This book presents the latest achievements in the theory and practice of SEMS Group interaction by scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences. It also discusses the development of methods for the design and simulation of SEMS Group interaction based on the principles of safety, flexibility and adaptability in behavior and intelligence and parallelism in information processing, computation and control. Recently, the task has been to ensure the functioning of robots within the framework of collective collaboration, so that they function efficiently, reliably and safely in real time. The topics covered include, but are not limited to, the following: - the planning behavior of the SEMS group;- methods and principles of designing of automatic control systems;- mathematical and computer modeling group interaction;- safety, flexibility and adaptability of the SEMS Group;- information-measuring soft- and hardware. This book is intended for students, scientists and engineers specializing in the field of smart electromechanical systems and robotics.

Electric Motors and Control Systems provides an overview of electric motor operation, selection, installation, and control and maintenance for a range of motor types and control systems. This edition presents the most up-to-date information, which reflects the current needs of the industry and includes coverage of how motors operate in conjunction with their associated control circuitry. Both older and newer motor technologies are examined. Topics covered include motor types, controls, installing and maintaining conventional controllers, electronic motor drives and programmable logic controllers. This broad-based approach taken, makes this text viable for a variety of motors and control systems courses. Content is suitable for colleges, technical institutions, vocational/technical schools, as well as apprenticeship and journeymen training. Electrical apprentices and journeymen will find this book to be invaluable as well as information on maintenance and troubleshooting techniques. Personnel involved in the motor maintenance and repair will find this book to be a useful reference text.

This book provides an insight into recent technological trends and innovations in mobility solutions and platforms to improve mobility of visually impaired people. The authors' goal is to help to contribute to the social and societal inclusion of the visually impaired. The book's topics include, but are not limited to, obstacle detection systems, indoor and outdoor navigation, transportation sustainability systems, and hardware/devices to aid visually impaired people. The book has a strong focus on practical applications, tested in a real environment. Applications include city halls, municipalities, and companies that can keep up to date with recent trends in platforms, methodologies and technologies to promote urban mobility. Also discussed are broader realms including education, health, electronics, tourism, and transportation. Contributors include a variety of researchers and practitioners around the world. Features practical, tested applications of technological mobility solutions for visual impaired people; Presents topics such as obstacle detection systems, urban mobility, smart home services, and ambient assisted living; Includes a number of application examples in education, health, electronics, tourism, and transportation.

This book presents advances in the field of optical networks - specifically on research and applications in elastic optical networks (EON). The material reflects the authors' extensive research and industrial activities and includes contributions from preeminent researchers and practitioners in optical networking. The authors discuss the new research and applications that address the issue of increased bandwidth demand due to disruptive, high bandwidth applications, e.g., video and cloud applications. The book also discusses issues with traffic not only increasing but becoming much more dynamic, both in time and direction, and posits immediate, medium, and long-term solutions throughout the text. The book is intended to provide a reference for network architecture and planning, communication systems, and control and management approaches that are expected to steer the evolution of EONs.

This book is devoted to theoretical methods used in the extreme circumstances of very strong electromagnetic fields. The development of high power lasers, ultrafast processes, manipulation of electromagnetic fields and the use of very fast charged particles interacting with other charges requires an adequate theoretical description. Because of the very strong electromagnetic field, traditional theoretical approaches, which have primarily a perturbative character, have to be replaced by descriptions going beyond them. In the book an extension of the semi-classical radiation theory and classical dynamics for particles is performed to analyze single charged atoms and dipoles submitted to electromagnetic pulses. Special attention is given to the important problem of field reaction and controlling dynamics of charges by an electromagnetic field.

This book describes methods to address wearout/aging degradations in electronic chips and systems, caused by several physical mechanisms at the device level. The authors introduce a novel technique called accelerated active self-healing, which fixes wearout issues by enabling accelerated recovery. Coverage includes recovery theory, experimental results, implementations and applications, across multiple nodes ranging from planar, FD-SOI to FinFET, based on both foundry provided models and predictive models. Presents novel techniques, tested with experiments on real hardware; Discusses circuit and system level wearout recovery implementations, many of these designs are portable and friendly to the standard design flow; Provides circuit-architecture-system infrastructures that enable the accelerated self-healing for future resilient systems; Discusses wearout issues at both transistor and interconnect level, providing solutions that apply to both; Includes coverage of resilient aspects of emerging applications such as IoT.

This book presents the state of the art in reinforcement learning applied to robotics both in terms of novel algorithms and applications. It discusses recent approaches that allow robots to learn motor.

skills and presents tasks that need to take into account the dynamic behavior of the robot and its environment, where a kinematic movement plan is not sufficient. The book illustrates a method that learns to generalize parameterized motor plans which is obtained by imitation or reinforcement learning, by adapting a small set of global parameters and appropriate kernel-based reinforcement learning algorithms. The presented applications explore highly dynamic tasks and exhibit a very efficient learning process. All proposed approaches have been extensively validated with benchmarks tasks, in simulation and on real robots. These tasks correspond to sports and games but the presented techniques are also applicable to more mundane household tasks. The book is based on the first author s doctoral thesis, which won the 2013 EURON Georges Giralt PhD Award."

