Supply Chain Management Under Fuzziness presents recently developed fuzzy models and techniques for supply chain management. These include: fuzzy PROMETHEE, fuzzy AHP, fuzzy ANP, fuzzy VIKOR, fuzzy DEMATEL, fuzzy clustering, fuzzy linear programming, and fuzzy inference systems. The book covers both practical applications and new developments concerning these methods. This book offers an excellent resource for researchers and practitioners in supply chain management and logistics, and will provide them with new suggestions and directions for future research. Moreover, it will support graduate students in their university courses, such as specialized courses on supply chains and logistics, as well as related courses in the fields of industrial engineering, engineering management and business administration.

Integrating formal property verification (FPV) into an existing design process raises several interesting questions. Have I written enough properties? Have I written a consistent set of properties? What should I do when the FPV tool runs into capacity issues? This book develops the answers to these questions and fits them into a roadmap for formal property verification - a roadmap that shows how to glue FPV technology into the traditional validation flow. A Roadmap for Formal Property Verification explores the key issues in this powerful technology through simple examples - you do not need any background on formal methods to read most parts of this book.

Meshfree Particle Methods is a comprehensive and systematic exposition of particle methods, meshfree Galerkin and partitition of unity methods, molecular dynamics methods, and multiscale methods. Most theories, computational formulations, and simulation results presented are recent developments in meshfree methods. They were either just published recently or even have not been published yet, many of them resulting from the authorsA own research. The presentation of the technical content is heuristic and explanatory with a balance between mathematical rigor and engineering practice. It can be used as a graduate textbook or a comprehensive source for researchers, providing the state of the art on Meshfree Particle Methods.

This book presents the latest findings on network theory and agent-based modeling of economic and financial phenomena. In this context, the economy is depicted as a complex system consisting of heterogeneous agents that interact through evolving networks; the aggregate behavior of the economy arises out of billions of small-scale interactions that take place via countless economic agents. The book focuses on analytical modeling, and on the econometric and statistical analysis of the properties emerging from microscopic interactions. In particular, it highlights the latest empirical and theoretical advances, helping readers understand economic and financial networks, as well as new work on modeling behavior using rich, agent-based frameworks. Innovatively, the book combines observational and theoretical insights in the form of networks and agent-based models, both of which have proved to be extremely valuable in understanding non-linear and evolving complex systems. Given its scope, the book will capture the interest of graduate students and researchers from various disciplines (e.g. economics, computer science, physics, and applied mathematics) whose work involves the domain of complexity theory.

When a new extraordinary and outstanding theory is stated, it has to face criticism and skeptism, because it is beyond the usual concept. The fractional calculus though not new, was not discussed or developed for a long time, particularly for lack of its application to real life problems. It is extraordinary because it does not deal with 'ordinary' differential calculus. It is outstanding because it can now be applied to situations where existing theories fail to give satisfactory results. In this book not only mathematical abstractions are discussed in a lucid manner, with physical mathematical and geometrical explanations, but also several practical applications are given particularly for system identification, description and then efficient controls.

The normal physical laws like, transport theory, electrodynamics, equation of motions, elasticity, viscosity, and several others of are based on 'ordinary' calculus. In this book these physical laws are generalized in fractional calculus contexts; taking, heterogeneity effect in transport background, the space having traps or islands, irregular distribution of charges, non-ideal spring with mass connected to a pointless-mass ball, material behaving with viscous as well as elastic properties, system relaxation with and without memory, physics of random delay in computer network; and several others; mapping the reality of nature closely. The concept of fractional and complex order differentiation and integration are elaborated mathematically, physically and geometrically with examples. The practical utility of local fractional differentiation for enhancing the character of singularity at phase transition or characterizing the irregularity measure of response function is deliberated. Practical results of viscoelastic experiments, fractional order controls experiments, design of fractional controller and practical circuit synthesis for fractional order elements are elaborated in this book. The book also maps theory of classical integer order differential equations to fractional calculus contexts, and deals in details with conflicting and demanding initialization issues, required in classical techniques. The book presents a modern approach to solve the 'solvable' system of fractional and other differential equations, linear, non-linear; without perturbation or transformations, but by applying physical principle of action-and-opposite-reaction, giving 'approximately exact' series solutions.

Historically, Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wihelm Leibniz independently discovered calculus in the middle of the 17th century. In recognition to this remarkable discovery, J.von Neumann remarked, ..".the calculus was the first achievement of modern mathematics and it is difficult to overestimate its importance. I think it defines more equivocally than anything else the inception of modern mathematical analysis which is logical development, still constitute the greatest technical advance in exact thinking."

