* Takes the reader through the entire development process from land acquisition to completion and refinancing or sale * Aimed out aspiring professionals looking to move into development from other areas * Includes a glossary of terms

This volume offers a guide to the state of the art in the fast evolving field of biometric recognition to newcomers and experienced practitioners. It is focused on the emerging strategies to perform biometric recognition under uncontrolled data acquisition conditions. The mainstream research work in this field is presented in an organized manner, so the reader can easily follow the trends that best suits her/his interests in this growing field. The book chapters cover the recent advances in less controlled / covert data acquisition frameworks, segmentation of poor quality biometric data, biometric data quality assessment, normalization of poor quality biometric data. contactless biometric recognition strategies, biometric recognition robustness, data resolution, illumination, distance, pose, motion, occlusions, multispectral biometric recognition, multimodal biometrics, fusion at different levels, high confidence automatic surveillance.

This edited book investigates the lack of interoperability in the IoT realm, including innovative research as well as technical solutions to interoperability, integration, and interconnection of heterogeneous IoT systems, at any level. It also explores issues caused by lack of interoperability such as impossibility to plug non-interoperable IoT devices into heterogeneous IoT platforms, impossibility to develop IoT applications exploiting multiple platforms in homogeneous and/or cross domains, slowness of IoT technology introduction at large-scale: discouragement in adopting IoT technology, increase of costs; scarce reusability of technical solutions and difficulty in meeting user satisfaction.

Segmental concrete bridges have become one of the main options for major transportation projects world-wide. They offer expedited construction with minimal traffic disruption, lower life cycle costs, appealing aesthetics and adaptability to a curved roadway alignment. The literature is focused on construction, so this fills the need for a design-oriented book for less experienced bridge engineers and for senior university students. It presents comprehensive theory, design and key construction methods, with a simple design example based on the AASHTO LRFD Design Specifications for each of the main bridge types. It outlines design techniques and relationships between analytical methods, specifications, theory, design, construction and practice. It combines mathematics and engineering mechanics with the authors' design and teaching experience.

The only book to examine reliability and validity of research in social science AND built environment setting Essential reading for global researchers at undergraduate and postgraduate level using all major methods of research Real case studies by recognised experts covering hot topics like BIM, Lean, Housing and Sustainability show the importance of validity and how to ensure research is reliable

Systematically defines energy-efficient buildings, employing power consumption optimization techniques with inclusion of renewable energy sources. Covers data centre and cyber security with excellent data storage features for smart buildings. Includes systematic and detailed strategies for building air conditioning and lighting. Details smart building security propulsion.

Every place has a story to tell, often found in historic sites or cultural traditions of the people who settled or currently live in a community, city, region or state. When these stories and places are shared with visitors, this activity becomes what is known as cultural heritage tourism. Success and sustainability in this growing industry segment requires careful planning and adequate resources. Cultural Heritage Tourism: Five Steps for Success and Sustainability provides detailed instruction through a proven five-step process to help planners, managers and community leaders attract visitors and their spending to your cultural heritage site, attraction, event or destination. Learn how to assess, plan for, develop, market, fund, manage, and measure cultural heritage for growth and sustainability. Refer to the best practices and case studies from across the country as examples for replication and reference. Use the sample documents and resource lists to jumpstart your cultural heritage tourism program, and monitor and measure the efforts. This book walks you through every step, from inception to evaluation.

This book gathers the latest advances, innovations, and applications in the field of building design and construction, by focusing on new design solutions for buildings and new technologies creation for construction, as presented by researchers and engineers at the 2nd International Conference Building Innovations (ICBI), held in Poltava - Baku, Ukraine - Azerbaijan, on May 23-24, 2019. It covers highly diverse topics, including structures operation, repairing and thermal modernization in existing buildings and urban planning features, machines and mechanisms for construction, as well as efficient economy and energy conservation issues in construction. The contributions, which were selected by means of a rigorous international peer-review process, highlight numerous exciting ideas that will spur novel research directions and foster multidisciplinary collaborations.

