This book offers a comprehensive, easy to understand guide for startup entities and developing companies, providing insight on the various sources of funding that are available, how these funding sources are useful at each stage of a company's development, and offers a comprehensive intellectual property strategy that parallels each stage of development. The IP strategies offered in this book take into consideration the goals that most startups and companies have at each stage of development, as well as the limitations that exist at each stage (i.e., limited available resources earmarked for intellectual property asset development), and provides solutions that startups and companies can implement to maximize their return on intellectual property investments. This book also includes a number of descriptive examples, case studies and scenarios to illustrate the topics discussed, and is intended for use by startups and companies across all industries. Readers will garner an appreciation for the value that intellectual property rights provide to a startup entity or company and will gain an understanding of the types of intellectual property rights that are available to companies and how to procure, utilize and monetize those intellectual property rights to help their company grow.

A comprehensive treatment of model-based fuzzy control systems

This volume offers full coverage of the systematic framework for the stability and design of nonlinear fuzzy control systems. Building on the Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model, authors Tanaka and Wang address a number of important issues in fuzzy control systems, including stability analysis, systematic design procedures, incorporation of performance specifications, numerical implementations, and practical applications.

Issues that have not been fully treated in existing texts, such as stability analysis, systematic design, and performance analysis, are crucial to the validity and applicability of fuzzy control methodology. Fuzzy Control Systems Design and Analysis addresses these issues in the framework of parallel distributed compensation, a controller structure devised in accordance with the fuzzy model.

This balanced treatment features an overview of fuzzy control, modeling, and stability analysis, as well as a section on the use of linear matrix inequalities (LMI) as an approach to fuzzy design and control. It also covers advanced topics in model-based fuzzy control systems, including modeling and control of chaotic systems. Later sections offer practical examples in the form of detailed theoretical and experimental studies of fuzzy control in robotic systems and a discussion of future directions in the field.

Fuzzy Control Systems Design and Analysis offers an advanced treatment of fuzzy control that makes a useful reference for researchers and a reliable text for advanced graduate students in the field.

The book presents current research progress on hydrogen storage alloys, with a special focus on their applications in batteries. Background, formation mechanisms, electrochemical characteristics, and effects of elemental substitution are covered. Provides an up-to-date overview of the theme for experienced researchers, while including enough fundamentals to serve as a handy, practical introduction for newcomers to the field.

These proceedings contain research papers presented at the 5th International Conference on Dynamics in Logistics, held in Bremen, Germany, February 2016. The conference is concerned with dynamic aspects of logistic processes and networks. The spectrum of topics reaches from modeling, planning and control of processes over supply chain management and maritime logistics to innovative technologies and robotic applications for cyber-physical production and logistic systems. The growing dynamic confronts the area of logistics with completely new challenges: it must become possible to describe, identify and analyze the process changes. Moreover, logistic processes and networks must be redevised to be rapidly and flexibly adaptable to continuously changing conditions. The book primarily addresses researchers and practitioners from the field of industrial engineering and logistics, but it may also be beneficial for graduate students.

How to Use This Book The primary purpose of this book is to assist small companies, involved in both hardware and software, to devise and evolve their own quality systems. There are a number of national and now international standards which outline the activities for which procedures and records need to be specified. They are described and compared in Chapter 2, and the subsequent guidance in the book is intended to assist in meeting them. Although, at first sight, the operations of a hardware equipment developer may seem very different from those of a software house, the basic requirements of a quality system, such as the BS 5750 and ISO 1987 series of documents, are the same. For this reason the same standard can be called for in both areas and it will be seen, in Part 2, that suitable procedures can be derived to meet both types of operation. Quality standards (BS 5750, AQAP, ISO 9000 series) distinguish between companies carrying out, on the one hand, both design and manufacturing fixed functions and, on the other hand, those who only manufacture to specifications. In practice, the lesser requirements (those applying to manufacture to fixed specifications) are common to both levels of standard and the additional controls pertaining to design are added to obtain the higher standard. Chapter 2 explains the differences in detail.

The focal main objective of the book is to constitute a meaningful linkage among research problems, geoinformation methods and corresponding applications. The research goals, related both to theoretical and practical issues, derive from multidisciplinary fields such as archaeology, history, geography, landscape planning, environment, geoinformation science, geology and geomorphology. All the aforementioned scientific areas have the spatial dimension in common, i.e. the vast amount of spatially referenced data. Their research issues can be addressed and analysed with geoinformation technology; though, the researchers should get familiar to the range of available geoinformation methods. The book provides description of a variety of research problems issues and technological ?solutions?approaches that can be used to support processes of data capturing, mapping and analysis. These techniques and concepts are illustrated on numerous practical examples. along with specific examples, where these have been applied. The current structure of the book includes the following four chapters: introduction, data capturing and mapping, analysis and modelling, and study cases. In the following we provide a more detailed content of each chapter listing the main topics included within the selected articles.

Introducing engineering students to numerical analysis and computing, this book covers a range of topics suitable for the first three years of a four year undergraduate engineering degree. The teaching of computing to engineers is hampered by the lack of suitable problems for the students to tackle, so much effort has gone into making the problems in this book realistic and relevant, while at the same time solvable for undergraduates.

