Aging, shaking, and cracking of infrastructures : From mechanics to concrete dams and nuclear structures
Focuses on the safety assessment of existing structures subjected to multi-hazard scenarios through advanced numerical methods. Whereas the focus is on concrete dams and nuclear containment structures, the presented methodologies can also be applied to other large-scale ones. This book is composed of seven sections: Fundamentals: theoretical coverage of solid mechnics, plasticity, fracture mechanics, creep, / seismology, dynamic analysis, probability and statistics / Damage: that can affect concrete structures, such as cracking of concrete, AAR, chloride ingress, and rebar corrosion, / Finite Element: formulation for both linear and nonlinear analysis including stress, heat and fracture mechanics, / Engineering Models: for soil/fluid-structure interaction, uncertainty quantification, probablilistic and random finite element analysis, machine learning, performance based earthquake engineering, ground motion intensity measures, seismic hazard analysis, capacity/fragility functions and damage indeces, / Applications to dams through potential failure mode analyses, risk-informed decision making, deterministic and probabilistic examples, / Applications to nuclear structures through modeling issues, aging management programs, critical review of some analyses, / Other applications and case studies: massive RC structures and bridges, detailed assessment of a nuclear containment structure evaluation for license renewal.
Agile processes in software engineering and extreme programming ; XP 2019 Workshops, Montréal, QC, Canada, May 21–25, 2019, Proceedings
Includes a summary for each of the four panels at XP 2019 is included. The panels were on security and privacy; the impact of the agile manifesto on culture, education, and software practices; business agility – agile’s next frontier; and Agile – the next 20 years.
Aggregation functions : A guide for practitioners
Aggregation of information is of primary importance in the construction of knowledge based systems in various domains, ranging from medicine, economics, and engineering to decision-making processes, artificial intelligence, robotics, and machine learning. This book gives a broad introduction into the topic of aggregation functions, and provides a concise account of the properties and the main classes of such functions, including classical means, medians, ordered weighted averaging functions, Choquet and Sugeno integrals, triangular norms, conorms and copulas, uninorms, nullnorms, and symmetric sums. It also presents some state-of-the-art techniques, many graphical illustrations and new interpolatory aggregation functions. A particular attention is paid to identification and construction of aggregation functions from application specific requirements and empirical data. This book provides scientists, IT specialists and system architects with a self-contained easy-to-use guide, as well as examples of computer code and a software package. It will facilitate construction of decision support, expert, recommender, control and many other intelligent systems.
Agents and peer-to-peer computing ; 2nd International workshop, AP2PC 2003, Melbourne, Australia, July 14, 2003, revised and invited papers
This book brings together an introduction, three invited articles, and revised versions of the papers presented at the Second International Workshop on Agents and Peer-to-Peer Computing, AP2PC 2003, held in Melbourne, Australia, July 2003."" "Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing is currently attracting enormous public attention, a very large number of autonomous computing nodes, the peers, rely on each other for services. P2P networks are emerging as a new distributed computing paradigm because of their potential to harness the computing power and the storage capacity of the hosts composing the network, and because they realize a completely open decentralized environment where everybody can join in autonomously.
Agent-Based Models of Energy Investment Decisions
This book demonstrates how bounded rational decision models can be standardized and parameterized by socio-economic data. Focusing on private energy technology investment decisions, the author shows how different representative agents can be constructed using search rules, analysis tools and decision strategies. Diffusion curves for energy technologies such as solar collectors, boilers and efficiency upgrades for buildings are calculated. Further, the model is extended to study the impact of firms’ competition on technology diffusion. The modeling approach presented in this book may serve as a template for applications in other domain.
Agent Computing and Multi-Agent Systems ; 9th Pacific Rim International Workshop on Multi-Agents, PRIMA 2006, Guilin, China, August 7-8, 2006, Proceedings
PRIMA is a series of workshops on agent computing and multi-agent systems, integrating the activities in Asia and Pacific Rim countries. Agent computing and multi-agent systems are computational systems in which several autonomous or se- autonomous agents interact with each other or work together to perform some set of tasks or satisfy some set of goals. These systems may involve computational agents that are homogeneous or heterogeneous, they may involve activities on the part of agents having common or distinct goals, and they may involve participation on the part of humans and intelligent agents. The aim of PRIMA 2006 was to bring together Asian and Pacific Rim researchers and developers from academia and industry to report on the latest technical advances or domain applications and to discuss and explore scientific and practical problems as raised by the participants. PRIMA 2006 received 203 submitted papers.