< p="" style=""> This highly informative and carefully presented book focuses on the fields of ergonomics/human factors and discusses the future of the community vis-a-vis health problems, productivity, aging, etc. Ergonomic intercession must be seen in light of its effect on productivity because ergonomic solutions will improve productivity as the reduction of environmental stressors, awkward postures and efforts lead to a reduction in task execution time. The book provides promising evidence that the field of ergonomics continues to thrive and develop deeper insights into how work environments, products and systems can be developed to meet needs, demands and limitations of humans and how they can support productivity improvements. Some of the themes covered are anthropometry and workplace design, biomechanics and modelling in ergonomics, cognitive and environmental ergonomics, ergonomic intervention and productivity, ergonomics in transport, mining, agriculture and forestry, health systems, work physiology and sports ergonomics, etc. This book is beneficial to academicians, policymakers and the industry alike. ^

Leadership, Ethics, and Project Execution provides a masterclass in the project and people management skills that set apart the most accomplished design and construction professionals. This textbook for graduate and advanced undergraduate students distils the insights gleaned over the authors' decades of experience in academia and industry into actionable principles for success in a notoriously demanding field. Combining real life case studies with original research, Leadership, Ethics, and Project Execution points the way from the classroom to the jobsite. Interactive exercises allow readers to take the role of junior project managers and other emerging professionals and reason through the ethical dilemmas surrounding building projects from the initial bid to completion. Chapters on stakeholder alignment, productivity, and project success ensure that aspiring leaders' business decisions are as economically sound as they are ethically correct. From its accessible, conversational tone to the lifetime's worth of construction wisdom it shares, Leadership, Ethics, and Project Execution offers an extended mentoring session with three giants of the building industry.

This unique volume provides the only holistic treatment of wind towers, a core aspect of sustainable architecture in hot, arid climates. The authors explain how traditional incarnations of these structures provide significant decreases in energy consumption through their use of renewable wind resources to cool buildings and water storage facilities. Beginning with the underlying scientific principles, the design and operation of wind towers is explained in depth and suggestions for optimization are provided, supported by the authors' findings from recent analytical studies.

This book is aimed at developing the elementary analysis skills, familiarity and intuitive feel for composite construction that is required by undergraduate and graduate students, and by structural engineers. It does not require a prior knowledge of advanced analysis and design techniques, but builds on simple concepts such as statics and the mechanics of materials. A topic is first introduced by a brief description, with numerous carefully-chosen examples forming an integral part of the main text. Working through the examples allows the reader to gain a full understanding of the subject, as a technique is illustrated by its application to the design of new structures, or the important area of assessing and upgrading existing structures.The techniques described for the analysis of standard structures form a basis for understanding the way composite structures work, and these techniques are applied to many non-standard forms of composite construction that are rarely covered in national standards, if at all. The book is an essential purchase for all undergraduate and postgraduate students of structural and civil engineering, as well as all practitioners.

Heating and Cooling with Ground-Source Heat Pumps in Cold and Moderate Climates: Fundamentals and Basic Concepts covers fundamentals and design principles of vertical and horizontal indirect and direct expansion closed-loop, as well as ground and surface-water ground-source heat pump systems. It explains the thermodynamic aspects of mechanical and thermochemical compression cycles of geothermal heat pumps, and describes the energetic, economic, and environmental aspects associated with the use of ground-source heat pump systems for heating and cooling residential and commercial/institutional buildings in moderate and cold climates. Based on the author's more than 30 years of technical experience Focuses on ground-source heat pump technologies that can be successfully applied in moderate and cold climates Discusses technical aspects as well as the most common and uncommon application fields of basic system configurations This work is aimed at designers of HVAC systems, as well as geological, mechanical, and chemical engineers implementing environmentally-friendly heating and cooling technologies for buildings.

This book provides examples and suggestions for readers to understand how public investment decisions for sustainable infrastructure are made. Through detailed analysis of public investment in infrastructure over the last few decades in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Finland, the author explores how the decision-making processes for major public works spending, many of them requiring quite rigorous and detailed computational methodologies, can result in plans that underserve large portions of the population, are inequitable, and fail to efficiently preserve public property. Beginning with some of the commonly offered explanations for the slow pace of investment and repair in a supposedly prosperous society facing serious environmental challenges, the book then explores media's role in shaping the public-at-large's understanding of the situation and the unimaginative solutions put forward by politicians. It continues with some case studies of infrastructure investment, or lack thereof, including an exploration of competing uses for government funds. It concludes with some suggestions. It is aimed at a large readership of professionals, students, and policy makers in political science, urban planning, and civil engineering.

