Control Systems Theory and Applications for Linear Repetitive Processes
After motivating examples, this monograph gives substantial new results on the analysis and control of linear repetitive processes. These include further applications of the abstract model based stability theory which, in particular, shows the critical importance to the dynamics developed of the structure of the initial conditions at the start of each new pass, the development of stability tests and performance bounds in terms of so-called 1D and 2D Lyapunov equations. It presents the development of a major bank of results on the structure and design of control laws, including the case when there is uncertainty in the process model description, together with numerically reliable computational algorithms. Finally, the application of some of these results in the area of iterative learning control is treated --- including experimental results from a chain conveyor system and a gantry robot system.
Control problems for conservation laws with traffic applications: modeling, analysis, and numerical methods
Conservation and balance laws on networks have been the subject of much research interest given their wide range of applications to real-world processes, particularly traffic flow. This open access monograph is the first to investigate different types of control problems for conservation laws that arise in the modeling of vehicular traffic. Four types of control problems are discussed - boundary, decentralized, distributed, and Lagrangian control - corresponding to, respectively, entrance points and tolls, traffic signals at junctions, variable speed limits, and the use of autonomy and communication. Because conservation laws are strictly connected to Hamilton-Jacobi equations, control of the latter is also considered.
Control of Spatially Structured Random Processes and Random Fields with Applications
This book is devoted to the study and optimization of spatiotemporal stochastic processes, that is, processes which develop simultaneously in space and time under random influences. These processes are seen to occur almost everywhere when studying the global behavior of complex systems.Classical stochastic dynamic optimization forms the framework of the book. Taken as a whole, the project undertaken in the book is to establish optimality or near-optimality for Markovian policies in the control of spatiotemporal Markovian processes. The authors apply this general principle to different frameworks of Markovian systems and processes. Depending on the structure of the systems and the surroundings of the model classes the authors arrive at different levels of simplicity for the policy classes which encompass optimal or nearly optimal policies. A set of examples accompanies the theoretical findings, and these examples should demonstrate some important application areas for the theorems discussed.
Control of Dead-time Processes
Control of Dead-time Processes introduces the fundamental techniques for controlling dead-time processes ranging from simple monovariable to complex multivariable cases. Solutions to dead-time-process-control problems are studied using classical proportional-integral-differential (PID) control for the simpler examples and dead-time-compensator (DTC) and model predictive control (MPC) methods for progressively more complex ones. Although MPC and DTC approaches originate in different areas of control, both use predictors to overcome the effects of dead time. Using this fact, the text analyses MPC as a dead-time-compensation strategy and shows how it can be used synergistically with robust DTC tuning methodologies.
Contractual Management : Managing Through Contracts
Contractual Management offers a holistic approach to managerial decision-making based on contracts or business processes that are related to contracts. It explains management from the point of view of the contract, just as it interprets the contract from the point of view of management. Thus, the approach highlights the great inherent potential of contracts for managing companies, transactions and business relationships.
Continuum Thermomechanics
The general goal of this book is to deduce rigorously, from the first principles, the partial differential equations governing the thermodynamic processes undergone by continuum media under forces and heat. Solids and fluids are considered in a unified framework. Reacting mixtures of fluids are also included for which general notions of thermodynamics are recalled, such as the Gibbs equilibrium theory.Linear approximate models are mathematically obtained by calculating the derivatives of the constitutive response functions. They include the classical models for linear vibrations of thermoelastic solids and also for wave propagation in fluids (dissipative and non-dissipative acoustics and internal gravity waves).
Continuous time processes for finance : Switching, self-exciting, fractional and other recent dynamics
This book explores recent topics in quantitative finance with an emphasis on applications and calibration to time-series. This last aspect is often neglected in the existing mathematical finance literature while it is crucial for risk management. The first part of this book focuses on switching regime processes that allow to model economic cycles in financial markets. After a presentation of their mathematical features and applications to stocks and interest rates, the estimation with the Hamilton filter and Markov Chain Monte-Carlo algorithm (MCMC) is detailed. A second part focuses on self-excited processes for modeling the clustering of shocks in financial markets.
