This book discusses dynamic modeling, simulation, and control strategies for Photovoltaic (PV) stand-alone systems during variation of environmental conditions. Moreover, the effectiveness of the implemented Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) techniques and the employed control strategy are evaluated during variations of solar irradiance and cell temperature. The simulation results are based on the reliability of the MPPT techniques applied in extracting the maximum power from the PV system during the rapid variation of the environmental conditions. The authors review two MPPT techniques implemented in PV systems, namely the perturb and observe (P&O) MPPT Technique and the Incremental Conductance (InCond) MPPT technique. These two MPPT techniques were simulated by the MATLAB/Simulink and the results response of the PV array from voltage, current, and power are compared to the effect of solar irradiation and temperature change.

This book explores categories of applications and driving factors surrounding the Smart City phenomenon. The contributing authors provide perspective on the Smart Cities, covering numerous applications and classes of applications. The book uses a top-down exploration of the driving factors in Smart Cities, by including focal areas including "Smart Healthcare," "Public Safety & Policy Issues," and "Science, Technology, & Innovation." Contributors have direct and substantive experience with important aspects of Smart Cities and discuss issues with technologies & standards, roadblocks to implementation, innovations that create new opportunities, and other factors relevant to emerging Smart City infrastructures. Features an exploration of Smart City issues and solutions from a variety of stakeholders in the evolving field Presents conversational, nuanced, and forward thinking perspectives on Smart Cities, their implications, limitations, obstacles, and opportunities Includes contributions from industry insiders who have direct, relevant experience with their respective subjects as well as positioning and corporate stature

The development of nuclear weapons by the Manhattan Project during World War II was one of the most dramatic scientific/technological episodes in human history. This book, prepared by a recognized expert on the Manhattan Project, offers a concise survey of the essential physics concepts underlying fission weapons. The text describes the energetics and timescales of fast-neutron chain reactions, why only certain isotopes of uranium and plutonium are suitable for use in fission weapons, how critical mass and bomb yield can be estimated, how the efficiency of nuclear weapons can be enhanced, how the fissile forms of uranium and plutonium were obtained, some of the design details of the 'Little Boy' and 'Fat Man' bombs, and some of the thermal, shock, and radiation effects of nuclear weapons. Calculation exercises are provided, and a Bibliography lists authoritative print and online sources of information for readers who wish to pursue more detailed study of this fascinating topic.

The energy sector continues to receive increased attention from both consumers and producers due to its impact on all aspects of life. Electrical energy especially has become more in demand because of the delivery of the service to a large percentage of consumers in addition to the progress and increase of industrial production. It is thus necessary to find advanced systems capable of transferring huge amounts of electrical energy efficiently and safely. Nanotechnology aims to develop new types of atomic electronics that adopt quantum mechanics and the movement of individual particles to produce equipment faster and smaller and solve problems attributed to the electrical engineering field. Emerging Nanotechnology Applications in Electrical Engineering contains innovative research on the methods and applications of nanoparticles in electrical engineering. This book discusses the wide array of uses nanoparticles have within electrical engineering and the diverse electric and magnetic properties that nanomaterials help make prevalent. While highlighting topics including electrical applications, magnetic applications, and electronic applications, this book is ideally designed for researchers, engineers, industry professionals, practitioners, scientists, managers, manufacturers, analysts, students, and educators seeking current research on nanotechnology in electrical, electronic, and industrial applications.

Residential buildings consume about a quarter of all energy (including electrical and thermal) in industrialized countries and emit around 20% of the carbon emissions there. Older and outdated heating and cooling technology causes high energy demand and, depending on building type, secondary causes can include ventilation and lighting. Technology is available to mitigate high energy consumption, and to enable the use of renewable or environmentally friendly energy, partly generated locally. This book, written by international experts from academia as well as industry, compiles and describes several key technologies available to reduce a residential building's energy consumption. Key themes include local energy generation, such as the use of sunlight to reduce heating needs, and photovoltaics for electricity. Case studies are included in most chapters to provide real-world context for the technologies described.

