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Basic Fracture Mechanics and its Applications
Presents specific aspects of how fracture mechanics is used to address fatigue crack growth, environment assisted cracking, and creep and creep-fatigue crack growth. Other topics include mixed-mode fracture and materials testing and selection for damage tolerant design, alongside in-depth discussions of ensuring structural integrity of components through real-world examples. There is a strong focus throughout the book on the practical applications of fracture mechanics. It provides a clear description of the theoretical aspects of fracture mechanics and also its limitations.
Bargaining Power Effects in Financial Contracting : A Joint Analysis of Contract Type and Placement Mode Choices
The aim of this dissertation is to examine bargaining power effects in financial contracting. In particular power effects on firms' choices of contract type (debt vs. equity) and placement mode (public offering vs. private placement)
Banking for Family Business: A New Challenge for Wealth Management
Hints of globalization have actually been around for several decades, even though they made only a modest impact; however, the availability of global capital and advances in communication technology have emp- sized the process of internationalization and the tools available to connect and integrate business activities to answer to more complex needs of c- ents. Moreover, the financial scandals and the review of mutual fund trade activity in the US by the Attorney General Elliot Spitzer have highlighted the importance to focus all efforts on renewing the confidence of prof- sional investors and their clients who have entrusted their capital to asset managers. Therefore, there is a growing need in the market to reinforce the concept of “Shared Positive Values” among the entire industry and among its stakeholders.
Balancing Agility and Formalism in Software Engineering ; 2nd IFIP TC 2 Central and East European Conference on Software Engineering Techniques, CEE-SET 2007, Poznan, Poland, October 10-12, 2007, Revised Selected Papers
This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the Second IFIP TC 2 Central and East Conference on Software Engineering Techniques, CEE-SET 2007, held in Poznan, Poland, in October 2007.
Bacteriophage therapy : a potential solution for antibiotic resistance crisis
For many years, humans have been fighting with bacteria, in a matter of fact, bacteria have been winning for the last decade, becoming resistant to every weapon we have; The antibiotics. In order to win the fight humans had to think of alternative ways, like viruses. There is a special type of viruses that have been in a war with bacteria for millenniums, Bacteriophages. Bacteriophages (or phages), the most abundant viral entity of the planet. On the basis of their unique characteristics and anti-bacterial property, phages are being the freshly evaluated taxonomically. Phages replicate inside the host either by lytic or lysogenic mode after infecting and using the cellular machinery of a bacterium. Phage became an important agent for combating pathogenic bacteria in clinical treatments and its related research gained momentum. However, due to recent rise of bacterial resistance on antibiotics, applications of phage (phage therapy) become an unavoidable option of research. In this dissertation, the advantage and limitations of Bacteriophages for use in humans will be discussed. Furthermore, this dissertation deals with recent development of its application in the areas of biotechnology.
Bacteriocins : Ecology and Evolution
Microbes produce an extraordinary array of defense systems. These include bacteriocins, a class of antimicrobial molecules with narrow killing spectra, produced by bacteria. The book describes the diversity and ecological role of bacteriocins of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, presenting a new classification scheme for the former and a state-of-the-art look at the role of bacteriocins in bacterial communication. It discusses the molecular evolution of colicins and colicin-like bacteriocins, and provides a contemporary overview of archaeocins, bacteriocin-like antimicrobials produced by archaebacteria. Furthermore, various modeling (in silico) studies elucidate the role of bacteriocins in microbial community dynamics and fitness, delving into rock-paper-scissors competition and the counter-intuitive survival of the weakest. The book makes compelling reading for a multi-faceted scientific audience, including those working in the fields of biodiversity and biotechnology, notably in the human and animal health domain.
Bacterial Genomes and Infectious Diseases
This book imparts fundamental knowledge on the structure, organization, and evolution of bacterial genomes. The value and power of comparative genomics and proteomics, bioinformatics, microarrays, and knockout animal models in analyzing genomes, bacteria-host interactions and disease are demonstrated. Also discussed are the genomes of virulent and nonvirulent strains and species, origin and evolution of pathogens, different models of bacteria-host interactions, and diseases mechanisms.