Continental Scientific Drilling : A Decade of Progress, and Challenges for the Future
Scientific drilling is an indispensable tool of modern Earth science - search, as it provides the only means of obtaining direct information on processes operating at depth. Drilling allows for the determination of - situ properties of solid materials and fluids and permits testing of hypot- ses and models derived from surface observations. In addition, drill holes may be used as a natural laboratory for experiments and as observatories for long-term monitoring of on-going active processes. Earth drilling, therefore, plays a critical role in scientific research directed towards - proved understanding of the workings of our planet and has a key role in solving urgent socio-economic problems. As a rule, drilling projects are an integral component of major geosci- tific research programs, comprising comprehensive pre-site investigations, accompanying laboratory studies, the drilling phase itself, and consecutive measurements and tests in the drill hole. Such drilling programs are costly and thus only realizable to a limited extent. International cost sharing, the optimal utilization of all available resources, the incorporation of inter- tional leading experts, and the application of the existing know-how, as well as the selection of an optimal drilling location (“World Geological Site”), are thus essential elements of an international scientific drilling p- gram.
Contaminated rivers : A geomorphological-geochemical approach to site assessment and remediation
The geomorphological, surficial and geochemical processes and conditions of rivers require a tailored set of strategies and programs to successfully clean up contaminated river reaches. The primary purpose of this book is not only to provide students and professionals with an introductory understanding of fluvial geomorphic principles but also to explain using a process oriented approach how these geomorphic principles can be integrated with geochemical data to cost-effectively characterize, assess and remediate contaminated river systems. Numerous case studies from North America and many other parts of the world are included.
Consumers, Policy and the Environment : A tribute to Folke Ölander
The role of the consumer has changed from seeking the most satisfaction from goods and services to reconciling consumption with active citizenship, which links consumption to modern social issues such as environmental protection, sound business ethics, and fair working conditions. Understanding consumers - the way they buy products, the way they relate to questions of environmental importance, and the way they participate in public policy formulation processes –is of vital importance to modern society. In this book, eminent researchers examine contemporary issues related to the field of consumers, policy, and the environment.
Consumer perception of food attributes
Objectives of this book is to summarize recent empirical findings from scholarly works on how consumers value food credence attributes. Such knowledge would benefit producers, processors, retailers, and policy makers. Another objective of this book is to discuss the effectiveness of the programs that have been introduced to strengthen the relationship between producers and consumers. Many programs have been developed to more effectively inform consumers regarding food production processes.
Construction and Building Automation : From Concepts to Implementation
Intended to be used as a textbook in undergraduate civil engineering and construction courses to introduce cutting edge mechanical, electrical and computer science topics that are needed for civil and construction engineers to collaborate in inter-disciplinary automation projects. Introduces hardware and software needed for automating engineering tasks ; Presents examples of applications in the control of building systems ; Illustrates of the use of automation for improving construction processes ; Provides a lucid introduction to advanced computing concepts, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and control algorithms to construction and engineering students.
Constructing architecture : Materials, processes, structures, a handbook
This internationally prizewinning volume now appears in its second, revised and expanded edition. Since the first edition was published in 2005, it has been adopted as a textbook at many universities. Organized into chapters on ''Raw Materials/Building Materials (Modules),'' ''Building Components (Elements),'' ''Building Methods (Structures),'' and ''Buildings (Examples),'' the book now includes a new section on translucent materials and an article on the use of glass. The chapter on ''Building Elements'' now includes a discussion of facades, and the chapter on ''Structures'' has been expanded to cover ''Principles of Space Creation.'' The examples section now includes extensive documentation of current projects whose systematic character is oriented around the production process.