Taking a balanced approach to teaching computing and computer methods at the same time, this book satisfies the need to be able to use computers (using both formal languages such as Fortran and other applications such as Matlab and Microsoft Excel), and the need to be able to solve realistic engineering problems.

The transfer function approach is widely used in classical control theory for its easy handling and physical meaning. Although the use of transfer functions is well-established for linear time-invariant systems, it is not suitable for non-stationary systems among which are sampled-data systems and processes with periodically varying coefficients. Computer-controlled continuous-time processes are a very important subset of periodic sampled-data systems which are not treatable using ordinary transfer functions.

Having established the ability of the parametric transfer function to solve this problem for single-input, single-output systems in previous work, the authors extend these methods, which incorporate time-dependence, to the idea of the parametric transfer matrix in a complete exposition of analysis and design methods for multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) sampled-data systems.

Multivariable Computer-controlled Systems is divided into three parts:

• Preliminary algebraic material describing the established fundamentals of polynomial and rational matrices necessary for the understanding of later chapters.
• Control problems, important in their own right but which also have a substantial bearing on what follows (eigenvalue assignment and the use of z- and zeta-transforms in discrete systems).
• Frequency methods for the investigation of MIMO sampled-data systems (parametric discrete-time models; stability; stochastic methods; H2 optimization and L2 design).

Appendices covering basic mathematical formulae and the description of two MATLABA(R) toolboxes round out this self-contained guide to multivariable control systems.

Of specialinterest to researchers in automatic control and to development engineers working with advanced control technology, Multivariable Computer-controlled Systems will also interest mathematical control theorists and graduate students studying advanced methods of computer-based control.

This is an edited collection of peer-reviewed papers presented at the Ninth International Conference of the Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry. Defined as the relationship between human body structure and function, kinanthropometry is an area of growing interest, and these proceedings will be of use to students, academics and professionals in the areas of ergonomics, sports science, nutrition, health, and other allied fields. The assembled works represent the latest research findings across kinanthropometry, moving the discipline forward and promoting good practice and the exchange of expertise.

In this book strategies for using very soft organic clay as a fill material for road embankment constructions are compared, and an optimisation scheme is presented. Computer programs for simulation of evaporative drying, for simulation of consolidation, and for slope stability calculation were used to analyse clay behaviour. Field and laboratory testing programs for a trial embankment were set up in order to study the relations of parameters, to examine suitability and workability of the clay, and to verify the improvement methods. An optimisation technique was applied as a rational method for using very soft organic clay for road embankments leading to an economic construction. Also recommendations are presented based on a rational method for conditioning and emplacing very soft organic clay in a safe and economic way.

Internationally, significant attention is given to transport sustainability including planning, design, construction, evaluation, safety and durability of the road system. The 4th International Gulf Conference on Roads: Efficient Transportation and Pavement Systems - Characterization, Mechanisms, Simulation, and Modeling, hosted by the University of Qatar, November 2008, provided a forum for discussions of recent developments and research results and needs on transportation network optimization, traffic management, transportation safety, and pavement design, analysis, material characterization, modeling, and rehabilitation techniques. This book is a collection of 79 fully refereed papers and six keynote lectures from the conference, and includes contributions on a variety of topics:

• Highway Design and Transportation Planning
• Transportation Network and Management System
• Traffic Characteristics and Analysis
• Traffic and Transit Signal Control
• Traffic Simulation, Safety, and Management
• Advances in Road Safety Engineering
• Road Accident Analysis and Prediction
• Work Zone Lane Closures and Dynamic Merging
• Flexible Pavement Design, Analysis, and Evaluation
• Pavement Maintenance and Management
• Binder and Emulsion Characterization - Effect of Binder, Modified Binder, and Fillers on HMA
• HMA Testing and Properties
• Foamed and HMA Recycling
• Impact of Geogrids on Pavement Performance
• Research, Development, and Standardizations
• Case Studies

Highways provide the arteries of modern society. The interaction of road, rail and other transport infrastructure with the ground is unusually intimate, and thus needs to be well-understood to provide economic and reliable infrastructure for society. Challenges include not only the design of new infrastructure (often on problematic ground), but increasingly the management and maintenance of aging assets in the face of issues such as climate change.

This book is the written record of the first International Conference on Transportation Geotechnics held under the auspices of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, held in Nottingham, UK, in 2008. It comprises about 100 papers from a global selection of researchers and practitioners on:

? Slope instability, stabilisation, and asset management;

? Construction on soft ground;

? Interaction with structures and geogrid reinforced soil;

? Effect of climate change and vegetation;

? Highways, pavements and subgrade;

? Railway geotechnics;

? Soil improvement;

? Characterisation and recycling of geomaterials.

A further part of this collection contains papers on unbound aggregate materials as used in pavement construction and drainage. They formed the ?Unbound Aggregates in Roads (UNBAR7)? theme of the conference which followed on from the previous symposia of that title, also held in Nottingham, UK, most recently in 2004. The volume will be of interest to professionals and academics in geotechnical, highway, railway and general civil engineering.

