Autonomous systems are one of the most important trends for the next generation of control systems. This book is the first to transfer autonomous systems concepts and intelligent agents theory into the control and operation environment of power systems.

Combustion of Two-Phase Reactive Media addresses the complex phenomena involved in the burning of solid and liquid fuels. In fact, the multiplicity of phenomena characteristic of combustion of two-phase media determine the contents. The three parts deal with: the dynamics of a single particle; combustion wave propagation in two-phase reactive media; and thermal regimes of combustion reactors. The book generalizes the results of numerous investigations into the ignition and combustion of solid particles, droplets and bubbles, combustion wave propagation in heterogeneous reactive media, the stability of combustion of two-phase media, as well as the thermal regimes of high-temperature combustion reactors. It merges findings from the authors investigations into problems of two-phase flows and material from graduate-level courses they teach at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

Global warming is a serious threat to the stability of world climate and to economic prosperity in some regions. The book offers a theoretical analysis which focuses on double dividend issues. Moreover, the ecological tax reform in Germany and the options of modern energy policy are described and evaluated. The volume presents innovative model simulations and analyzes, in the context of the model, the benefits of a modified tax reform, based on a Schumpeterian approach. Finally, implications for the European Union and other countries are discussed.

Since the discovery of high temperature superconductors the scientific com nmnity has been very active in research on material and system development as well as on the basic understanding of the mechanism of superconductiv ity at high transition temperatures. Industrial groups joined in very soon as with these new materials the prospects for commercial application of super conductivity seemed to be more promising than ever. Materials processing was divided into film deposition and bulk preparation techniques, the latter including conductor fabrication and melt growth of monolithic samples as well. Because of the high impact of possible applications in energy technol ogy, wire and tape fabrication of the BSCCO superconductors is one of the most important fields, in addition to thin film technology for mobile comuni cation. Only since processes like IBAD and RABiTS TM were invented have film deposition techniques also become important for energy technology. In order to produce suitable conductors with material properties which meet the challenge imposed by energy technology, detailed understanding of the phase formation and physical properties of the high temperature super conductors is necessary. The goal of this book is on one hand to provide the basic information on phase formation and physical properties, and to give a short overview of the state of the art in conductor preparation and character ization. On the other hand it contains the author's own results in the field of preparation and characterization.

German Ordoliberalism and French Regulation theory, two institutionalist theories born in different national contexts, show striking convergences and complementarities. Based on an original comparison, Institutional Economics in France and Germany analyses the basic concepts, the development and the present relevance of both schools, the way they deal with the crucial methodological issue of complexity and with transformation in post-socialist Europe. It underlines the specificity and fruitfulness of these European approaches to institutional economics, often unfortunately ignored in the English-language literature. Written by leading scholars, this book is a clear presentation of both theories, with numerous illustrations and in-depth analysis of recent research developments. This theoretical, methodological and thematic comparison raises central issues in the growing field of socioeconomic and institutionalist theory.

Expanding Competition in Regulated Industries reviews the changing regulatory environment, notably incentive regulation and competition in regulated industries. Some of the major changes in electricity, gas, and telephone utilities allow for competition in local service through unbundling. This book is of interest to researchers, utility managers, regulatory commissions, and the Federal Government.

Due to their environmental and efficiency characteristics fuel cells are promising technological solutions for many energy related applications (stationary power generation, vehicle propulsion, portable equipment). This book describes the economic dynamics of fuel cells by analyzing their diffusion perspectives as well as the strategic and organisational arrangements designed to promote their development. The costs, risks and economic stakes of fuel cell technologies require both a sustained involvement from public entities and the setting up of innovation networks with a large variety of heterogeneous actors. This context corresponds to a new space for technological competition located at the intersection between firms, networks and national/regional systems of innovation. The book presents a comprehensive analysis of this cooperation/competition phenomenon through different theoretical and empirical investigations.

Cross-layer design seeks to enhance the capacity of wireless networks significantly through the joint optimization of multiple layers in the network, primarily the physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layers. Although there are advantages of such design in wireline networks as well, this approach is particularly advantageous for wireless networks due to the properties (such as mobility and interference) that strongly affect performance and design of higher layer protocols. This unique monograph is concerned with the issue of cross-layer design in wireless networks, and more particularly with the impact of node-level multiuser detection on such design. It provides an introduction to this vibrant and active research area insufficiently covered in existing literature, presenting some of the principal methods developed and results obtained to date. Accompanied by numerous illustrations, the text is an excellent reference for engineers, researchers and students working in communication networks.