In this monograph the authors solve the modern scientific problems connected with A.C. motors and generators, based first on the detailed consideration of their physical phenomena. The authors describe the theory and investigative methods they developed and applied in practice, which are considered to be of essential interest for specialists in the field of the electrical engineering industry in European countries, the USA, Argentina, and Brazil, as well as in such countries as India, China, and Iran. This book will be of interest to engineers specialized in the field of the manufacture, operation, and repair of A.C. machines (motors and generators) as well as electric drives; to professors, lecturers, and post-graduate students of technical universities, who are specializing in the field of electric machine engineering and electric drives; and to students who are engaged in the field of high current techniques, electric drives, and electric machine engineering.

This book provides a cohesive overview of the current technological advances in computational radiology, and their applications in orthopaedic interventions. Contributed by the leading researchers in the field, this volume covers not only basic computational radiology techniques such as statistical shape modeling, CT/MRI segmentation, augmented reality and micro-CT image processing, but also the applications of these techniques to various orthopaedic interventional tasks. Details about following important state-of-the-art development are featured: 3D preoperative planning and patient-specific instrumentation for surgical treatment of long-bone deformities, computer assisted diagnosis and planning of periacetabular osteotomy and femoroacetabular impingement, 2D-3D reconstruction-based planning of total hip arthroplasty, image fusion for computer-assisted bone tumor surgery, intra-operative three-dimensional imaging in fracture treatment, augmented reality based orthopaedic interventions and education, medical robotics for musculoskeletal surgery, inertial sensor-based cost-effective surgical navigation, and computer assisted hip resurfacing using patient-specific instrument guides. Edited and authored by leading researchers in the field, this work is an essential reference for biomedical engineers, computer scientists and orthopaedic surgeons to develop or use computational radiology approaches for orthopaedic surgery and interventions.

This book opens the door to a new interesting and ambitious world of reversible and quantum computing research. It presents the state of the art required to travel around that world safely. Top world universities, companies and government institutions are in a race of developing new methodologies, algorithms and circuits on reversible logic, quantum logic, reversible and quantum computing and nano-technologies. In this book, twelve reversible logic synthesis methodologies are presented for the first time in a single literature with some new proposals. Also, the sequential reversible logic circuitries are discussed for the first time in a book. Reversible logic plays an important role in quantum computing. Any progress in the domain of reversible logic can be directly applied to quantum logic. One of the goals of this book is to show the application of reversible logic in quantum computing. A new implementation of wavelet and multiwavelet transforms using quantum computing is performed for this purpose. Researchers in academia or industry and graduate students, who work in logic synthesis, quantum computing, nano-technology, and low power VLSI circuit design, will be interested in this book.

This thesis combines advanced femtosecond laser micro/nanofabrication technologies and frontier bionic design principles to prepare diverse biomimetic micro/nanostructures to realize their functions. By studying the formation mechanism of the micro/nanostructures, the author identifies various artificial structural colors, three-dimensional micro/nanocage arrays, and fish-scale inspired microcone arrays in different processing environments. Multiple functions such as enhanced antireflection, hydrophobicity, and underwater superoleophobicity are achieved by precisely adjusting laser-machining parameters. This novel design and method have extensive potential applications in the context of new colorizing technologies, microfluidics, microsensors, and biomedicine.

This thesis focuses on the fundamental problem of characterising partially coherent beams. The book describes several non-interferometric methods based on phase-space tomography for recovering the spatial coherence information of optical beams. In the context of optical beams, partially coherent light provides numerous advantages over coherent light. From microscopy to optical communications, there are many disciplines that benefit from using partially coherent beams. However, their range of applications currently remains limited due to the complexity of extracting information. In addition to providing a feasible experimental solution for the general case, the book explores several situations in which beam symmetries are exploited to simplify the information extraction process. Each characterisation method is accompanied by a corresponding theoretical explanation and a thorough description of experimental examples.

This book describes how the principle of self-sufficiency can be applied to a reconfigurable modular robotic organism. It shows the design considerations for a novel REPLICATOR robotic platform, both hardware and software, featuring the behavioral characteristics of social insect colonies. Following a comprehensive overview of some of the bio-inspired techniques already available, and of the state-of-the-art in re-configurable modular robotic systems, the book presents a novel power management system with fault-tolerant energy sharing, as well as its implementation in the REPLICATOR robotic modules. In addition, the book discusses, for the first time, the concept of "artificial energy homeostasis" in the context of a modular robotic organism, and shows its verification on a custom-designed simulation framework in different dynamic power distribution and fault tolerance scenarios. This book offers an ideal reference guide for both hardware engineers and software developers involved in the design and implementation of autonomous robotic systems.

