Mathematical and Computational Models for Congestion Charging
This book presents rigorous treatments of issues related to congestion pricing. The chapters describe recent advances in areas such as mathematical and computational models for predicting traffic congestion, determining when, where, and how much to levy tolls, and analyzing the impact of tolls on transporation systems. The analyses and methodologies developed in this book provide Mechanisms that aid in determining and comparing congestion pricing schemes; Methodologies for evaluating the efficiency of existing and proposed congestion pricing schemes; A means to predict the impact of pricing on urban transporation systems; and Information essential to the financial and political success of congestion pricing programs.
Manufacturing Execution Systems - MES
The production plants of today develop into modern service centers. Economic efficiency of modern added value is not a property of products alone but of the process. Decisive potential in business now is a question of process capability, rather than production capability. Process capability in business requires real-time systems for optimization. Business-IT needs to be developed from telecommunications and ERP to real time services, which are not offered by the prevailing ERP systems. Today, only modern Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) offer real-time applications. They generate current as well as historic mappings of production facilities and thus they can be used as basis for optimizations. It is important to map the supply chain in real time. Increasing complexity in production requires an integrated view of the production and service facilities: detailed scheduling, status collection, quality, performance analysis, tracing of material and so on have to be recorded and displayed in an integrated way.
Managing Weather and Climate Risks in Agriculture
In many parts of the world, weather and climate are one of the biggest production risks and uncertainty factors impacting on agricultural systems performance and management. Both structural and non-structural measures can be used to reduce the impacts of the variability (including extremes) of climate resources on crop production. While the structural measures include strategies such as irrigation, water harvesting, windbreaks etc., the non-structural measures include use of seasonal to interannual climate forecasts, improved application of medium-range weather forecasts and crop insurance. This book based on an International Workshop held in New Delhi, India should be of interest to all organizations and agencies interested in improved risk management in agriculture.
Complex Medical Engineering
In the twenty-first century, applications in medicine and engineering must acquire greater safety and flexibility if they are to yield better products at higher efficiency. To this end, complex science and technology must be integrated in medicine and engineering. Complex medical engineering (CME) is a new field that merges medical science and technology, and includes biomedical robotics and biomechatronics, complex virtual technology in medicine, information and communication technology in medicine, complex technology in rehabilitation, cognitive neuroscience and technology, and complex bioinformatics. Experts from academia, industry, and government research laboratories who have pioneered CME ideas and technologies describe its concept and research approach and discuss related hardware and software, science and technology, and medicine and engineering. This book will be invaluable to scientists, researchers, and graduates in the emerging field of CME.
Calibration Techniques in Nyquist A/D Converters
It is shown that in order to achieve high speed and high accuracy at high power efficiency, calibration is required. Calibration reduces the overall power consumption by using the available digital processing capability to relax the demands on critical power hungry analog components. Several calibration techniques are analyzed. The calibration techniques presented in this book are applicable to other analog-to-digital systems, such as those applied in integrated receivers. Further refinements will allow using analog components with less accuracy, which will then be compensated by digital signal processing. The presented methods allow implementing this without introducing a speed or power penalty.
Building a Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa
What are the challenges and action points for agricultural sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa? This collection of papers offers technical analyses, policy recommendations and an overview of success stories to date. Each carefully selected paper provides valuable insights for improved policy making and defines relevant strategic priorities on Africa’s sustainable transformation process, which is in line with the international development agenda. Although agriculture remains the main source of income for Africa’s population, the sector is rain-fed subjecting it to the vagaries of weather and climate change. This volume demonstrates the rationale of developing a competitive, inclusive and sustainable agribusiness sector for Africa’s food security and structural transformation.
Biodiesel : A realistic fuel alternative for diesel engines
Environmental and political concerns are generating a growing interest in alternative engine fuels such as biodiesel. Biodiesel is a renewable energy source produced from natural oils and fats, which can be used as a substitute for petroleum diesel without the need for diesel engine modification. In addition to being biodegradable and non-toxic, biodiesel is also essentially free of sulfur and aromatics, producing lower exhaust emissions than conventional gasoline whilst providing similar properties in terms of fuel efficiency.
Analysis and Numerics for Conservation Laws
The physical and chemical mechanisms as well as the sizes of these processes are quite different. So are the motivations for studying them scientifically.The super- 8 nova is a thermo-nuclear explosion on a scale of 10 cm. Astrophysicists try to understand them in order to get insight into fundamental properties of the universe. In hows around airfoils of commercial airliners at the scale of 3 10 cm shock waves occur that influence the stability of the wings as well as fuel consumption in ight. This requires appropriate design of the shape and structure of airfoils by engineers. Knocking occurs in combustion, a chemical 1 process, and must be avoided since it damages motors. The scale is 10 cm and these processes must be optimized for efficiency and environmental conside- tions. The common thread is that the underlying ?uid ?ows may at a certain scale of observation be described by basically the same type of hyperbolic s- tems of partial differential equations in divergence form, called conservation laws. Astrophysicists, engineers and mathematicians share a common interest in scientific progress on theory for these equations and the development of computational methods for solutions of the equations. Due to their wide applicability in modeling of continua. A substantial portion of mathematical research is related to the analysis and numerical approximation of solutions to such equations. Hyperbolic conservation laws in two or more space dimensions still poseone of the main challenges to modern mathematics.
