This book explores the meta-heuristics approach called tabu search, which is dramatically changing our ability to solve a host of problems that stretch over the realms of resource planning, telecommunications, VLSI design, financial analysis, scheduling, space planning, energy distribution, molecular engineering, logistics, pattern classification, flexible manufacturing, waste management, mineral exploration, biomedical analysis, environmental conservation and scores of other problems. The major ideas of tabu search are presented with examples that show their relevance to multiple applications. Numerous illustrations and diagrams are used to clarify principles that deserve emphasis, and that have not always been well understood or applied. The book's goal is to provide hands-on' knowledge and insight alike, rather than to focus exclusively either on computational recipes or on abstract themes. This book is designed to be useful and accessible to researchers and practitioners in management science, industrial engineering, economics, and computer science. It can appropriately be used as a textbook in a masters course or in a doctoral seminar. Because of its emphasis on presenting ideas through illustrations and diagrams, and on identifying associated practical applications, it can also be used as a supplementary text in upper division undergraduate courses. Finally, there are many more applications of tabu search than can possibly be covered in a single book, and new ones are emerging every day. The book's goal is to provide a grounding in the essential ideas of tabu search that will allow readers to create successful applications of their own. Along with the essential ideas, understanding of advanced issues is provided, enabling researchers to go beyond today's developments and create the methods of tomorrow.

"Mechanics, Models and Methods in Civil Engineering" collects leading papers dealing with actual Civil Engineering problems. The approach is in the line of the Italian-French school and therefore deeply couples mechanics and mathematics creating new predictive theories, enhancing clarity in understanding, and improving effectiveness in applications. The authors of the contributions collected here belong to the Lagrange Laboratory, an European Research Network active since many years. This book will be of a major interest for the reader aware of modern Civil Engineering.

Sustainability is a concept that has monopolised a large number of the scientific debates in a wide range of spheres connected not only with architecture, urban planning and construction, but also with the product market, tourism, culture, etc. However, sustainability is indissolubly linked to vernacular architecture and the lessons this architecture of the past can teach us for the future. The concept of sustainability as it is presented is wide-reaching and encompasses not only environmental issues but also sociocultural and socioeconomic questions. The lessons we can learn from studying vernacular architecture in these three broad spheres are manifold, and can help us not only to further the conservation and retrieval of this architecture already in existence but to rethink new architecture in the light of what we have learned. Vernacular Architecture: Towards a Sustainable Future will be a valuable source of information for academics and professionals in the fields of Environmental Science, Civil Engineering, Construction and Building Engineering and Architecture.

Geomechanics from Micro to Macro contains 268 papers presented at the International Symposium on Geomechanics from Micro and Macro (IS-Cambridge, UK, 1-3 September 2014). The symposium created a forum for the dissemination of new advances in the micro-macro relations of geomaterial behaviour and its modelling. The papers on experimental investigations show findings from micro-scale experiments, non-destructive imaging, element testing (coarse grained materials, fine grained materials and mixtures), physical model tests and field tests. The subjects of the investigations include particle effects (shape, size and grading), partial saturation, creep and aging, fluid-grain coupling, biological and chemical effects, and thermal effects. The papers on discrete based modelling examine pre- and post-failure behaviour, particle shapes and size effects, particle crushing, dynamic behaviour, bonding effects, fracturing and fragmentation, interface behaviour, and fluid-grain coupling. The contributions on continuum based modelling include stress-strain relationships, multi-scale modelling, multiphase modelling, fluid flow modelling, and numerical modelling based on continuum based models and particle based models. Geomechanics from Micro to Macro will be of interest to academics and engineers involved in granular physics, soil mechanics, rock mechanics, geotechnical engineering and geological engineering.

Global warming, melting polar caps, rising sea levels and intensifying wave-current action, factors responsible for the alarming phenomena of coastal erosion on the one hand and adverse environmental impacts and the high cost of 'hard' protection schemes, on the other, have created interest in the detailed examination of the potential and range of applicability of the emerging and promising category of 'soft' shore protection methods. 'Soft' methods such as beach nourishment, submerged breakwaters, artificial reefs, gravity drain systems, floating breakwaters, plantations of hydrophylous shrubs or even dry branches, applied mostly during the past 20 years, are recognised as possessing technical, environmental and financial advantageous properties deserving more attention and further developmental experimentation than has occured hitherto. On the other hand, 'hard' shore protection methods such as seawalls, groins and detached breakwaters, artefacts borrowed from port design and construction technology, no matter how well designed and well implemented they may be, can hardly avoid intensification of the consequential erosive, often devastating, effects on the down-drift shores. Moreover, they often do not constitute environmentally and financially attractive solutions for long stretches of eroding shoreline. Engineers and scientists practising design and implementation of shore defence schemes have been aware for many years of the public demand for improved shore protection technologies. They are encouraging efforts that promise enrichment of those environmentally sound and financially attractive methods that can be safely applied.

