Written by experienced Construction professionals and teachers, this resource is designed to be accessible and practical. The comprehensive coverage of new specification requirements for England will support students through their course. / Suitable for Level 1 and 2 students, the depth of coverage, language and design of the book has been carefully tailored to their learning needs / Each unit is made relevant and purposeful through applied learning in a vocational context / A dedicated assessment section helps students thoroughly prepare for both their non-exam assessment and exams

Palmprint Authentication is the first book to provide a comprehensive introduction to palmprint technologies. It reveals automatic biometric techniques for personal identification using palmprint, from the approach based on offline palmprint images, to the current state-of-the-art algorithm using online palmprint images.

Palmprint Authentication provides the reader with a basic concept of Palmprint Authentication. It also includes an in-depth discussion of Palmprint Authentication technologies, a detailed description of Palmprint Authentication systems, and an up-to-date coverage of how these issues are developed. This book is suitable for different levels of readers: those who want to learn more about palmprint technology, and those who wish to understand, participate, and/or develop a palmprint authentication system.

Palmprint Authentication is effectively a handbook for biometric research and development. Graduate students and researchers in computer science, electrical engineering, systems science, and information technology will all find it uniquely useful, not only as a reference book, but also as a text book. Researchers and practitioners in industry, and R&D laboratories working in the fields of security system design, biometrics, immigration, law enforcement, control, and pattern recognition will also benefit from this volume.

This book presents a collection of recent research works intended to assist in the effective management of service loss. It develops and evaluates methodologies for the assessment of defects and failures, and proposes methodologies for preventing and mitigating building defects. As such, the book will appeal to a broad readership of scientists, practitioners, students and lecturers.

This book comprises selected proceedings of the Fourth International Conference in Ocean Engineering (ICOE2018), focusing on emerging opportunities and challenges in the field of ocean engineering and offshore structures. It includes state-of-the-art content from leading international experts, making it a valuable resource for researchers and practicing engineers alike.

This book is about the strategic relevance of quantum technologies. It debates the military-specific aspects of this technology. Various chapters of this book cohere around two specific themes. The first theme discusses the global pattern of ongoing civilian and military research on quantum computers, quantum cryptography, quantum communications and quantum internet. The second theme explicitly identifies the relevance of these technologies in the military domain and the possible nature of quantum technology-based weapons. This thread further debates on quantum (arms) race at a global level in general, and in the context of the USA and China, in particular. The book argues that the defence utility of these technologies is increasingly becoming obvious and is likely to change the nature of warfare in the future.

This book provides a manual for the technical and structural design of systems for supplying decentralised energy in residential buildings. It presents the micro-combined cooling, heating & power systems Stirling engines & renewable energy sources (mCCHP-SE-RES) systems in an accessible manner both for the public at large, and for professionals who conceive, design or commercialise such systems or their components. The high performance levels of these systems are demonstrated within the final chapter by the results of an experiment in which a house is equipped with a mCCHP-SE-RES system. The reader is also familiarized with the conceptual, technical and legal aspects of modern domestic energy systems; the components that constitute these systems; and advanced algorithms for achieving the structural and technical design of such systems. In residential buildings, satisfying demands of durable development has gradually evolved from necessity to obligation and institutionalisation. Consequently a major paradigm change has appeared in the supply of energy to residential buildings, from the centralised production of energy using fossil fuels to the decentralised production of energy using local renewable sources. Furthermore, on the energy system market, energy micro systems which use renewable energy sources are increasingly commercialised. From among these, the mCCHP-SE-RES systems are particularly striking because they offer a high performance and they enhance the relationship between humans and the environment. This book is intended for postgraduate students of electrical engineering, applied mathematicians, and researchers of modelling and control of complex systems or power system technologies.

This book examines pedestrian shoe-floor slip resistance from an engineering standpoint in order to better understand friction and wear behavior. This analysis includes an extensive investigation into the surface properties of shoes and flow, and the measurement of dynamic friction and other mechanical and physical aspects of shoe-floor tribology. Lastly, the book proposes a measurement concept for the identification and classification of operational floor surfaces under a range of different conditions. Novel techniques and methods are proposed that can improve the reliability of slip resistance assessments. The current state of knowledge is critically examined and discussed from a tribological perspective, including aspects like friction, wear, lubrication and the mechanical behavior of shoes, floors and their wider environment. Further, the book reports on extensive experimental investigations into the topographical characteristics of shoe and floor surfaces and how they affect slip resistance. Slips resulting in pedestrian falls are a major cause of injuries and deaths for all age groups. This important book provides essential insights for researchers, practicing engineers and public safety officials wishing to learn about how the risk of pedestrian slips can be assessed and understood.

