Groundwater Management in Asian Cities : Technology and Policy for Sustainability
The number of city dwellers who do not have access to piped water and rely on groundwater is also increasing. In many Asian cities, groundwater is not only the source of domestic water but also an important resource for industrial development, making better management of groundwater resources essential for sustainable development. Because groundwater is easier to access and costs less than water from piped systems, groundwater abstraction cannot be easily regulated. Policies for groundwater management adopted in Japan and other Asian countries are compared, and technologies for efficient use of groundwater are elucidated. Groundwater contamination is also a serious problem that exacerbates water scarcity in Asian cities. Case studies illustrate the cause and consequences of naturally occurring contaminants such as arsenic and fluoride, and groundwater contamination due to anthropogenic contaminants is described. Also discussed are technologies for treating contaminated groundwater to reduce the health risks of drinking contaminated groundwater.
Future space-transport-system components under high thermal and mechanical loads : results from the DFG Collaborative Research Center TRR40
This book presents the findings of Collaborative Research Center Transregio 40 (TRR40), initiated in July 2008 and funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Gathering innovative design concepts for thrust chambers and nozzles, as well as cutting-edge methods of aft-body flow control and propulsion-component cooling, it brings together fundamental research undertaken at universities, testing carried out at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and industrial developments from the ArianeGroup
From grids to service and pervasive computing
Grids are a crucial enabling technology for scientific and industrial development. Peer-to-peer computing, grid, distributed storage technologies, emerging web service technologies, and other types of networked distributed computing have provided new paradigms exploiting distributed resources. Grids are revolutionizing computing as profoundly as e-mail and the Web.From Grids to Service and Pervasive Computing, the 10th edited volume of the CoreGRID series, is based on the 2008 CoreGRID Symposium, held August 25-26 in the Canary Islands, Spain.
Flexible AC Transmission Systems : Modelling and Control
The book presents the modelling of the latest FACTS controllers for power flow control, compensation and power quality (IPFC, GUPF, VSC HVDC and M-VSCHVDC, etc.) in power system analysis. The selection is evaluated by the actual and likely future practical relevance of each. The material is derived mainly from the research and industrial development in which the authors have been heavily involved. The book is timely and of great value to power engineering engineers and students of modelling, simulations and control design of FACTS for a broad practical range of power system operation, planning and control problems.
Energy Resources in East Africa: Opportunities and Challenges
East African states have historically shared several resources including energy and common heritage of its people. This book provides information on available sources of energy in the region and how the energy suppliers can exploit them in an integrated form to produce the right blend of energy for various applications e.g., industrial, domestic and recreational uses. We provide an in-depth analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of different energy sources in-terms of environmental, industrialization, distribution costs and impacts. We hope that the book will contribute towards a sustainable exploitation of energy resources for the improvement of the people’s quality of life.
Applying the Kaizen in Africa : A New Avenue for Industrial Development
At present, how to develop industries is a burning issue in Africa, where population growth remains high and economic development has thus far failed to provide sufficient jobs for many, especially young people and women. The creation of productive jobs through industrial development ought to be a central issue in steering economic activity across the continent.The authors of this book, consisting of two development economists and five practitioners, argue that the adoption of Kaizen management practices, which originated in Japan and have become widely used by manufacturers in advanced and emerging economies, is decisively the most effective first step for industrial development in Africa.This open access book discusses what Kaizen management is, why it is applicable to Africa, and why it can provide Africa with a springboard for sustainable economic growth and employment generation.
Advances in Natural Multimodal Dialogue Systems
The chapters in this book jointly contribute to what we shall call the fieldof natural and multimodal interactive systems engineering. This is not yet awell-established field of research and commercial development but, rather, anemerging one in all respects. It brings together, in a process that, arguably, wasbound to happen, contributors from many different, and often far more estab-lished, fields of research and industrial development. To mention but a few,these include speech technology, computer graphics and computer vision. Thefield’s rapid expansion seems driven by a shared vision of the potential of newinteractive modalities of information representation and exchange for radicallytransforming the world of computer systems, networks, devices, applications,etc.






