applied. During the past couple of years considerable experimental, numerical and theoretical information has accumulated about such processes. This book, written by a well known expert in the field, summarizes the basic concepts born in the studies of fractal growth and also presents some of the most important new results for more specialized readers. It contains beautiful color plates demonstrating the richness of the geometry of fractal patterns. Accordingly, it may serve as a textbook on the geometrical aspects of fractal growth and treats this area in sufficient depth to make it useful as a reference book. No specific mathematical knowledge is required for reading this book which is intended to give a balanced account of the field.