The book gathers the peer-reviewed contributions presented at the 3rd International Conference on Application of Superabsorbent Polymers (SAP) and Other New Admixtures towards Smart Concrete, held in Skukuza, South Africa, on November 25-27, 2019. It features papers focusing on the behavior of SAP in concrete (in particular the absorption behavior) as well as the effect of SAP on fresh and hardened concrete properties. It also covers topics such as other modern admixtures, in particular rheology-modifying admixtures, including the recently emerging field of bio- or waste-derived admixtures. The conference builds on the experience and summarizes the activities of the RILEM Technical Committee 260-RSC "Recommendations for Use of Superabsorbent Polymers in Concrete Construction" and addresses other prominent research activities in the field of concrete admixtures.

Takes a fresh approach in that it considers the underlying reasons, and the consequences of urban change for real estate investors and policy makers, not another traditional urban economics textbook Includes chapter objectives, self-assessment questions, chapter summaries, learning outcomes, case studies, global data and statistics Most up to date UK Urban Economics textbook, it is not overly mathematical and strikes the ideal balance between theory and practical policy analysis for the real estate and planning market

This book introduces acoustic wave theories using a reader-friendly matrix-based linear algebra approach. It will enable the reader to take advantage of software tools such as MATLAB (commercial codes) and OCTAVE (open-source codes) to gain better and deeper understanding of the underlying physics quickly. In this aspect, this text can be regarded as a practical introduction of the acoustic wave theories in an easy-to-follow linear algebra format using matrix manipulations instead of an abstract approach relying on tensor manipulations. The book also uses case studies to demonstrate how the fundamentals on acoustic waves discussed throughout the book are applied in device designs and analyses such that the connections and interdependences between the underlying sciences and the observed behavior and performances can be better appreciated by the reader. To achieve this, all problems for illustrations, examples, case studies, and device analyses are developed and solved based on the mathematical foundations laid out in the book.

In the wake of an unparalleled housing crisis at the end of the Second World War, Glasgow Corporation rehoused the tens of thousands of private tenants who were living in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions in unimproved Victorian slums. Adopting the designs, the materials and the technologies of modernity they built into the sky, developing high-rise estates on vacant sites within the city and on its periphery. This book uniquely focuses on the people's experience of this modern approach to housing, drawing on oral histories and archival materials to reflect on the long-term narrative and significance of high-rise homes in the cityscape. It positions them as places of identity formation, intimacy and well-being. With discussions on interior design and consumption, gender roles, children, the elderly, privacy, isolation, social networks and nuisance, Glasgow examines the connections between architectural design, planning decisions and housing experience to offer some timely and prescient observations on the success and failure of this very modern housing solution at a moment when high flats are simultaneously denigrated in the social housing sector while being built afresh in the private sector. Glasgow is aimed at an academic readership, including postgraduate students, scholars and researchers. It will be of interest to social, cultural and urban historians particularly interested in the United Kingdom.

The production and consumption of energy carriers in complex buildings take place within the network of interconnected energy processes. For this reason, a change carried out in one energy process influences other energy processes. Therefore, all balance equations of energy carriers should be investigated as a whole, and energy management of complex buildings creates a large energy system with internal relationships between energy installations and the equipment, as well as external relationships with the environment. Energy Systems of Complex Buildings presents the system approach to the energy-ecological analysis of energy management in complex buildings. Mathematical models of balancing the direct energy consumption, as well as cumulative energy consumption and cumulative emission of noxious substances are based on input-output analysis. Algorithms devoted to system analysis in the exploitation of energy management of complex buildings are included. In the case of ecological analysis, a new approach is presented basing on the idea of thermoecological costs. In this way, two groups of noxious influence (depletion of non-renewable energy resources and emissions of noxious substances) are taken into account. The LCA energy-ecological analysis of complex buildings has also been presented. Students, building designers, energy auditors, and researchers will learn the methodology of evaluating the energy and ecological effects by applying new technologies and devices in buildings, which influence future investigations concerning the energy and ecological analysis of complex buildings.

