BOOK REVIEWS systems, i.e., systems subjected to one independent loading parameter. Postbuckling behavior is analyzed and the corresponding influences of imperfections are examined. A chapter on simultaneous buckling is also included. Although this first part of the book is self-contained and is itself interesting reading, its primary purpose is to serve as an introduction to Part 2, which is devoted to multiple-parameter systems. It is this second part of the book which contains new and stimulating material. Here, the stability behavior of structures subjected to more than one independent loading parameter is explored. This subject matter is not included in other recent books on elastic stability (e.g., Thompson and Hunt) and thus makes Huseyin's monograph an excellent complement to these texts. In Part 2, a systematic stability analysis based on the "multipleparameter perturbation technique" is presented and applied to structures under combined loading. It is also shown how a multipleparameter analysis may be useful even for systems subjected to only one independent loading parameter. Some fundamental theorems are developed, for example, concerning the convexity of the stability boundary, and shown to have important practical applications in the estimation of bounds to this boundary. This book will be a useful reference for persons interested in elastic stability theory. However, its extremely specialized content limits its suitability as a textbook for a graduate course on structural stability.

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Interferometric density measurements in plasmas rotating in shaped, open magnetic fields demonstrate strong confinement of plasma parallel to the magnetic field, with density drops of more than a factor of 10. Taken together with spectroscopic measurements of supersonic E × B rotation of sonic Mach 2, these measurements are in agreement with ideal MHD theory which predicts large parallel pressure drops balanced by centrifugal forces in supersonically rotating plasmas.

Submitted for the DPP07 Meeting of The American Physical Society Experimental study on the velocity limits of magnetized rotating plasmas CATALIN TEODORESCU, RYAN CLARY, RICHARD ELLIS, ADIL HASSAM, ILKER UZUN-KAYMAK, University of Maryland-An experimental study on the physical limits of the rotation velocity of magnetized plasmas is presented. A comprehensive campaign has been carried out on the MCX, a mirror magnetic field plasma rotating azimuthally, to ascertain what physical effects limit attempts to externally boost the velocity. The externally applied parameters that control the plasma characteristics-applied voltage, external magnetic field and fill pressure-are scanned across the entire available range of values. It is found that the plasma rotation velocity does not exceed the Alfven velocity, in complete agreement with the equilibrium requirements of magnetically confined plasmas. As the velocity approaches the average Alfven speed, further applied force does not result in an increase past this critical speed. Diamagnetic loop measurements show that the diamagnetically excluded flux increases as the square of the Alfven Mach number, as predicted by equilibrium MHD theory. Measured rotation velocities are also found to stay below the critical ionization velocity in hydrogen, a limit suggested by Alfven. However, an approach to a definite limit has not been proven yet largely because of voltage and magnetic field upper bounds dictated by the available experimental hardware.

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