The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is the foundation architecture for the next generation of mobile phones, wireless-enabled PDAs, PCs, and so on, delivering multimedia content (audio, video, text, etc.) over all types of networks. It is essential for network engineers/administrators and telecommunications engineers to not only understand IMS architecture but to also be able to apply it at every stage of the network design process. This book will contain pragmatic information on how to engineer IMS networks as well as an applications oriented approach, for engineering and networking professionals who are responsible for making IMS "play" in the real world.
* Describes the convergence of wireless IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) with other networks, including wireline and cable
* Discusses building interfaces for end users and IMS applications servers
* Explores network management issues with IMS

The pressing need for a smarter and greener grid is obvious, but how this goal should be achieved is much less clear. This book clearly defines the environmental promise of the smart grid and describes the policies necessary for fully achieving the environmental benefits of the digital energy revolution. The United States' electrical grid is an antique. It was built to serve a 20th-century economy and designed in an era when the negative environmental impacts of electricity production were poorly understood. It must be upgraded and modernized. The proposed solution is a "smart grid"-a network of new digital technologies, equipment, and controls that can respond quickly to the public's changing energy needs by facilitating two-way communication between the utility and consumers. This book explains the environmental benefit of a smart grid, examines case studies of existing smart grids, and identifies the legal and regulatory policy hurdles that must be overcome to fully realize the smart grid's benefits. Based on six diverse organizations' experience as "early adopters" in the digital energy revolution, the authors explore how a smart electric grid offers real promise for supercharging energy efficiency, democratizing demand response, electrifying transportation, preparing for ubiquitous distributed clean energy technologies, and automating the distribution system. Against the backdrop of climate change and continuing economic uncertainty, setting a path for environmental improvement and upgrading our electric grid with new digital technologies and associated smart policies is more critical than ever before. Deciphers the muddled "information" from industry leaders and policymakers about 21st-century energy technology, enabling readers to understand how a smart grid can be a cost-effective tool to benefit the climate Provides detailed information from case studies of six early smart grid leaders to showcase the strengths and weaknesses of these programs Identifies the legal and regulatory challenges that could prevent the successful implementation of a smart electric grid, making it clear that the issues are not purely technological Serves ideally as a primary text for courses on smart grid technology and policy as well as a resource for graduate-level research for energy policy or climate change policy courses

Whether it's called "fixed equipment" (at ExxonMobil), "stationary equipment" (at Shell), or "static equipment" (in Europe), this type of equipment is the bread and butter of any process plant. Used in the petrochemical industry, pharmaceutical industry, food processing industry, paper industry, and the manufacturing process industries, stationary equipment must be kept operational and reliable for companies to maintain production and for employees to be safe from accidents. This series, the most comprehensive of its kind, uses real-life examples and time-tested rules of thumb to guide the mechanical engineer through issues of reliability and fitness-for-service.
This volume on piping and pipeline assessment is the only handbook that the mechanical or pipeline engineer needs to assess pipes and pipelines for reliability and fitness-for-service.
* Provides essential insight to make informed decisions on when to run, alter, repair, monitor, or replace equipment
* How to perform these type of assessments and calculations on pipelines is a 'hot' issue in the petrochemical industry at this time
* There is very little information on the market right now for pipers and pipeliners with regard to pipe and pipeline fitness-for-service

Power Line Communication (PLC) is a well-established technology that allows the transmission of data through electrical wires. A key advantage of PLC is its low cost of deployment when the electrical wiring infrastructure already exists, enabling it to compete or work in conjunction with wireless technologies. PLC has recently received growing attention and significant investments within the development of the Smart Grid (SG), that in turn requires sophisticated data exchange and communication. This book presents a comprehensive introduction to the principals involved in the use of narrowband and broadband PLC technologies in the SG, and to using these technologies particularly when intermittent renewable energies sources are employed. Chapters cover fundamental concepts of modern digital communications, the main coding techniques, specific characteristics of the PLC channels, the fundamentals of the SG, and the differences between the narrowband and broadband technologies for SG applications. The work covers the main standards and several related state-of-the-art works, as well as some key aspects of the use of renewable energy sources. Power Line Communication Systems for Smart Grids is essential reading for researchers, professionals and graduate students involved with the study and development of PLC systems, SG and related subjects.