Bacterial chromatin : Methods and protocols
Brings together new and updated methods to explore the structure and function of bacterial chromatin from molecular to the cellular scale. Chapters detail experimental protocols of in vivo and in vitro approaches, approaches to genome structure modeling, and data analysis. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and key tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls.
Bacterial Biofilms
This volume tends to focus on the biology of biofilms that affect human disease. It opens with chapters that provide the reader with current perspectives on biofilm development, physiology, environmental and regulatory effects, the role of quorum sensing, and resistance/phenotypic persistence to antimicrobial agents during biofilm growth. The next chapters are devoted to common problematic biofilms, those that colonize venous and urinary catheters. The final series of chapters examines biofilm formation by four species that are important pathogens and well studied models, one of which, Yersinia pestis, cleverly adopts a biofilm state of growth within its insect vector to promote disease transmission to mammalian hosts.
B2B eCommerce : Basics, Business Models and Best Practices in Business-to-Business Online Trade
Covers the basics of business-to-business (B2B) eCommerce, where similar principles of customer targeting can be observed as in B2C eCommerce. Gerrit Heinemann highlights the specifics and business models of B2B eCommerce, analyzes the digital challenges and shows the consequences and opportunities for online sales in B2B. Recognised best-practice examples illustrate how successful B2B eCommerce can work and which risks have to be considered.
B 2007 : Formal Specification and Development in B ; 7th International Conference of B Users, Besancon, France, January 7-19, 2007, Proceedings
These proceedingsrecordthe papers presented at the Seventh InternationalC- ference of B Users (B 2007), held in the city of Besan¸ con in the east of France. All the submitted papers in these proceedings were peer reviewed by at least three reviewers drawn from the B committee, depending on the subject matter of the paper. The authorsof the papersforB 2007werefrom Australia,Canada, Finland, Germany, France, Switzerland, and the UK. The conference featured a rangeof contributions by distinguished invited speakers drawn from both ind- try and academia.
Axial flux permanent magnet brushless machines
Axial Flux Permanent Magnet (AFPM) brushless machines are modern electrical machines with a lot of advantageous merits over their conventional counterparts. They are increasingly used in power generation, domestic appliances, industrial drives, electric vehicles, and marine propulsion drives and many other applications. This book deals with the analysis, construction, design, optimisation, control and applications of AFPM machines. The authors present their own research results, as well as significant research contributions made by others. This monograph will be of interest to electrical engineers and other engineers involved in the design and application of AFPM brushless machine drives. It will be an important resource for researchers and graduate students in the field of electrical machine and drives.
Average-Cost Control of Stochastic Manufacturing Systems
This book is concerned with hierarchical control of manufacturing systems under uncertainty. It focuses on system performance measured in long-run average cost criteria, exploring the relationship between control problems with a discounted cost and that with a long-run average cost in connection with hierarchical control. A new theory is articulated that shows that hierarchical decision making in the context of a goal-seeking manufacturing system can lead to a near optimization of its objective. The approach in the book considers manufacturing systems in which events occur at different time scales.
Avatars at Work and Play : Collaboration and Interaction in Shared Virtual Environments
examining uses of shared virtual environments in practical settings such as scientific collaboration, distributed meetings, building models together, and others. It also covers online gaming in virtual environments, which has attracted hundreds of thousands of users and presents an opportunity for studying a myriad of social issues. Covering both ‘work’ and ‘play’, the volume brings together issues common to the two areas.
Avalanche Dynamics : Dynamics of Rapid Flows of Dense Granular Avalanches
Avalanches, debris, mudflows and landslides are common and natural phenomena that occur worldwide, predominantly in mountainous regions. With an emphasis on snow avalanches, this book sets out to provide a survey and discussion about the motion of avalanche-like flows from initiation to run out. An important aspect of this book is the formulation and investigation of a simple but appropriate continuum mechanical model for the realistic prediction of geophysical flows of granular material. This will help the practitioners in the field to better understand the physical input and provide them with a tool for their work. Originating from many lectures the authors have given over the years, this instructive volume brings the reader to the forefront of research - an aim also supported by an extensive bibliogrpahy of almost 500 entries.