Affirmative aesthetics and wilful women : Gender, space and wobility in contemporary cinema
Adopts a fluid approach to space designed to accommodate wilful, affirmative, and imaginative perspectives of gender on screen.
Aesthetic Intelligence : How to boost it and use it in business and beyond
Aesthetic Intelligence can be learned. Indeed, people are born with far more capacity than they use, but even those that are naturally gifted must continue to refine their skills, lest their aesthetic advantage atrophy. Through a combination of storytelling and practical advice, the author shows how aesthetic intelligence creates business value and how executives, entrepreneurs and others can boost their own AI and successfully apply it to business. Brown offers research, strategies and practical exercises focused on four essential AI skills.
Aerosol Optics : Light Absorption and Scattering by Particles in the Atmosphere
Provides a comprehensive review of available techniques for the remote sensing of aerosols. Although mostly satellite remote sensing is considered, ground-based techniques are also discussed.describes techniques for the determination of the column concentration of aerosol particles and their optical sizing using spaceborne optical instrumentation. The majority of the techniques described in this book use a so-called "library method". This method relies upon the precalculated top-of-atmosphere reflectances (TOAR) for vaious atmospheric aerosol types. The comparison of measured and calculated TOARS allows one to characterize the optically-equivalent aerosol state.
Advertising in contemporary consumer culture
This is the first scholarly book dedicated to reading the work of contemporary filmmakers and their impact on modern marketing and advertising. Drawing from consumer culture theory, film and media studies, the author presents an expansive analysis of a range of renowned filmmakers who have successfully applied their aesthetic and narrative vision to commercial advertising. It challenges some traditional advertising tropes and sheds light on the changing nature of advertising in the contemporary media context. Utilising Deleuze and Guattari’s notion of assemblage, This book addresses themes of spatiality and time, narrative and aesthetics and consumer reception within a new frame of reference that re-contextualises classical concepts of genre, platform and aesthetic categories. These diverse elements are embedded into a larger discussion of the resonance of contemporary advertising for consumer culture and the implications of the hybridity characteristic of convergent media platforms for understanding the potential of advertising in the twenty-first century.
Advancing Culture of Living with Landslides ; Vol. 1 : ISDR-ICL Sendai Partnerships 2015-2025
Contains peer-reviewed papers from the Fourth World Landslide Forum organized by the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL), the Global Promotion Committee of the International Programme on Landslides (IPL), University of Ljubljana (UL) and Geological Survey of Slovenia in Ljubljana, Slovenia from May 29 to June 2, 2017. The complete collection of papers from the Forum is published in five full-color volumes
Advances in verification of time Petri Nets and timed automata : A temporal logic approach
This monograph presents a comprehensive introduction to timed automata (TA) and time Petri nets (TPNs) which belong to the most widely used models of real-time systems. Some of the existing methods of translating time Petri nets to timed automata are presented, with a focus on the translations that correspond to the semantics of time Petri nets, associating clocks with various components of the nets. "Advances in Verification of Time Petri Nets and Timed Automata – A Temporal Logic Approach" introduces timed and untimed temporal specification languages and gives model abstraction methods based on state class approaches for TPNs and on partition refinement for TA. Moreover, the monograph presents a recent progress in the development of two model checking methods, based on either exploiting abstract state spaces or on application of SAT-based symbolic techniques.
Advances in Urban Ecology : Integrating Humans and Ecological Processes in Urban Ecosystems
The future of Earth’s ecosystems is increasingly influenced by the pace and patterns of urbanization. One of the greatest challenges for natural and social scientists is to understand how urbanizing regions evolve through the complex interactions between humans and ecological processes. Questions and methods of inquiry specific to our traditional disciplinary domains yield partial views that reflect different epistemologies and understandings of the world. In order to achieve the level of synthesis required to see the urban ecosystem as a whole we must change the way we pose questions and search for answers. Cities are the result of human and ecological processes occurring simultaneously in time and in space and the legacy of the simultaneous processes of the past. Urban ecology is the study of the co-evolution of human-ecological systems. Scholars of both urban systems and ecology must challenge the assumptions and world views within their disciplines and work towards a hybrid theory that builds on multiple world views.