Analysis and Design of Intelligent Systems Using Soft Computing Techniques
This book comprises a selection of papers from IFSA 2007 on new methods for analysis and design of hybrid intelligent systems using soft computing techniques. Soft Computing (SC) consists of several computing paradigms, including fuzzy logic, neural networks, and genetic algorithms, which can be used to produce powerful hybrid intelligent systems for solving problems in pattern recognition, time series prediction, intelligent control, robotics and automation. Hybrid intelligent systems that combine several SC techniques are needed due to the complexity and high dimensionality of real-world problems. Hybrid intelligent systems can have different architectures, which have an impact on the efficiency and accuracy of these systems, for this reason it is very important to optimize architecture design. The architectures can combine, in different ways, neural networks, fuzzy logic and genetic algorithms, to achieve the ultimate goal of pattern recognition, time series prediction, intelligent control, or other application areas.
Algoritmi : Lo spirito dell’informatica = Algorithms : The spirit of information technology
Algorithms are the heart of computer science and mathematics, since without them the use of computers would not be possible. In this book, which in its English edition has been a longtime bestseller, Harel and Feldmann answer all questions relating to this topic. They talk about the evaluation, correctness and effectiveness of algorithms, but also clarify some doubts about programming techniques and also refer to the very current discussion on quantum computing. The book is useful both as a basic text for an introductory university course in computer science, and as a general introduction to natural sciences, mathematics or engineering.
Advanced Numerical Methods to Optimize Cutting Operations of Five-Axis Milling Machines
Presents new optimization algorithms designed to improve the efficiency of tool paths for five-axis NC machining of sculptured surfaces. The book introduces the reader to fundamental issues involved in the tool path planning such as the kinematics of five-axis machines, types of 5 axis machines, part surface representation, machining strips, optimal tool orientation, gouging avoidance and forward step error. It also introduces new methods of optimization based on research conducted by the authors, including schemes performed in the spatial domain, angular domain as well as procedures to optimize the initial setup. The book can be used by undergraduate and graduate students and researchers in the field of NC machining and CAD/CAM as well as by the corporate research groups for advanced optimization of cutting operations.
Advanced Design Techniques for RF Power Amplifiers
Main aim is to provide the reader with a deep analysis of theoretical aspects, modelling, and design strategies of RF high-efficiency power amplifiers. Advanced Design Techniques for RF Power Amplifiers begins with an analytical review of current state of the problem. Then it moves to the theoretical analysis of BJT class-F power amplifier near transition frequency and presents the necessary realization conditions. The next part concerns the practical verification and demonstration of the theoretical results. It is followed by the part devoted to the output networks of high-efficiency power ampifiers. The novel type of photonic band-gap structure providing improved characteristics both in the pass and stop bands is proposed. Finally, the fifth-harmonic peaking class F power amplifier design based on the above structure is presented.
Advanced Combustion and Aerothermal Technologies : Environmental Protection and Pollution Reductions
This book about Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Workshop “Advanced Combustion and Aerothermal Technologies: Environmental Protection and Pollution Reductions” was held in Kiev (Ukraine) from 15 to 19 May 2006 and was organized by the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics (Ukraine) and Cardiff University (UK). These subjects to cover the critical areas of combustion and aerothermal research and development where rapid progress is needed to improve performance in terms of efficiency, compactness, and emissions. This was a very timely and successful Workshop which brought together experts from the NATO and other countries to discuss increasing concerns about emissions.
Adhesive Bonding of Aircraft Composite Structures: Non-destructive Testing and Quality Assurance Concepts
This book is under a CC BY 4.0 license. It presents the results of the ComBoNDT European project, which aimed at the development of more secure, time- and cost-saving extended non-destructive inspection tools for carbon fiber reinforced plastics, adhered surfaces and bonded joints. The book reports the optimal use of composite materials to allow weight savings, reduction in fuel consumptions, savings during production and higher cost efficiency for ground operations.
Abstraction Refinement for Large Scale Model Checking
This book describes recent research developments in automatic abstraction refinement techniques. The authors address the main challenge in abstraction refinement, i.e., the ability to efficiently reach or come close to the optimum abstraction (the smallest abstract model that proves or refutes the given property). A suite of fully automatic abstraction techniques are proposed to improve the overall computation efficiency. The suite of algorithms presented in this book has demonstrated significant improvement over the prior art; some of them have already been adopted by the EDA companies in their commercial/in-house verification tools.