Geotechnics for Catastrophic Flooding Events presents the keynote lectures (book, 264 pages) and keynote lectures and general papers (CD-ROM, 608 pages) presented at the Fourth International ISSMGEConference on Geotechnical Engineering for Disaster Mitigation and Rehabilitation (4th GEDMAR, Kyoto, Japan, 16-18 September 2014). The contributions discuss hurricane, rainstorm and storm surge induced riverine and coastal flooding events, such as the 2004 Sumatra earthquake in Indonesia, the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans, USA, Typhoon Morakot, which devastated parts of Taiwan in 2009 and the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster in Eastern Japan, when combined failure mechanisms, multiple hazards, and rare events with huge consequences occurred. The book is divided into the following sections: - Keynote lectures - Liquefaction experiment and analysis project (LEAP) - Guidelines and recommendations for local governments to mitigate flooding disasters - Materials and modeling - Natural hazards - Disaster mitigation and rehabilitation Geotechnics for Catastrophic Flooding Events will be of interest to researchers, academics, industry practitioners and other professional involved in earthquake geotechnical engineering, foundation engineering, and earthquake engineering and structural dynamics.

This book, Drying and Wetting of Building Materials and Components, provides a collection of recent contributions in the field of drying and wetting in porous building materials.
The main benefit of the book is that it discusses some of the most important topics related to the drying and wetting processes, namely, innovations and trends in drying science and technology, drying mechanism and theory, equipment, advanced modelling, complex simulation and experimentation. At the same time, these topics will be going to the encounter of a variety of scientific and engineering disciplines.
The book is divided in several chapters that intend to be a resume of the current state of knowledge for benefit of professional colleagues.

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 contains a collection of major research contributions over the last decade in the area of composite materials and sandwich structures supported by the Of?ce of Naval Research (ONR) under the direction of Dr. Yapa D. S. Rajapakse. The Solid Mechanics Research Program at ONR supports research in mechanics of high performancematerialsfortheeffectivedesignofdurableandaffordableNavalstr- tures. Such structures operate in severe environments, and are designed to withstand complex multi-axial loading conditions, including highly dynamic loadings. The - fective design of these structures requires an understanding of the deformation and failure characteristics of structural materials, and the ability to predict and control their performance characteristics. The major focus is on mechanics of composite materials and composite sandwich structures. The program deals with understa- ing and modeling the physical processes involved in the response of glass-?ber and carbon-?ber reinforced composite materials and composite sandwich structures to static, cyclic, and dynamic, multi-axial loading conditions, in severe environments (sea water, moisture, temperature extremes, and hydrostatic pressure). This anthology consists of 30 chapters written by ONR contractors and rec- nized experts in their ?elds and serves as a reference and guide for future research.

This book is an outgrowth of the proceedings for the Geotechnical Symposium in Roma, which was held on March 16 and 17, 2006 in Rome, Italy. The Symposium was organized to celebrate the 60th birthday of Prof. Tatsuoka as well as honoring his research achievement. The publications are focused on the recent developments in the stress-strain behavior of geomaterials, with an emphasis on laboratory measurements, soil constitutive modeling and behavior of soil structures (such as reinforced soils, piles and slopes). The latest advancement in the field, such as the rate effect and dynamic behavior of both clay and sand, behavior of modified soils and soil mixtures, and soil liquefaction are addressed. A special keynote paper by Prof. Tatsuoka is included with three other keynote papers (presented by Prof. Lo Presti, Prof. Di Benedetto, and Prof. Shibuya).

Revised and edited, this new third edition reference covers the full scope of energy management techniques and applications for new and existing buildings, with emphasis on the "systems" approach to developing an effective overall energy management strategy. Foremost in the enhancements to the new edition is content that reflects the emphasis on conservation for "green energy" awareness.