Advances in the toxicity of construction and building materials
Presents the potential and toxic effects of building materials on human health, along with tactics on how to minimize exposure. Chapters are divided into four sections covering the toxicity of indoor environments, fire toxicity, radioactive materials, and toxicity from plastics, metals, asbestos, nanoparticles and construction wastes. Key chapters focus on the reduction of chemical emissions in houses with eco-labelled building materials and potential risks posed by indoor pollutants that may include volatile organic compounds (VOC), formaldehyde, semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC), radon, NOx, asbestos and nanoparticles.
Advances in Telerobotics
The main purpose of this book is to provide readers with recent advances in the field of Telerobotics. It describes methods, experimental results, applications, and developments, highly relevant for scientists, researchers, and students in Teleoperation. This book is structured in three parts: I. Human System Interfaces, II. Control, and III. Applications. Chapters in part I concentrate on human interface technology which allows a human operator to close the control loop of a remote robot. Topics related to control algorithms - in particular for the case with time delay in the communication network - are the focus in part II, concentrating on bilateral control methods. Part III presents a variety of advanced applications in surgery, space, and other fields relevant to everyday life.
Advances in sustainable materials and technology
Discusses numerous relevant areas and innovative technologies, such as key construction materials and production, materials with lower energy impact, production processes encouraging less use of ever-depleting natural raw materials, minimization of the generation of greenhouse gases, development of new, environmentally friendly materials and agents, characterization of the properties of construction materials, and methodologies applied in the building of structures.
Advances in Ranking and Selection, Multiple Comparisons, and Reliability: Methodology and Applications
S. Panchapakesan has made significant contributions to ranking and selection and has published in many other areas of statistics, including order statistics, reliability theory, stochastic inequalities, and inference. Written in his honor, the twenty invited articles in this volume reflect recent advances in these fields and form a tribute to Panchapakesan’s influence and impact on these areas. Thematically organized, the chapters cover a broad range of topics from: Inference / Ranking and Selection / Multiple Comparisons and Tests / Agreement Assessment / Reliability / Biostatistics
Advances in pharma business management and research ; Vol. 1
This book presents a unique collection of practical examples from the field of pharma business management and research. It covers a wide range of topics such as: 'Brexit and its Impact on pharmaceutical Law - Implications for Global Pharma Companies', 'Implementation of Measures and Sustainable Actions to Improve Employee's Engagement', 'Global Medical Clinical and Regulatory Affairs (GMCRA)', and 'A Quality Management System for R&D Project and Portfolio Management in a Pharmaceutical Company'.
Advances in optical fiber communications
Given the increasing importance of a globally interconnected world, driven by modern digital services and the need for fast and reliable access to digital resources, communication networks are one of the key infrastructures in today’s society. In this scenario, fiber optics and optical devices play a leading role, as they allow for unprecedented growth in our capacity to cope with the ever-increasing traffic demand. Optical transmission solutions range from high-speed networks based on coherent detection and advanced modulation formats for long-haul-level communications, to networks still relying on traditional intensity modulation and direct detection receivers for short-reach communications, down to intra-data center scenarios.
Advances in natural networks - ISNN 2005 ; Vol. 3497 ; 2nd International symposium on neural networks, Chongqing, China, May 30 - June 1, 2005, proceedings, Part II
This book and its sister volumes constitute the proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Neural Networks (ISNN 2005). ISNN 2005 was held in the China during May 30–June 1, 2005, as a sequel of 2004 ISNN emerged as a leading conference on neural computation in the region with - creasing global recognition and impact. ISNN 2005 received 1425 submissions from authors on ?ve continents (Asia, Europe, North America, South America, and Oc- nia), 33 countries and regions Based on rigorous reviews, 483 high-quality papers were selected by the Program Committee for presentation at ISNN 2005 and publication



