This follow-up to the first volume presents an integrated survey of the most recent research, engineering development and commercial application of amorphous and microcrystalline semiconductor devices, with emphasis on materials properties and their relationship to performance. A complete guide to the past, present and future of these devices, and a reference on the state-of-the-art of amorphous and microcrystalline devices in modern large-area microelectronics.

This book discusses the challenges in the convergence of technologies as the Internet of Things (IoT) evolves. These include sensing, computing, information processing, networking, and controlling intelligent technologies. The contributors first provide a survey of various assessment and evaluation approaches available for successful convergence. They then go on to cover several operational ideas to apply. The contributors then discuss the challenges involved bridging gaps in computation and the communication process, hidden networks, intelligent decision making, human-to-machine perception and large-scale IoT environments. The contributors aim to provide the reader an overview of trends in IoT in terms of performability and traffic modeling and efforts that can be spent in assessing the graceful degradation in IoT paradigms. Provides a survey of IoT assessment and evaluation approaches; Covers new and innovative operational ideas that apply to the IoT industry and the industries it affects; Includes chapters from researchers and industry leaders in IoT from around the world.

Situated at the forefront of interdisciplinary research on ferromagnetic microwires and their multifunctional composites, this book starts with a comprehensive treatment of the processing, structure, properties and applications of magnetic microwires. Special emphasis is placed on the giant magnetoimpedance (GMI) effect, which forms the basis for developing high-performance magnetic sensors. After defining the key criteria for selecting microwires for various types of GMI sensors, the book illustrates how ferromagnetic microwires are employed as functional fillers to create a new class of composite materials with multiple functionalities for sensing and microwave applications. Readers are introduced to state-of-the-art fabrication methods, microwave tunable properties, microwave absorption and shielding behaviours, as well as the metamaterial characteristics of these newly developed ferromagnetic microwire composites. Lastly, potential engineering applications are proposed so as to highlight the most promising perspectives, current challenges and possible solutions.

This book is the first major work covering applications in thermal engineering and offering a comprehensive introduction to optimal control theory, which has applications in mechanical engineering, particularly aircraft and missile trajectory optimization. The book is organized in three parts: The first part includes a brief presentation of function optimization and variational calculus, while the second part presents a summary of the optimal control theory. Lastly, the third part describes several applications of optimal control theory in solving various thermal engineering problems. These applications are grouped in four sections: heat transfer and thermal energy storage, solar thermal engineering, heat engines and lubrication.Clearly presented and easy-to-use, it is a valuable resource for thermal engineers and thermal-system designers as well as postgraduate students.

3D Integration is being touted as the next semiconductor revolution. This book provides a comprehensive coverage on the design and modeling aspects of 3D integration, in particularly, focus on its electrical behavior. Looking from the perspective the Silicon Via (TSV) and Glass Via (TGV) technology, the book introduces 3DICs and Interposers as a technology, and presents its application in numerical modeling, signal integrity, power integrity and thermal integrity. The authors underscored the potential of this technology in design exchange formats and power distribution.

This is an open access book. This course-tested text is an ideal starting point for engineers and physicists entering the field of particle accelerators. The fundamentals are comprehensively introduced, derivations of essential results are provided and a consistent notation style used throughout the book allows readers to quickly familiarize themselves with the field, providing a solid theoretical basis for further studies. Emphasis is placed on the essential features of the longitudinal motion of charged particle beams, together with the corresponding RF generation and power amplification devices for synchrotron and storage ring systems. In particular, electrical engineering aspects such as closed-loop control of system components are discussed. The book also offers a valuable resource for graduate students in physics, electronics engineering, or mathematics looking for an introductory and self-contained text on accelerator physics.

This book covers the state of the art of laser micro- and nanotechnology. The physical fundamentals of different processes and the application are presented. The book deals with different materials like phase change and memory alloys, thin films, polymers etc. New phenomena and mechanisms of laser-matter interaction in nano-domains are explained. This book is helpful for students, postgraduates, engineers and researches working not only in the field of laser microtechnology but also in high-tech industry, like photonics, microelectronics, information technology.

An important resource for students, engineers and researchers working in the area of thin film deposition using "physical vapor deposition" (e.g. "sputtering") for semiconductor, liquid crystal displays, high density recording media and photovoltaic device (e.g. thin film solar cell) manufacturing. This book also reviews microelectronics industry topics such as history of inventions and technology trends, recent developments in sputtering technologies, manufacturing steps that require sputtering of thin films, the properties of thin films and the role of sputtering target performance on overall productivity of various processes. Two unique chapters of this book deal with productivity and troubleshooting issues.

