Thermodynamique de l'évolution - Un essai de thermo-bio-sociologie - translated into English with the help of Steve Ridgway À PROPOS DE L'AUTEUR François Roddier est né en 1936. Astrophysicien, il est connu de tous les astronomes pour ses travaux qui ont permis de compenser l’effet des turbulences atmosphériques lors de l’observation des astres. Après avoir créé le département d’astrophysique de l’université de Nice, c’est aux États-Unis, au National Optical Astronomy Observatory (Tucson, Arizona) puis à l’Institute for Astrophysics de l’Université d’Hawaii, qu’il participe au développement des systèmes d’optique adaptative qui équipent désormais les grands outils d’observation comme le télescope CFHT (Canada-France-Hawaii), ou le télescope japonais Subaru tous deux situés à Hawaii, et les télescopes de l’ESO (European Southern Observatory), l’observatoire européen austral situé au Chili. Savant toujours curieux, il s’intéresse aux aspects thermodynamiques de l’évolution.

In this book, Samohýl and Pekař offer a consistent and general non-equilibrium thermodynamic description for a model of chemically reacting mixtures. This type of model is frequently encountered in practice and up until now, chemically reacting systems (out of equilibrium) have rarely been described in books on non-equilibrium thermodynamics. Readers of this book benefit from the systematic development of the theory; this starts with general principles, going through the applications to single component fluid systems, and finishing with the theory of mixtures, including chemical reactions. The authors describe the simplest mixture model – the linear fluid – and highlight many practical and thermodynamically consistent equations for describing transport properties and reaction kinetics for this model. Further on in the book, the authors also describe more complex models. Samohýl and Pekař take special care to clearly explain all methodology and starting axioms and they also describe in detail applied assumptions and simplifications. This book is suitable for graduate students in chemistry, materials science and chemical engineering as well as professionals working in these and related areas.

The concepts of evolution and complexity theory have become part of the intellectual ether permeating the life sciences, the social and behavioral sciences, and, more recently, management science and economics. In this book, John E. Mayfield elegantly synthesizes core concepts from multiple disciplines to offer a new approach to understanding how evolution works and how complex organisms, structures, organizations, and social orders can and do arise based on information theory and computational science. Intended for the intellectually adventuresome, this book challenges and rewards readers with a nuanced understanding of evolution and complexity that offers consistent, durable, and coherent explanations for major aspects of our life experiences. Numerous examples throughout the book illustrate evolution and complexity formation in action and highlight the core function of computation lying at the work's heart.

A group of distinguished scientists contributes to the foundations of a new discipline in Earth sciences: earthquake thermodynamics and thermodynamics of formation of the Earth's interior structures. The predictive powers of thermodynamics are so great that those aspiring to model earthquake and the Earth's interior will certainly wish to be able to use the theory. Thermodynamics is our only method of understanding and predicting the behavior of many environmental, atmospheric, and geological processes. The need for Earth scientists to develop a functional knowledge of thermodynamic concepts and methodology is therefore urgent. Sources of an entropy increase the dissipative and self-organizing systems driving the evolution and dynamics of the Universe and Earth through irreversible processes. The non-linear interactions lead to the formation of fractal structures. From the structural phase transformations the important interior boundaries emerge.Non-linear interactions between the defects in solids lead the authors to develop the physics of continua with a dense distribution of defects. Disclinations and dislocations interact during a slow evolution as well as during rapid dynamic events, like earthquakes. Splitting the dynamic processes into the 2D fault done and 3D surrounding space brings a new tool for describing the slip nucleation and propagation along the earthquake faults. Seismic efficiency, rupture velocity, and complexity of seismic source zone are considered from different points of view, fracture band earthquake model is developed on the basis of thermodynamics of line defects, like dislocations. Earthquake thermodynamics offers us a microscopic model of earthquake sources.Physics of defects helps the authors decscribe and explain a number of precursory phenomena caused by the buildup of stresses. Anomalies in electric polarization and electromagnetic radiation prior to earthquakes are considered from this point of view. Through the thermodynamic approach, the authors arrive at the fascinating question of posssibility of earthquake prediction. In general, the Earth is considered here as a multicomponent system. Transport phenomena as well as wave propagation and shock waves are considered in this system subjected also to chemical and phase transformations.

Despite a long history of almost 180 years stretching back to the times of Carnot and, later, Clausius and Lord Kelvin, amongst others following him, the subject of thermodynamics has not as yet seen its full maturity, in the sense that the theory of irreversible processes has remained incomplete. The works of L. Onsager, J. Meixner, I. Prigogine on the thermodyn- ics of linear irreversible processes are, in effect, the early efforts toward the desired goal of giving an adequate description of irreversible processes, but their theory is confined to near-equilibrium phenomena. The works in recent years by various research workers on the extension of the aforem- tioned thermodynamic theory of linear irreversible processes are further efforts toward the goal mentioned. The present work is another of such efforts and a contribution to the subject of generalizing the thermodyn- ics of reversible processes, namely, equilibrium thermodynamics, to that of irreversible processes—non-equilibrium thermodynamics, without being restricted to linear irreversible processes. In this context the terms ‘far - moved from equilibrium’ is often used in the literature, and such states of macroscopic systems and non-linear irreversible phenomena in them are the objects of interest in this work. The thermodynamics of processes, either reversible or irreversible, is a continuum mechanical theory of matter and energy and their exchange between different parts of the system, and as such it makes no direct r- erence to the molecules constituting the substance under consideration.

An introductory textbook presenting the key concepts and applications of thermodynamics, including numerous worked examples and exercises.

No detailed description available for "Thermodynamics of Biological Processes".

No detailed description available for "Thermodynamics and Regulation of Biological Processes".

This book illustrates the basic concepts of phenomenological thermodynamics and how to move from theory to practice by considering problems in the fields of thermodynamics and energy-systems analysis. Many subjects are handled from an energetics or exergetics angle: calorimeters, evaporators, condensers, flow meters, sub or supersonic nozzles, ejectors, compressors, pumps, turbines, combustion processes, heaters, smoke stacks, cooling towers, motors, turbo-reactors, heat pumps, air conditioning, thermo-electrical generators, energy storage, and more.

This book aims at guiding the reader with continuity from the elements of classical equilibrium thermodynamics to the formal problems of global non equilibrium thermodynamics necessary to describe an ?active system? such is a thermodynamic ecosystem. To this purpose, the brief review of equilibrium thermodynamics emphasizes the concepts of disequilibrium, Carnot cycles and less efficient cycles, and Gibbs availability as the distance from equilibrium. In this way the reader is taken by hand to accept the concept of Gibbs efficiency of the ecosystem Earth as a property given to us by the cosmological evolution. The final chapters are devoted to the optimal control theory of global non-equilibrium systems. An elementary theory of zero energy thermodynamic automata is presented. A thermodynamic automation with four temperatures and three controls is discussed in detail.