This book presents the design and development of an Internet of Things (IoT) enabled, smart sensor to detect nitrate contamination in natural water. It considers three different sensors designed, fabricated and configured for nitrate detection: a Graphite/PDMS and Si-based MEMS sensors, and aFR4-based sensor. It also introduces a selective polymer material developed by means of the ion imprinting polymerization technique that was used as a coating on the Si-based MEMS sensor. Further, the book discusses the development of a smart sensing system that can be used to remotely monitor the nitrate concentration in any water. Fully explaining all the techniques used, the book is of interest to engineers, researchers and scientists working in the field of the water-quality measurement.

Tanja Schultz and Katrin Kirchhoff have compiled a comprehensive overview of speech processing from a multilingual perspective. By taking this all-inclusive approach to speech processing, the editors have included theories, algorithms, and techniques that are required to support spoken input and output in a large variety of languages. This book presents a comprehensive introduction to research problems and solutions, both from a theoretical as well as a practical perspective, and highlights technology that incorporates the increasing necessity for multilingual applications in our global community.
Current challenges of speech processing and the feasibility of sharing data and system components across different languages guide contributors in their discussions of trends, prognoses and open research issues. This includes automatic speech recognition and speech synthesis, but also speech-to-speech translation, dialog systems, automatic language identification, and handling non-native speech. The book is complemented by an overview of multilingual resources, important research trends, and actual speech processing systems that are being deployed in multilingual human-human and human-machine interfaces.
Researchers and developers in industry and academia with different backgrounds but a common interest in multilingual speech processing will find an excellent overview of research problems and solutions detailed from theoretical and practical perspectives.
* State-of-the-art research with a global perspective by authors from the USA, Asia, Europe, and South Africa
* The only comprehensive introduction to multilingual speech processing currently available
* Detailed presentation of technological advances integral to security, financial, cellular and commercial applications

As systems being developed by industry and government grow larger and more complex, the need for superior specification and verification approaches and tools becomes increasingly vital. The developer and customer must have complete confidence that the design produced is correct, and that it meets forma development and verification standards. In this text, UML expert author Dr. Doron Drusinsky compiles all the latest information on the application of UML (Universal Modeling Language) statecharts, temporal logic, automata, and other advanced tools for run-time monitoring and verification. This is the first book that deals specifically with UML verification techniques. This important information is introduced within the context of real-life examples and solutions, particularly focusing on national defense applications. A practical text, as opposed to a high-level theoretical one, it emphasizes getting the system developer up-to-speed on using the tools necessary for daily practice.
. A practical, tutorial-style text (other books on this topic discuss the tools and formalisms only theoretically)
. Includes an unclassified case study example from the U.S. Missile Defense project
.Accompanying Companion website includes source code and re-useable statechart templates"

Research on nanotechnology has mainly focused on the aspects of synthesis of nanomaterials that have unique chemical, thermal, and mechanical properties applicable to a wide range of applications. A variety of properties and phenomena have been investigated, and many of the studies have been directed toward understanding the properties and applications of nanomaterials. Nanomaterials have properties that are useful for enhancing surface-to-volume ratio, reactivity, strength, and durability. Due to their enhanced chemical and mechanical properties, the nanomaterials play promising roles in enhancing the desulfurization. Nanocomposites for the Desulfurization of Fuels is an essential reference source that discusses the synthesis, properties, and technological developments of nanomaterials and their applications in petroleum. Featuring research on topics such as hybrid materials, catalytic properties, and environmental concerns, this book is ideally designed for chemical engineers, scientists, researchers, academicians, and students in fields that include chemistry, petroleum, materials science, physics, and engineering.