Book Review: Symmetry Methods for Differential Equations: A Beginner's Guide. By Peter E. Hydon,Cambridge University Press,Cambridge, 2000, 213 p. +xi, $74.95 (hardback) ISBN 0-521-49703-5, $29.95 (paperback) ISBN 0-521-49786-8

Mathematical Geosciences -     

The Geology and Tectonic Settings of China＇s Mineral Deposits by Franco Pirajno. Springer Verlag, Berlin, 2013, 679 pp. ISBN： 978-94-007-4443-1

China is the third largest country in the world,with a land area of about 9.6 million km2.It is endowed with abundant mineral resources,and the metal mining activity can be traced back to ca.8000 years ago.However,due to language barrier,little has been known about the geology and tectonics to the outside world until 1980s.In the last three decades,a great deal of knowledge has been gained,enhanced by a vigorous cooperation between Chinese and Western geologists.Research papers about geological,geochemical,and geochronological features of mineral deposits of China are widely published and cited in international journals.A comprehensive and comprehensible English literature that summarises the features of mineral deposits in China,however,is still lacking.     

The territorial integrity of Iraq, 2003-2007: Invocation, violation, viability

This paper considers the ways in which Iraq’s territorial integrity has been invoked by the international community, how it was violated by the US-led coalition between 2003 and 2007, and how these acts have called into question the future viability of the Iraqi state. The paper contends that Iraq provides an instructive illustration of how the international legal term of territorial integrity is being pulled apart; where the spatial extent of the state must be preserved at all costs, yet the sovereignty of the state is rendered entirely contingent. Using interviews with key actors within the British context and documentary analysis, this paper examines the political situation in Iraq and the content of the new Iraqi constitution, the rise of factionalism within Iraq, and the report of the Iraq Study Group. In doing so it considers the impact of key decisions concerning Iraq’s sovereignty upon the future viability of the state.