The content of the book has been divided into two sections: (a) the "first section" (Chapter 1 to Chapter 3) has been prepared for the readers from a range of disciplines (e.g. electrical, chemical, chemistry, physics) trying to get an insight into use of sputtered films in various devices (e.g. semiconductor, display, photovoltaic, data storage), basic of sputtering and performance of sputtering target in relation to productivity, and (b) the "second section" (Chapter 4 to Chapter 8) has been prepared for readers who already have background knowledge of sputter deposition of thin films, materials science principles and interested in the details of sputtering target manufacturing methods, sputtering behavior and thin film properties specific to semiconductor, liquid crystal display, photovoltaic and magnetic data storage applications.

In Chapters 5 to 8, a general structure has been used, i.e. a description of the applications of sputtered thin films, sputtering target manufacturing methods (including flow charts), sputtering behavior of targets (e.g. current - voltage relationship, deposition rate) and thin film properties (e.g. microstructure, stresses, electrical properties, in-film particles). While discussing these topics, attempts have been made to include examples from the actual commercial processes to highlight the increased complexity of the commercial processes with the growth of advanced technologies. In addition to personnel working in industry setting, university researchers with advanced knowledge of sputtering would also find discussion of such topics (e.g. attributes of target design, chamber design, target microstructure, sputter surface characteristics, various troubleshooting issues) useful.

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Unique coverage of sputtering target manufacturing methods in the light of semiconductor, displays, data storage and photovoltaic industry requirementsPractical information on technology trends, role of sputtering and major OEMs Discussion on properties of a wide variety of thin films which include silicides, conductors, diffusion barriers, transparent conducting oxides, magnetic films etc.Practical case-studies on target performance and troubleshootingEssential technological information for students, engineers and scientists working in the semiconductor, display, data storage and photovoltaic industry

The book aims to describe the microscopic characterization of the soft matter in the light of new advances acquired in the science of microscopy techniques like AFM; SEM; TEM etc. It does not focus on the traditional information on the microscopy methods as well as systems already present in different books, but intends to answer more fundamental questions associated with commercially important systems by using new advances in microscopy. Such questions are generally not answered by other techniques. The contents of the book also reflect this as the chapters are not based on describing only material systems, but are based on the answering the problems or questions arising in their characterization. Both qualitative as well as quantitative analysis using such microscopic techniques is discussed. Moreover, efforts have been made to provide a broader reach as discussions on both polymers as well as biological matter have been included as different sections. Such a text with comprehensive overview of the various characterization possibilities using microscopy methods can serve as a valuable reference for microscopy experts as well as non-experts alike

Mechatronics, as the integrating framework of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer technology, control engineering and automation forms a crucial part in the design, manufacture and maintenance of a wide range of engineering products and processes. The mechatronics itself changes rapidly in last decade, from original mixture of subfields into original approach in engineering as a technical discipline. The book you are holding is aimed to help the reader to orient in this evolving field of science and technology.

"Mechatronics 2013: Recent Technological and Scientific Advances" is the fourth volume following the previous editions in 2007, 2009 and 2011, providing the comprehensive and accessible coverage of advances in mechatronics presented on the 10th International Conference Mechatronics 2013, hosted this year at the Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic.

The contributions, that passed the thorough review process, give an insight into current trends in research and development among Mechatronics 2013 contributing countries, with paper topics covering design and modeling of mechatronic systems, control and automation, signal processing, robotics and others, keeping in mind the innovation benefits of mechatronics design approach, leading to the development, production and daily use of machines and devices possessing a certain degree of computer based intelligence.

This thesis combines highly accurate optical spectroscopy data on the recently discovered iron-based high-temperature superconductors with an incisive theoretical analysis. Three outstanding results are reported: (1) The superconductivity-induced modification of the far-infrared conductivity of an iron arsenide with minimal chemical disorder is quantitatively described by means of a strong-coupling theory for spin fluctuation mediated Cooper pairing. The formalism developed in this thesis also describes prior spectroscopic data on more disordered compounds. (2) The same materials exhibit a sharp superconductivity-induced anomaly for photon energies around 2.5 eV, two orders of magnitude larger than the superconducting energy gap. The author provides a qualitative interpretation of this unprecedented observation, which is based on the multiband nature of the superconducting state. (3) The thesis also develops a comprehensive description of a superconducting, yet optically transparent iron chalcogenide compound. The author shows that this highly unusual behavior can be explained as a result of the nanoscopic coexistence of insulating and superconducting phases, and he uses a combination of two complementary experimental methods - scanning near-field optical microscopy and low-energy muon spin rotation - to directly image the phase coexistence and quantitatively determine the phase composition. These data have important implications for the interpretation of data from other experimental probes.