Also examined are building structural considerations, such as heat loss and gain, windows, and insulation. A thorough discussion of heating and cooling systems basics is provided, along with energy management guidelines. Also covered are energy conservation measures that may be applied for lighting systems, water systems, and electrical systems. Specific energy management technologies and their application are discussed in detail, including solar energy systems, energy management systems, and alternative energy technologies.

Covers the full scope of energy management techniques and applications for new and existing buildings

Emphasizes a "systems" approach to developing an effective overall energy management strategy

Includes enhanced content that reflects the emphasis on conservation for "green energy" awareness"

Laminated Composite Plates and Shells presents a systematic and comprehensive coverage of the three-dimensional modelling of these structures. It uses the state space approach to provide novel tools for accurate three-dimensional analyses of thin and thick structural components composed of laminated composite materials. In contrast to the traditional treatment of laminated materials, the state space method guarantees a continuous interfacial stress field across material boundaries. Other unique features of the analysis include the non-dependency of a problem's degrees of freedom on the number of material layers of a laminate. Apart from the introductions to composite materials, three-dimensional elasticity and the concept of state space equations presented in the first three chapters, the book reviews available analytical and numerical three-dimensional state space solutions for bending, vibration and buckling of laminated composite plates and shells of various shapes. The applications of the state space method also include the analyses of piezoelectric laminates and interfacial stresses near free edges. The book presents numerous tables and graphics that show accurate three-dimensional solutions of laminated structural components. Many of the numerical results presented in the book are important in their own right and also as test problems for validating new numerical methods. Laminated Composite Plates and Shells will be of benefit to all materials and structural engineers looking to understand the detailed behaviour of these important materials. It will also interest academic scientists researching that behaviour and engineers from more specialised fields such as aerospace which are becoming increasingly dependent on composites.

Among different approaches that can be considered for concrete rehabilitation, bonded overlays are often the most economical alternative. The primary purpose of overlays is to extend the life of the candidate structures, either by restoring the quality and integrity of the surface and/or the re-establishing or improving the load-carrying capacity. Nevertheless, the durability of bonded overlay systems still draws concerns in the technical community because of bond sustainability problems encountered in a number of cases. At this time, there is still no accepted design approach or methodology that can warrant the practitioner a successful outcome of the repair. This State-of-Art report summarizes the findings with respect to all aspects involved in the overlaying process.

Highlights the Progression of Meshing Technologies and Their Applications Finite Element Mesh Generation provides a concise and comprehensive guide to the application of finite element mesh generation over 2D domains, curved surfaces, and 3D space. Organised according to the geometry and dimension of the problem domains, it develops from the basic meshing algorithms to the most advanced schemes to deal with problems with specific requirements such as boundary conformity, adaptive and anisotropic elements, shape qualities, and mesh optimization.It sets out the fundamentals of popular techniques, including: Delaunay triangulation Advancing-front (ADF) approach Quadtree/Octree techniques Refinement and optimization-based strategies From the geometrical and the topological aspects and their associated operations and inter-relationships, each approach is vividly described and illustrated with examples. Beyond the algorithms, the book also explores the practice of using metric tensor and surface curvatures for generating anisotropic meshes on parametric space. It presents results from research including 3D anisotropic meshing, mesh generation over unbounded domains, meshing by means of intersection, re-meshing by Delaunay-ADF approach, mesh refinement and optimization, generation of hexahedral meshes, and large scale and parallel meshing, along with innovative unpublished meshing methods. The author provides illustrations of major meshing algorithms, pseudo codes, and programming codes in C++ or FORTRAN. Geared toward research centers, universities, and engineering companies, Finite Element Mesh Generation describes mesh generation methods and fundamental techniques, and also serves as a valuable reference for laymen and experts alike.

This book discusses analytical tools for designing energy efficient and lightweight structures that embody the concept of tensegrity. The book provides both static and dynamic analysis of special tensegrity structural concepts, which are motivated by biological material architecture. This is the first book written to attempt to integrate structure and control design.

This book offers an integrated introduction to the topic of stability and vibration. Strikingly, it describes stability as a function of boundary conditions and eigenfrequency as a function of both boundary conditions and column force. Based on a post graduate course held by the author at the University of Southern Denmark, it reports on fundamental formulas and makes uses of graphical representation to promote understanding. Thanks to the emphasis put on analytical methods and numerical results, the book is meant to make students and engineers familiar with all fundamental equations and their derivation, thus stimulating them to write interactive and dynamic programs to analyze instability and vibrational modes.