This book focuses on the impacts of the built environment, and how to predict and measure the benefits and consequences of changes taking place to address sustainability in the development and building industries. It draws together the best treatments of these subjects from the Leeds Sustainability Institute's inaugural International Conference on Sustainability, Ecology, Engineering, Design for Society (SEEDS). The focus of discussion is on understanding how buildings and spaces are designed and nurtured to obtain optimal outcomes in energy efficiency and environmental impacts. In addition to examining technical issues such as modeling energy performance, emphasis is placed on the health and well-being of occupants. This holistic approach addresses the interdependence of people with the built and natural environments. The book's contents reflect the interdisciplinary and international collaboration critical to assembly of the knowledge required for positive change.

This book focuses on the implementation of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) in the construction industry as a tool to help building designers arrive at optimal decisions for external envelope systems with sustainable and buildable design goals. In particular, the book integrates special features into the conventional QFD tool to enhance its performance. These features include a fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making method, fuzzy consensus scheme, and Knowledge Management System (KMS). This integration results in a more robust decision support tool, known as the Knowledge-based Decision Support System QFD (KBDSS-QFD) tool. As an example, the KBDSS-QFD tool is used for the assessment of building envelope materials and designs for high-rise residential buildings in Singapore in the early design stage. The book provides the reader with a conceptual framework for understanding the development of the KBDSS-QFD tool. The framework is presented in a generalized form in order to benefit building professionals, decision makers, analysts, academics and researchers, who can use the findings as guiding principles to achieve optimal solutions and boost efficiency.

In the past, facilities considered to be at the end of their useful life were demolished and replaced with new ones that better met the functional requirements of modern society, including new safety standards. Humankind has recently recognised the threats to the environment and to our limited natural resources due to our relentless determination to destroy the old and build anew. With the awareness of these constraints and the emphasis on sustainability, in future the majority of old structures will be retrofitted to extend their service life as long as feasible. In keeping with this new approach, the EU s Construction Products Regulation 305/2011, which is the basis of the Eurocodes, included the sustainable use of resources as an "Essential Requirement" for construction. So, the forthcoming second generation of EN-Eurocodes will cover not only the design of new structures, but the rehabilitation of existing ones as well.
Most of the existing building stock and civil infrastructures are seismically deficient. When the time comes for a decision to prolong their service life with the help of structural and architectural upgrading, seismic retrofitting may be needed. Further, it is often decided to enhance the earthquake resistance of facilities that still meet their functional requirements and fulfil their purpose, if they are not earthquake-safe. In order to decide how badly a structure needs seismic upgrading or to prioritise it in a population of structures, a seismic evaluation is needed, which also serves as a guide for the extent and type of strengthening. Seismic codes do not sufficiently cover the delicate phase of seismic evaluation nor the many potential technical options for seismic upgrading; therefore research is on-going and the state-of-the-art is constantly evolving. All the more so as seismic evaluation and rehabilitation demand considerable expertise, to make best use of the available safety margins in the existing structure, to adapt the engineering capabilities and techniques at hand to the particularities of a project, to minimise disruption of use, etc. Further, as old structures are very diverse in terms of their materials and layout, seismic retrofitting does not lend itself to straightforward codified procedures or cook-book approaches. As such, seismic evaluation and rehabilitation need the best that the current state-of-the-art can offer on all aspects of earthquake engineering. This volume serves this need, as it gathers the most recent research of top seismic experts from around the world on seismic evaluation, retrofitting and closely related subjects."

This book presents the latest developments in biometrics technologies and reports on new approaches, methods, findings, and technologies developed or being developed by the research community and the industry. The book focuses on introducing fundamental principles and concepts of key enabling technologies for biometric systems applied for both physical and cyber security. The authors disseminate recent research and developing efforts in this area, investigate related trends and challenges, and present case studies and examples such as fingerprint, face, iris, retina, keystroke dynamics, and voice applications . The authors also investigate the advances and future outcomes in research and development in biometric security systems. The book is applicable to students, instructors, researchers, industry practitioners, and related government agencies staff. Each chapter is accompanied by a set of PowerPoint slides for use by instructors.

Huge earthquakes and tsunamis have caused serious damage to important structures such as civil infrastructure elements, buildings and power plants around the globe. To quantitatively evaluate such damage processes and to design effective prevention and mitigation measures, the latest high-performance computational mechanics technologies, which include telascale to petascale computers, can offer powerful tools. The phenomena covered in this book include seismic wave propagation in the crust and soil, seismic response of infrastructure elements such as tunnels considering soil-structure interactions, seismic response of high-rise buildings, seismic response of nuclear power plants, tsunami run-up over coastal towns and tsunami inundation considering fluid-structure interactions. The book provides all necessary information for addressing these phenomena, ranging from the fundamentals of high-performance computing for finite element methods, key algorithms of accurate dynamic structural analysis, fluid flows with free surfaces, and fluid-structure interactions, to practical applications with detailed simulation results. The book will offer essential insights for researchers and engineers working in the field of computational seismic/tsunami engineering.