This fully revised 2nd Edition of Keith Moss's highly respected text gives comprehensive coverage of the design of heating and water services in buildings. Each chapter starts with the information needed to understand the specific area, and this is then reinforced by many examples and case studies with worked solutions. Mathematics and the principles of fluids are introduced as core skills where they are required as part of the design solution. New material is provided on chimneys, fossil fuel combustion, electrical heating and group and district heating. Students, whether on HNC, HND and degree courses, will find this is a book they need to have.

This volume gathers the latest advances, innovations, and applications in the field of seismic engineering, as presented by leading researchers and engineers at the 1st International Workshop on Energy-Based Seismic Engineering (IWEBSE), held in Madrid, Spain, on May 24-26, 2021. The contributions cover a diverse range of topics, including energy-based EDPs, damage potential of ground motion, structural modeling in energy-based damage assessment of structures, energy dissipation demand on structural components, innovative structures with energy dissipation systems or seismic isolation, as well as seismic design and analysis. Selected by means of a rigorous peer-review process, they will spur novel research directions and foster future multidisciplinary collaborations.

This book describes the use of free air cooling to improve the efficiency of, and cooling of, equipment for use in telecom infrastructures. Discussed at length is the cooling of communication installation rooms such as data centers or base stations, and this is intended as a valuable tool for the people designing and manufacturing key parts of communication networks. This book provides an introduction to current cooling methods used for energy reduction, and also compares present cooling methods in use in the field. The qualification methods and standard reliability assessments are reviewed, and their inability to assess the risks of free air cooling is discussed. The method of identifying the risks associated with free air cooling on equipment performance and reliability is introduced. A novel method of assessment for free air cooling is also proposed that utilizes prognostics and health management (PHM). This book also: Describes how the implementation of free air cooling can save energy for cooling within the telecommunications infrastructure. Analyzes the potential risks and failures of mechanisms possible in the implementation of free air cooling, which benefits manufacturers and equipment designers. Presents prognostics-based assessments to identify and mitigate the risks of telecommunications equipment under free air cooling conditions, which can provide the early warning of equipment failures at operation stage without disturbing the data centers' service. Optimum Cooling for Data Centers is an ideal book for researchers and engineers interested in designing and manufacturing equipment for use in telecom infrastructures.

This collection from the 12th International Conference on Magnesium Alloys and Their Applications (Mg 2021)-the longest running conference dedicated to the development of magnesium alloys-covers the breadth of magnesium research and development, from primary production to applications to end-of-life management. Authors from academia, government, and industry discuss new developments in magnesium alloys and share valuable insights. Topics in this volume include but are not limited to the following: Primary production Alloy development Solidification and casting processes Forming and thermo-mechanical processing Other manufacturing process development (including joining and additive manufacturing) Corrosion and protection Modeling and simulation Structural, functional, biomedical, and energy applications Advanced characterization and fundamental theories Recycling and environmental issues

Sprayed concrete lined (SCL) tunnels are growing rapidly in popularity due to their versatility. The design and construction of both hard rock and soft ground tunnels has been revolutionised by the advent of the SCL method and now the use of permanent sprayed concrete linings has unlocked the true potential of the method to minimise construction costs and times. Yet the complex early age behaviour of the sprayed concrete makes the design difficult and requires a robust management system during construction. Consequently the great advantages of the method must be balanced against the risks, as a few high-profile tunnel collapses have illustrated. Practising engineers on site, in the design office or in client organizations will find this book an excellent introduction. It covers all aspects of SCL tunnelling - from the constituents of sprayed concrete to detailed design and management during construction. Although there is a close interdependence between all the facets of sprayed concrete, few engineers have the right breadth of experience and expertise to cover all of them. This urgently needs to be transferred to the wider engineering community as SCL tunnels play an increasingly important role in the delivery of the underground infrastructure which modern urban life demands. In this second edition, beyond a general updating to reflect new developments, the sections on permanent sprayed concrete, the innovative technology of spray applied waterproofing membranes, fibre reinforcement (both steel and macrosynthetic) and composite lining design have been expanded. Sustainability and environmental impact are addressed in a new section.

- The book tackles five cutting-edge topics in the field of urban studies: the anti-progress movement, resilient urban model, localism, the urban commons, and the bottom-up urbanism. - The use of an attractive cultural narrative, the eco-lifestyle, to analyse and interpret architectural and urban spaces. - The use of the ecological crisis as starting point and backbone of that narrative. This topic is a mainstream concern in contemporary society.