This book reports on cutting-edge technologies that have been fostering sustainable development in a variety of fields, including built and natural environments, structures, energy, advanced mechanical technologies as well as electronics and communication technologies. It reports on the applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Internet-of-Things, predictive maintenance, as well as modeling and control techniques to reduce the environmental impacts of buildings, enhance their environmental contribution and positively impact the social equity. The different chapters, selected on the basis of their timeliness and relevance for an audience of engineers and professionals, describe the major trends in the field of sustainable engineering research, providing them with a snapshot of current issues together with important technical information for their daily work, as well as an interesting source of new ideas for their future research. The works included in this book were selected among the contributions to the BUE ACE1, the first event, held in Cairo, Egypt, on 8-9 November 2016, of a series of Annual Conferences & Exhibitions (ACE) organized by the British University in Egypt (BUE).

In 1875, a team of cartographers, geologists, and scientists under the direction of Ferdinand V. Hayden entered the Four Corners area for what they thought would be a calm summer's work completing a previous survey. Their accomplishments would go down in history as one of the great American surveying expeditions of the nineteenth century. By skillfully weaving the surveyors' diary entries, field notes, and correspondence with newspaper accounts, historians Robert S. McPherson and Susan Rhoades Neel bring the Hayden Survey to life. Mapping the Four Corners provides an entertaining, engaging narrative of the team's experiences, contextualized with a thoughtful introduction and conclusion. Accompanied by the great photographer William Henry Jackson, Hayden's team quickly found their trip to be more challenging than expected. The travelers describe wrangling half-wild pack mules, trying to sleep in rain-soaked blankets, and making tea from muddy, alkaline water. Along the way, they encountered diverse peoples, evidence of prehistoric civilizations, and spectacular scenery - Hispanic villages in Colorado and New Mexico; Mesa Verde, Hovenweep, and other Anasazi sites; and the Hopi mesas. Not everyone they met was glad to see them: in southeastern Utah surveyors fought and escaped a band of Utes and Paiutes who recognized that the survey meant dispossession from their homeland. Hayden saw his expedition as a scientific endeavor focused on geology, geographic description, cartographic accuracy, and even ethnography, but the search for economic potential was a significant underlying motive. As this book shows, these pragmatic scientists were on the lookout for gold beneath every rock, grazing lands in every valley, and economic opportunity around each bend in the trail. The Hayden Survey ultimately shaped the American imagination in contradictory ways, solidifying the idea of ""progress"" - and government funding of its pursuit - while also revealing, via Jackson's photographs, a landscape with a beauty hitherto unknown and unimagined.

In the last two decades, the biannual ECPPM (European Conference on Product and Process Modelling) conference series has provided a unique platform for the presentation and discussion of the most recent advances with regard to the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) applications in the AEC/FM (Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Facilities Management) domains. ECPPM 2014, the 10th European Conference on Product and Process Modelling, was hosted by the Department of Building Physics and Building Ecology of the Vienna University of Technology, Austria (17-19 September 2014). This book entails a substantial number of high-quality contributions that cover a large spectrum of topics pertaining to ICT deployment instances in AEC/FM, including: - BIM (Building Information Modelling) - ICT in Civil engineering & Infrastructure - Human requirements & factors - Computational decision support - Commissioning, monitoring & occupancy - Energy & management - Ontology, data models, and IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) - Energy modelling - Thermal performance simulation - Sustainable buildings - Micro climate modelling - Model calibration - Project & construction management - Data & information management As such, eWork and eBusiness in Architecture, Engineering and Construction 2014 represents a rich and comprehensive resource for academics and professionals working in the interdisciplinary areas of information technology applications in architecture, engineering, and construction.

Strain-Hardening Fibre-Reinforced Cement-Based Composites (SHCC) were named after their ability to resist increased tensile force after crack formation, over a significant tensile deformation range. The increased resistance is achieved through effective crack bridging by fibres, across multiple cracks of widths in the micro-range. Whether these small crack widths are maintained under sustained, cyclic or other load paths, and whether the crack width limitation translates into durability through retardation of ingress of moisture, gas and other deleterious matter, are scrutinized in this book by evaluation of test results from several laboratories internationally. The durability of SHCC under mechanical, chemical, thermal and combined actions is considered, both for the composite and the fibre types typically used in SHCC. The compilation of this state-of-the-art report has been an activity of the RILEM TC 208-HFC, Subcommittee 2: Durability, during the committee life 2005-2009.