Autonomy oriented computing : From problem solving to complex systems modeling
Autonomy Oriented Computing explores the important theoretical and practical issues in AOC, by analyzing methodologies and presenting experimental case studies. The book serves as a comprehensive reference source for researchers, scientists, engineers, and professionals in all fields concerned with this promising new development in computer science. It can also be used as a main or supplementary text in graduate and undergraduate programs across a broad range of computer-related disciplines, including Robotics and Automation, Amorphous Computing, Image Processing and Computer Vision, Programming Paradigms, Computational Biology, and many others. The first part of the book, Fundamentals, describes the basic concepts and characteristics of an AOC system, and then it enumerates the critical design and engineering issues faced in AOC system development. The second part of the book, AOC in Depth, provides a detailed analysis of methodologies and case studies to evaluate the use of AOC in problem solving and complex system modeling. The final chapter reviews the essential features of the AOC paradigm and outlines a number of possibilities for future research and development.
Autonomy and human rights in health care : An international perspective
Autonomy and Human Rights in Healthcare: An International Perspective is a group of essays published in memory of David Thomasma, one of the leading humanists in the field of bioethics during the twentieth century. A pioneer in the field of multidisciplinary research, having integrated major theological and philosophical traditions in the west with modern science, Thomasma was a role model to the authors who have devoted essays to his major avenues of inquiry. The authors represent many different countries and disciplines throughout the globe. The volume deals with the pressing issue of how to ground a universal bioethics in the context of the conflicted world of combative cultures and perspectives.
Autonomous Navigation in Dynamic Environments
The purpose of this book is to address the challenging problem of Autonomous Navigation in Dynamic Environments, and to present new ideas and approaches in this newly emerging technical domain. The book surveys the state-of-the-art, discusses in detail various related challenging technical aspects, and addresses upcoming technologies in this field. The aim of the book is to establish a foundation for a broad class of mobile robot mapping and navigation methodologies for indoor, outdoor, and exploratory missions.Three main topics located on the cutting edge of the state of the art are addressed, from both the theoretical and technological point of views: Dynamic world understanding and modelling for safe navigation, Obstacle avoidance and motion planning in dynamic environments, and Human-robot physical interactions. Several models and approaches are proposed for solving problems such as Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) in dynamic environments, Mobile obstacle detection and tracking, World state estimation and motion prediction, Safe navigation in dynamic environments, Motion planning in dynamic environments, Robust decision making under uncertainty, and Human-Robot physical interactions.
Autonomous intelligent systems : Multi-agents and data mining ; 2nd International workshop, AIS-ADM 2007, St. Petersburg, Russia, June 3-5, 2007, Proceedings
MAS offiers powerful metaphors for information system conceptualization, a range of new techniques, and technologies specifically focused on the design and implementation of lar- scale open distributed intelligent systems. KDD also provides intelligent inf- mation technology with powerful ideas, algorithms, and software means to help cope with the main problem of artificial intelligence, formulated in the we- known question “Where does the knowledge come from?”, thus actually making modern applications intelligent and adaptive. The evident recent trend in both science and industry is to integrate and take advantage of both technologies. The existing experience with combined application of multi-agent technology to design architectures of distributed (- erarchical and peer-to-peer) data mining and KDD systems, as well as the u- lization of data mining and KDD achievements to provide enhanced intelligence of MAS, confirms the fact that both technologies are capable of mutual enri- ment and their integrateduse may result in intelligent information systems with new emergent properties.
Autonomous control for a reliable internet of services : Methods, models, approaches, techniques, algorithms, and tools
This open access book was prepared as a Final Publication of the COST Action IC1304 “Autonomous Control for a Reliable Internet of Services (ACROSS)”. The book contains 14 chapters and constitutes a show-case of the main outcome of the Action in line with its scientific goals. It will serve as a valuable reference for undergraduate and post-graduate students, educators, faculty members, researchers, engineers, and research strategists working in this field. The objective of this book is, by applying a systematic approach, to assess the state-of-the-art and consolidate the main research results achieved in this area.