The weathering of historical buildings and, indeed, of monuments and sculptures of natural stone is a problem that has been encountered for hundreds of years. However a dramatic increase in deterioration in the structure of our built heritage has been observed during the past century. To understand the complex interaction that the stone in a building suffers with its near environment (the building) and the macro environment (the local climate and atmospheric conditions) requires an interdisciplinary approach and the application of many disciplines. Climate change over the next 100 years is likely to have a range of direct and indirect impacts on many natural and physical environments, including the built environment.

The protection of our architectural heritage has both cultural and historical importance, as well as substantial economic and ecological value. Large sums of money are being spent world-wide on measures for the preservation of monuments and historical buildings. The past few decades has seen an unprecedented level of research activity in this area, the result of whichis often difficult to access and are summarized in the new edition of STONE IN ARCHITECTURE.

The 4th edition of Stone in Architecture: Properties, Durability, is a sophisticated and thorough exploration of stone its properties, performance and conservation in monumental contexts. The current editors, Siegfried Siegesmund and Rolf Snethlage, note the pioneering work of Erhard Winkler who wrote the first edition in 1973 when so little information could be found in the literature on the subject. This new edition, also published by Springer, nearly doubles the size of Winkler s 1994 effort. If you are familiar with the field and need to know little more than this statement, you can put aside this review and go buy the book.

George Wheeler, Department of Scientific Research, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York."

This book gives an introduction to the working principles of high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps and points out challenges and problems associated with the development and operation of HID lamps. It is the most comprehensive book on gas discharge lamps, on the physical basics and realization. The state-of-the-art in electrode and plasma diagnostics as well as numerical methods used for the understanding of HID lamps are described.

This book presents a study for the determination of environmental load factors for Jacket Platforms in Malaysia and a methodology to determine the life extension of aging platforms. The simplified methods described here could be used for determining not only structural reliability but also safety factors. Its content is particularly interesting to design and maintenance engineers who are working in offshore or onshore industry.

Learn the theory behind the formula for sales success! The Formula for Selling Alarm systems provides answers to some of the mysteries of selling in the alarm industry. The reader will learn proven methods of selling more effectively with a step-by-step method of selling closing. The author urges readers to apply the principles and steps in the book for a minimum of twenty-one days, the amount of time it takes to form a habit.
Learn how to make your prospects think like you do - the key to selling. You will discover the way to avoid common pitfalls and 'stinking thinking', in addition to answering objections and concerns confidently and professionally. The Formula for Selling Alarm Systems addresses all of these areas and is written by someone with more than 28 years of sales experience. This unique book is must-have for every alarm dealer.
Uncovers the secrets of successful selling.
Teaches frustrated salespeople how to improve their sales skills.
Provides the reader with a step-by-step method of selling and closing.

This book provides information on the generation and the effects of hazardous substances that are produced during welding and allied processes. These processes are thermal cutting, thermal spraying, soldering and brazing. The book offers guidance on the determination of hazardous substances and it simplifies assessment of the hazard due to hazardous substances. In addition, the book explains tests in order to understand the concentration and intensity of key hazardous substances. Last but not least, the book suggests several possibilities of avoiding the risk to worker's health as a result of exposing them to these substances.

Non destructive testing aimed at monitoring, structural identification and di- nostics is of strategic importance in many branches of civil and mechanical - gineering. This type of tests is widely practiced and directly affects topical issues regarding the design of new buildings and the repair and monitoring of existing ones. The load bearing capacity of a structure can now be evaluated using well established mechanical modelling methods aided by computing facilities of great capability. However, to ensure reliable results, models must be calibrated with - curate information on the characteristics of materials and structural components. To this end, non destructive techniques are a useful tool from several points of view. Particularly, by measuring structural response, they provide guidance on the validation of structural descriptions or of the mathematical models of material behaviour. Diagnostic engineering is a crucial area for the application of non destructive testing methods. Repeated tests over time can indicate the emergence of p- sible damage occurring during the structure's lifetime and provide quantitative estimates of the level of residual safety.

