xii Acknowledgments
We would like to express our gratitude to Evgeniy Lebed (University of British
Columbia, Canada) for assisting us withmany numerical calculations and valida-
tions of results.
Particular appreciation goes to Sergey Nartovich (Condor Rebar Consultants,
Vancouver), whose frequent controversial statements raised hell and initiated spir-
ited discussions.
We are very grateful to Kristina Lebed and Paul Babstock, for their assistance
with the proofreading of our book.
Our special gratitude goes to all members of our families for all their encourage-
ment, patience, and support of our work.