Dealing with environmental issues should no longer be considered simply as a cost of doing business. Effective environmental improvements to a company's products and services can be turned into business opportunities. This book was written with the express purpose of helping managers of companies, in particular of Small to Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs), to better deal with environmental challenges and address customer requirements, all in order to turn their environmental inve- ments into competitive market advantages. Several examples are provided throughout the book, but also warning signs (Alert Boxes). These "Alerts" are posted to help managers avoid typical traps when working with environmental considerations in business processes. The authors have many years of experience in the various aspects of impleme- ing Ecodesign. This experience includes working in industry for many years; le- ing the environmental departments in a multinational company; managing research projects in eco-product development; Life Cycle Assessment; and national and international environmental communication and marketing. This book is the latest in a series. The 2002 "Ecodesign Pilot" introduced a tool and software to help design more environmentally compatible products. It was directed specifically at designers. The 2004 book, "Ecodesign Implementation," was written to help project managers optimize product development processes from an environmental perspective.

This book reports the elements required for implementing Just in Time (JIT) technique in companies. The main reasons for low implementation processes and the main benefits from the successful implementation of them are highlighted in this book. Structural equation models are presented to help identify the essential elements in JIT.

Managing Difficult Projects pulls together the principles and practice of project management and presents useful diagnostic approaches, tools and structures in a clear and practical way. The book focuses on the diagnosis and resolution of difficult problems whether in large or small complex projects. The intent is to help corporate executives and project management practitioners apply proven processes, methodologies, systems, structures and tools to rally the information and the resources required for better decisions, faster delivery and improved results.This essential book shows how to plan effectively and to reduce risk at every step of project delivery, particularly vital during project implementation when 90 per cent of project funding is spent. It covers new ground by proposing the use of the project management process as an integral part of setting and updating corporate strategy. In projects, context is everything The text is amply illustrated with international case studies, charts, photos, graphs and data tables. It enables project managers to identify root causes and to apply the right solutions. It shows exactly how to identify project opportunities and then how to apply clear methodologies to set corporate strategy. It case studies the learning process. The reader can skip forward to solutions and help resolve problems at work.

More than 800,000 dams and thousands of kilometers of dikes have been constructed around the world. These structures are often designed based on a statistical analysis of the discharge distribution in rivers. However, the history of construction of dams and dikes coexists with the history of failures. Hundreds of dam failure events were reported worldwide in the previous century, while every year dikes breach due to high flows in the rivers or for other reasons leading sometimes to catastrophic consequences. In this book a description is presented of a framework and techniques for modelling structure failure events as well as a proposal to several novel approaches for risk analysis and assessment by numerical, statistical and constrained based methods in particular to the problems of breach modelling and flood water mitigation.

Most successful organizations recognize Maintenance Parts and Procurement as a critical success factor to Asset Management Excellence and their fundamental supply chain value proposition. This book works as a guide to all the stakeholders that influence the success of their Maintenance Parts Operation and their enterprise's bottom line. Maintenance Parts Management Excellence: A Holistic Anatomy defines the Maintenance Parts Managements role in Asset Management Excellence and expands on the importance of the Parts Inventory Planner role in an organization. It discusses how to create a unique Maintenance Parts Management Strategy for an organization and offers insights on the multiple strategies needed to create and maintain a Maintenance Parts inventory policy. The book also provides an organized overall approach to creating Maintenance Parts Management Excellence in an enterprise. Executives with an organization responsible for the construction, management, and disposal of all assets classes (plant, equipment, IT assets), consultants responsible for assignments associated with optimizing life cycle decisions for clients, maintenance, and reliability professionals within an organization, will benefit from this professional plus book. Upper-level undergraduate engineering students, as well as graduate students of management who focus on operations management and engineering graduate students addressing issues of maintenance and reliability engineering, may also be interested in this book.

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing many of these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

This thesis reports on an innovative production-scheduling model for virtual computer-integrated manufacturing (VCIM) systems. It also describes a robust genetic algorithm for production scheduling in VCIM systems. The model, which is the most comprehensive of its kind to date, is not only capable of supporting collaborative shipment scheduling and handling multiple product orders simultaneously, but also helps cope with multiple objective functions under uncertainties. In turn, the genetic algorithm, characterised by an innovative algorithm structure, chromosome encoding, crossover and mutation, is capable of searching for optimal/suboptimal solutions to the complex optimisation problem in the VCIM production- scheduling model described. Lastly, the effectiveness of the proposed approach is verified in a comprehensive case study.

Rapid Modelling and Quick Response presents new research developments in the fields of rapid modelling and quick response linked with performance improvements (based on lead time reduction, etc., as well as financial performance measures).

The papers and teaching cases in this book were presented at the second Rapid Modelling Conference: "Quick Response - Intersection of Theory and Practice." The main focus of this collection is the transfer of knowledge from theory to practice, providing the theoretical foundations for successful performance improvement.

This conference volume challenges the traditional notions of rapid modelling, and offers valuable contributions to the scientific communities of operations management, production management, supply chain management, industrial engineering and operations research.

Rapid Modelling and Quick Response will give the interested reader (researcher, as well as practitioner) a good overview of new developments in this field.