Constituents of Modern System-safety Thinking
Constituents of Modern System-safety Thinking contains the invited papers presented at the Thirteenth annual Safety-critical Systems Symposium, held at Southampton, UK in February 2005. The papers included in this volume bring together topics that are of the utmost importance in current safety thinking. The core of modern safety thinking and practice is a risk-based approach, and, this is not only a common thread running throughout the papers, but is also explored in two of them. Other themes considered include the safety case, safety assessment, accident investigation, and the commonality between the processes and techniques employed in safety and security engineering. Papers contain extensive industrial experience as well as recent academic research and are presented under the headings: Independent Safety Assessment, Safety and Security, Accident Investigation, Risk and its Tolerability, Achieving and Arguing the Safety of Modular Systems, and Technologies for Dependability.
Conformation-Dependent Design of Sequences in Copolymers II
The book include : 1 V.O. Aseyev, H. Tenhu, F. Winnik: Temperature Dependence of the Colloidal Stability of Neutral Amphiphilic Polymers in Water.- 2 V.I. Lozinsky: Approaches to Chemical Synthesis of Protein-Like Copolymers.- 3 S.I. Kuchanov, A.R. Khokhlov: Role of Physical Factors in the Processes of Obtaining of Copolymers.- 4 A.Y. Grosberg, A.R. Khokhlov: After-Action of the Ideas of I.M. Lifshitz in Polymer and Biopolymer Physics.-
Conflicts Between Generalization, Rigor, and Intuition : Number Concepts Underlying the Development of Analysis in 17th-19th Century France and Germany
Conflicts Between Generalization, Rigor, and Intuition undertakes a historical analysis of the development of two mathematical concepts -negative numbers and infinitely small quantities, mainly in France and Germany, but also in Britain, and the different paths taken there.This book not only discusses the history of the two concepts, but it also introduces a wealth of new knowledge and insights regarding their interrelation as necessary foundations for the emergence of the 19th century concept of analysis. The historical investigation unravels several processes underlying and motivating conceptual change: generalization (in particular, algebraization as an agent for generalizing) and a continued effort of intuitive accessibility which often conflicted with likewise desired rigor. The study focuses on the 18th and the 19th centuries.The book provides a productive unity to a large number of historical sources.
Conducting Polymers : A New Era in Electrochemistry
The discovery of polymers with variable conductivity brought forth a paradigmatic change in chemistry and in other branches of science and technology. Electrochemistry has played a central role in the preparation, characterization and application of these new materials. This book is a systematic survey of the knowledge accumulated in this field in the last thirty years. It includes thermodynamic aspects, the theory of the mechanism of charge transport processes, the chemical and physical properties of these compounds, the techniques of characterization, the chemical and electrochemical methods of synthesis as well as the application of these systems. The book contains a compilation of the polymers prepared so far and covers the relevant literature.
Condition Monitoring and Control for Intelligent Manufacturing
Manufacturing systems and processes are becoming increasingly complex, making more rational decision-making in process control a necessity. The book presents a wide and comprehensive review of the key areas of research in machine condition monitoring and control, before focusing on an in-depth treatment of each important technique, from multi-domain signal processing for defect diagnosis to web-based information delivery for real-time control.
Concrete materials and technology : A practical guide
Demands an underlying knowledge of concrete fundamentals as well as its constituent materials, and in various formulations. Starting with the basics, Concrete Materials and Technology: A Practical Guide examines the production and chemistry of cement, as well as the different types and their applications. Quality control processes and numerous methods for testing are presented and explained in detail.
Concrete bridge strengthening and repair
Covering a wide range of structural elements and related defects, this collection of twenty concrete bridge strengthening and repair case studies showcases solutions to real problems encountered in the field and the processes by which those solutions were developed. Drawing on a lifetime of experience Atkins consultant Iain Kennedy Reid provides insight into methods of investigation and diagnosis of problems relating to beams, slabs, columns and panel walls, as well as how to apply demand-led research to these problems in a practical way.



