This XXI century has thus started to 'think-exactly' for advancement in science & technology by growing application of fractional calculus, and this century has started speaking the language which nature understands the best."

Lecturers and researchers in the areas of industrial engineering, quality management and business development, and middle and higher management in business or technology- oriented positions, will find this book invaluable.

"This book contains overviews on technologically important classes of glasses, their treatment to achieve desired properties, theoretical approaches for the description of structure-property relationships, and new concepts in the theoretical treatment of crystallization in glass-forming systems. It contains overviews about the state of the art and about specific features for the analysis and application of important classes of glass-forming systems, and describes new developments in theoretical interpretation by well-known glass scientists. Thus, the book offers comprehensive and abundant information that is difficult to come by or has not yet been made public." Edgar Dutra Zanotto (Center for Research, Technology and Education in Vitreous Materials, Brazil) Glass, written by a team of renowned researchers and experienced book authors in the field, presents general features of glasses and glass transitions. Different classes of glassforming systems, such as silicate glasses, metallic glasses, and polymers, are exemplified. In addition, the wide field of phase formation processes and their effect on glasses and their properties is studied both from a theoretical and experimental point of view.

This book contains a collection of contributions related to the design and control of material flow systems in manufacturing. Material flow systems in manufacturing covers a broad spectrum of topics directly affecting issues related to facilities design, material handling and production planning and control. In selecting the papers to include in this book, the scope was limited to the design and operational control aspects related to the physical move ment of parts, tools, containers and material handling devices. Recent develop ments in this area naturally led to concentration on flow systems involving cellular manufacturing, and automated transport equipment such as automated guided vehicles. However, the concepts discussed have general applicability to a wide range of manufacturing flow problems. The book is organized in five major sections: 1. design integration and justification; 2. cell design and material handling considerations; 3. alternative material flow paths; 4. operational control problems; and 5. tooling requirements and transport equipment."

This book provides an introduction to the Human Centred Design of autonomous vehicles for professionals and students. While rapid progress is being made in the field of autonomous road vehicles the majority of actions and the research address the technical challenges, with little attention to the physical, perceptual, cognitive and emotional needs of humans. This book fills a gap in the knowledge by providing an easily understandable introduction to the needs and desires of people in relation to autonomous vehicles. The book is "human centred design" led, adding an important human perspective to the primarily technology-driven debates about autonomous vehicles. It combines knowledge from fields ranging from linguistics to electrical engineering to provide a holistic, multidisciplinary overview of the issues affecting the interactions between autonomous vehicles and people. It emphasises the constraints and requirements that a human centred perspective necessitates, giving balanced information about the potential conflicts between technical and human factors. The book provides a helpful introduction to the field of design ethics, to enhance the reader's awareness and understanding of the multiple ethical issues involved in autonomous vehicle design. Written as an accessible guide for design practitioners and students, this will be a key read for those interested in the psychological, sociological and ethical factors involved in automotive design, human centred design, industrial design and technology.

In the ten years since the scientific rationale for the design, synthesis and application of inorganic and organometallic polymers (IOPs) was first conceptualised, we have witnessed the first tentative exploration of IOPs as precursors to new materials, with efforts focusing on the design and synthesis of novel ceramic precursors. Developing expertise led to precursor studies combined with the characterisation of the transformation processes that occur when IOPs are converted to ceramic materials. Now at maturity, the science presented in this volume reveals the polymer precursor approach to materials synthesis together with examples of processing ceramic shapes for a range of mechanical properties, the development of sophisticated, noninvasive analytical techniques, and IOP design rationales relying on well-defined processing-property relationships. The production of multifunctional IOPs is described, providing ion conductivity, gas sensing, bioactivity, magnetic properties, etc., combined with processability. The existence of well-defined IOPs and the exquisite control that can be exerted on sol-gel systems now provide access to such a variety of mixed organic-organometallic and/or inorganic hybrid systems that their exploitation is likely to develop into an entirely new field of materials chemistry. Future exciting avenues of research are also being opened up with the advent of buckyballs, Met-Cars, dopable preceramics, rigid-rod organometallics, and molecular tinkertoys.