Monitoring of public and private sites is increasingly becoming a very important and critical issue, especially after the recent flurry of terrorist attacks including the one on the Word Trade Center in September 2001. It is, therefore, imperative that effective multisensor surveillance systems be developed to protect the society from similar attacks in the future. The new generation of surveillance systems to be developed have a specific requirement: they must be able to automatically identify criminal and terrorist activity without sacrificing individual privacy to the extent possible. Privacy laws concerning monitoring and surveillance systems vary from country to country but, in general, they try to protect the privacy of their citizens. Monitoring and visual surveillance has numerous other applications. It can be employed to help invalids or handicapped and to monitor the activities of elderly people. It can be used to monitor large events such as sporting events, as well. Nowadays, monitoring is employ d in several different contexts including transport applications, such as monitoring of railway stations and airports, dangerous environments like nuclear facilities or traffic flows on roads and bridges. The latest generation of surveillance systems mainly rely on hybrid analog-digital, or completely digital video communications and processing methods and take advantage of the greater of flexibility offered by video processing algorithms that are capable focusing a human operator's attention on a set of interesting situations.

The book provides practical recommendations for creation of fire retardant materials with an increased service life. The enhanced fire resistance seen in these materials is based on the regularities of the chemical and physicochemical interaction of the components of intumescent composition in the process of thermolytic synthesis of heat-insulating char-foamed layers. The aim of fire protection of various objects with intumescent materials is to create a heat-insulating charred layer on the surface of structural elements; this layer can withstand high temperatures and mechanical damage which are typical during fires. The authors describe the contribution of basic components (melamine, pentaerythritol, ammonium polyphosphate), additional components (chlorinated paraffin, urea, cellulose, carbon nano additives, etc.) and polymer binders of intumescent compositions on the process of charring. The technological aspects of manufacturing, application and operation of fire retardant intumescent compositions, which can be useful for organizations that produce and use fire retardant materials, are also described.

These proceedings include most of the available information on this major seismic event and its consequences. With an estimated moment magnitude of 7.7 and a heavy toll in terms of human and economic losses, it ranks as the largest intermediate-depth earthquake in Europe in the twentieth century. Nevertheless, because of the difficult conditions in the 1940s, the lessons learnt after the Vrancea earthquake were not extensively shared with the international scientific community and thus, this book fills a gap in the literature discussing the knowledge acquired after major disasters. Past experience together with current understanding of the 1940 Vrancea earthquake are presented along with the latest information on Romanian seismicity, seismic hazard and risk assessment, and seismic evaluation and rehabilitation of buildings and structures. Moreover, it includes excerpts from Romanian post-disaster reports and textbooks concerning the earthquake.

This study presents exploratory work and seeks to identify and evaluate the success and failure factors that could form a guideline for further study and to some extent help professionals to understand some critical aspects that impact project performance concerning construction in India. A total of 55 attributes affecting the performance of construction projects are analysed in terms of their level of influence on four key performance criteria - schedule, cost, quality, and no disputes - using a two-stage questionnaire survey. These attributes are then further analysed, interpreted and evaluated. Based on the critical success factors obtained from the study, a neural network model-based predictive model for project performance has been developed. The performance prediction models have been derived for all four project performance criteria. Further, a hypothesis that 'project success' is influenced by 'success traits' has also been formulated. The hypothesized positive inter-relationships between success traits and project success have been tested using the structural equation modelling technique. Besides supporting the intuition of past researchers in recognizing 'coordination' as a key success factor, this study has revealed that coordination is not an isolated and independent activity, but is a typical management function with an inherent role in all major management activities. Key elements affecting coordination have also been identified and their influence on coordination effort has been studied. Furthermore, the present study has also identified three broad skill groups required of effective project coordinators. The results are validated through case studies of live projects and structured interviews with experts in the field of construction management.

The volume is devoted to the dynamics of rods, which is a branch of mech- ics of deformable bodies. The main goal of the book is to present systema- cally theoretical fundamentals of the mechanics of rods as well as numerical methods used for practical purposes. Linear and nonlinear equations governing a rod's oscillations are p- sented. Methods of determining eigenvalues and eigenfunctions in conser- tive and non-conservative problems along with numerical methods dealing with forced, parametric, and random oscillations of rods are given. Some - sues of interaction of rods with air (liquid) flows and the dynamics of spa- curved rods containing flows of liquid are considered. The book consists of nine chapters and appendices and may be conv- tionally divided into two parts. That is, Chapters 1 to 6 contain, in the main, theoretical material, whereas Chapters 7 to 9 illustrate the application of the theoretical results to problems of practical interest. Problems for self-study are found in Chapters 3, 5, and 7. The solutions to most of the problems are given in Appendix B. The monograph is addressed to undergraduate and postgraduate students and teaching staff of technical universities. It may also be useful for scientists and mechanical engineers working in a wide range of industries. I wish to express my deep appreciation to my colleagues, Dr. S.A. Voronov and C.B. Danilenko, for their help in preparing the manuscript.