This book focuses on the behavioral and personality areas that can be used to strengthen one's skills and to make wise decisions about when and how to lead. It was written for the working professional who wants to learn what he or she can do by working with their personality to become more satisfied with and masterful in their leadership roles. Good leaders have learned to succeed over time by acquiring the needed range of personal skills, much like one learns a second language. Geared for entry and mid-term leaders, this book is an empirically based training guide to acquire knowledge and implement a plan to help increase one's leadership skills. Within the framework of 10 chapters, this book: * promotes a shared recognition of the role that personality plays in leadership by reviewing a case study of representative leadership situation that both identifies familiar personal struggles and organizational changes; * offers a way of thinking about how personality in general and the Big 5 in particular fills in the gaps and connects the pieces when it comes to how people become effective leaders; * illustrates how--within the Big 5 framework--to use the 2nd language approach to leverage natural personality strengths and manage weaknesses in an effort to build greater leadership effectiveness; * makes available 2nd language tools including effective intervention strategies and goal setting techniques based on enabling philosophies to understand what makes this approach accessible and practical to use; and * reassures that most leadership failures are reversible and that through using the 2nd language approach, these inevitable and sometimes necessary setbacks afford clarity about how to use your style to the best advantage.

In today's business environment, reliability and maintenance drastically affect the three key elements of competitiveness - quality, cost, and product lead time. Well-maintained machines hold tolerances better, help reduce scrap and rework, and raise consistency and quality of the part in addition to cutting total production costs. Today, many factories are still performing maintenance on equipment in a reactive manner due to a lack of understanding about machine performance behaviour. To improve production efficiency, computer-aided maintenance and diagnostic methodology must be applied effectively in manufacturing. This book focuses on the fundamental principles of predictive maintenance and diagnostic engineering. In addition to covering the relevant theory, techniques and methodologies in maintenance engineering, the book also provides numerous case studies and examples illustrating the successful application of the principles and techniques outlined.

Traditionally, tapping into the power of competitive intelligence (CI) meant investing in the development of an internal CI unit or hiring outside consultants who specialized in CI. "Proactive Intelligence: The Successful Executive's Guide to Intelligence" offers an alternative: learn how to do it yourself and how to effectively manage the parts you cannot. The tools and techniques that will enable you to produce your own CI for your consumption are out there, and have been honed by decades of work. But, you cannot just adopt them - you have to adapt them.

Why? Because, when you finish reading this book, you will be the data collector, the analyst, and the end-user. Traditional CI is premised on a reactive, two part relationship - a CI professional responding to what an end-user identifies as a need; by doing this yourself you can turn CI from being reactive to being proactive. As the decision-maker, you can get what CI you need, when you need it, and then use it almost seamlessly. Written by two of the foremost experts on CI, Proactive "Intelligence: The Successful Executive's Guide to Intelligence"

shows where and how CI can help you and your firm,

provides practical guidance on how to identify what CI you need, how to find the data you need, and how to analyze it, and

discusses how to apply CI to develop competitive- and career- advantages.

Each chapter is supported by important references as well as by an additional list of resources to support and supplement your knowledge. "Proactive Intelligence: The Successful Executive's Guide to Intelligence" teaches you how to generate proactive intelligence and use it to advance your business and your career- making it an essential resource for managers and executives, as well as everyonewho wishes to integrate CI into their daily work routine."

The Boundary Element Method sets out a simple, efficient and cost effective computational technique which provides numerical solutions -- for objects of any shape -- for a wide range of scientific and engineering problems. The Boundary Element Method provides a complete approach to formulating boundary integral equations for scientific and engineering problems and solving them numerically using an element approximation. Only a knowledge of elementary calculus is required, since the text begins by relating familiar differential equations to integral equations and then moves on to the simple solution of integral equations. From this starting point, the mathematics of formulation and numerical approximation are developed progressively with every mathematical step being provided. Particular attention is paid to the problem of accurate evaluation of singular integrands and to the use of increasing levels of accuracy provided by constant, linear and quadratic approximations. This enables a full solution to be given for both two dimensional and three dimensional potential problems and finally, for the two dimensional elastostatics problem. The Boundary Element Method develops the mathematics of the text progressively both within chapters and from chapter to chapter. It is a self-contained, step by step, exposition of the boundary element method, leading to its application to the key problem of elastostatics. The Boundary Element Method may be used as a standard introductory reference text for the mathematics of this method and is ideal for final year undergraduate study as well as for postgraduates, scientists and engineers new to the subject. Worked examples and exercises are providedthroughout the text.

A Perspective on Two Decades of Rapid Modeling It is an honor for me to be asked to write a foreword to the Proceedings of the 1st Rapid Modeling Conference. In 1987, when I coined the term "Rapid Modeling" to denote queuing modeling of manufacturing systems, I never imagined that two decades later there would be an international conference devoted to this topic I am delighted to see that there will be around 40 presentations at the conference by leading researchers from aroundthe world, and about half of these presentationsare represented by written papers published in this book. I congratulate the conference organizers and program committee on the success of their efforts to hold the ?rst ever conference on Rapid Modeling. Attendees at this conferencemight?nd it interesting to learn about the history of the term Rapid Modeling in the context it is used here. During the fall of 1986 I was invited to a meeting at the Headquarters of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) in Dearborn, Michigan. By that time I had successfully demonstrated s- eral industry applications of queuing network models at leading manufacturers in the USA. Although in principle the use of queuing networks to model manufact- ing systems was well known in the OR/MS community and many papers had been published, the actual use of suchmodelsby manufacturingprofessionalswas almost nonexistent.

This monograph is intended for scientists and TCAD engineers who are interested in physics-based simulation of Si and SiGe devices. The common theoretical background of the drift-diffusion, hydrodynamic, and Monte-Carlo models and their synergy are discussed and it is shown how these models form a consistent hierarchy of simulation tools. The basis of this hierarchy is the full-band Monte-Carlo device model which is discussed in detail, including its numerical and stochastic properties. The drift-diffusion and hydrodynamic models for large-signal, small-signal, and noise analysis are derived from the Boltzmann transport equation in such a way that all transport and noise parameters can be obtained by Monte-Carlo simulations. With this hierarchy of simulation tools the device characteristics of strained Si MOSFETs and SiGe HBTs are analysed and the accuracy of the momentum-based models is assessed by comparison with the Monte-Carlo device simulator.

Operational information management is at a crossroads as it sheds the remaining vestiges of its paper-based processes and moves through the uncharted domain of electronic data processes. The final outcome is not yet in full focus, but real progress has been made in the transition to electronic documents providing the aviation industry with a clear direction. This book looks at a combination of industry initiatives and airline successes that point to the next steps that operators can take as they transition to fully integrated information management systems. Although the route has not been fully identified, it is evident that a key to successful long-term efficient information management is industry-wide cooperation. The chapters are authored by a range of experts in operational information management, and collectively, they outline ways that operators can improve efficiency across flight, ground and maintenance operations. Considerations and recommendations are identified and presented addressing the following priorities: Safety-critical information and procedures Human factors Information security Operational information standardization. The readership includes: Airline flight operations managers and standards personnel, Airline operating documents and publication specialists, Airline information managers, Commercial pilots, Airline maintenance managers and personnel, Manufacturers and vendors of aviation products, Aviation regulators and policy makers, Aviation researchers and developers of information technologies, and Military technical publications specialists.

The rapid evolution and explosive growth of integrated circuit technology have impacted society more than any other technological development of the 20th century. Integrated circuits (ICs) are used universally and the expanding use of IC technology requires more accurate circuit analysis methods and tools, prompting the introduction of computers into the design process. The goal of this book is to build a firm foundation in the use of computer-assisted techniques for IC device and process design. Both practical and analytical viewpoints are stressed to give the reader the background necessary to appreciate CAD tools and to feel comfortable with their use. Technology CAD - Computer Simulation of IC Processes and Devices presents a unified discourse on process and device CAD as interrelated subjects, building on a wide range of experiences and applications of the SUPREM program. Chapter 1 focuses on the motivation for coupled process and device CAD. In Chapter 2 SUPREM III is introduced, and process CAD is discussed in terms of ion-implantation, impurity diffusion, and oxidation models. Chapter 3 introduces the Stanford device analysis program SEDAN III (SEmiconductor Device ANalysis). The next three chapters move into greater detail concerning device operating principles and analysis techniques. Chapter 4 reviews the classical formulation of pn junction theory and uses device analysis (SEDAN) both to evaluate some of the classical assumptions and to investigate the difficult problem of high level injection. Chapter 5 returns to MOS devices, reviews the first-order MOS theory, and introduces some important second-order effects. Chapter 6 considers the bipolar transistor. Chapter 7considers the application of process simulation and device analysis to technology design. The BiCMOS process is selected as a useful design vehicle for two reasons. First, it allows the reader to pull together concepts from the entire book. Second, the inherent nature of BiCMOS technology offers real constraints and hence trade-offs which must be understood and accounted for.