The study of complex dynamic processes governed by nonlinear and nonstationary characteristics is a problem of great importance in the analysis and control of power system oscillatory behavior. Power system dynamic processes are highly random, nonlinear to some extent, and intrinsically nonstationary even over short time intervals as in the case of severe transient oscillations in which switching events and control actions interact in a complex manner. Phenomena observed in power system oscillatory dynamics are diverse and complex. Measured ambient data are known to exhibit noisy, nonstationary fluctuations resulting primarily from small magnitude, random changes in load, driven by low-scale motions or nonlinear trends originating from slow control actions or changes in operating conditions. Forced oscillations resulting from major cascading events, on the other hand, may contain motions with a broad range of scales and can be highly nonlinear and time-varying. Prediction of temporal dynamics, with the ultimate application to real-time system monitoring, protection and control, remains a major research challenge due to the complexity of the driving dynamic and control processes operating on various temporal scales that can become dynamically involved. An understanding of system dynamics is critical for reliable inference of the underlying mechanisms in the observed oscillations and is needed for the development of effective wide-area measurement and control systems, and for improved operational reliability.

In the coming 20 years, decentralised generation (DG) is expected to play an in- creasingly important role in the European electricity infrastructure and market. DG can be defined as small-scale generation connected to the distribution network or on the customer side of the meter. The application of DG is often highly loca- tion specific and depends on such diverse issues as the possibilities of technical implementation, resource availability, environmental aspects, social embedding of the project, regulation and market conditions. These factors vary considerably among technologies and among the ED Member States. The DECENT study (Decentralised Generation Technologies -Potentials, Suc- cess Factors and Impacts in the Liberalised ED Energy Markets (Joerss et al. 2002" was designed and carried out to identify the main barriers and success fac- tors to the implementation of DG projects within the ED and to formulate a num- ber of related recommendations to ED and Member State policy makers to en- hance the feasibility of DG projects within the internal energy market.

This wide-ranging book summarizes the current knowledge of radiation defects in semiconductors, outlining the shortcomings of present experimental and modelling techniques and giving an outlook on future developments. It also provides information on the application of sensors in nuclear power plants.

This volume in the acclaimed series Modern Aspects of Electrochemistry starts with a dedication to the late Professor Brian Conway who for 50 years helped to guide this series to its current prominence. The remainder of the volume is then devoted to the following topics: PEM fuel cells; the use of graphs in electrochemical reaction newtworks; nanomaterials in Lithium-ion batteries; direct methanolf fuel cells (two chapters); fuel cell catalyst layers. The book is for electrochemists, electrochemical engineers, fuel cell workers and energy generation workers.

Low-Power High-Speed ADCs for Nanometer CMOS Integration is about the design and implementation of ADC in nanometer CMOS processes that achieve lower power consumption for a given speed and resolution than previous designs, through architectural and circuit innovations that take advantage of unique features of nanometer CMOS processes. A phase lock loop (PLL) clock multiplier has also been designed using new circuit techniques and successfully tested. 1) A 1.2V, 52mW, 210MS/s 10-bit two-step ADC in 130nm CMOS occupying 0.38mm2. Using offset canceling comparators and capacitor networks implemented with small value interconnect capacitors to replace resistor ladder/multiplexer in conventional sub-ranging ADCs, it achieves 74dB SFDR for 10MHz and 71dB SFDR for 100MHz input. 2) A 32mW, 1.25GS/s 6-bit ADC with 2.5GHz internal clock in 130nm CMOS. A new type of architecture that combines flash and SAR enables the lowest power consumption, 6-bit >1GS/s ADC reported to date. This design can be a drop-in replacement for existing flash ADCs since it does require any post-processing or calibration step and has the same latency as flash. 3) A 0.4ps-rms-jitter (integrated from 3kHz to 300MHz offset for >2.5GHz) 1-3GHz tunable, phase-noise programmable clock-multiplier PLL for generating sampling clock to the SAR ADC. A new loop filter structure enables phase error preamplification to lower PLL in-band noise without increasing loop filter capacitor size.

Based on courses for students of science, engineering, and systems science at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences at Winterthur, this text approaches the fundamentals of thermodynamics from the point of view of continuum physics. By describing physical processes in terms of the flow and balance of physical quantities, the author achieves a unified approach to hydraulics, electricity, mechanics and thermodynamics. In this way, it becomes clear that entropy is the fundamental property that is transported in thermal processes (i.e., heat), and that temperature is the corresponding potential. The resulting theory of the creation, flow, and balance of entropy provides the foundation of a dynamical theory of heat. This extensively revised and updated second edition includes new material on dynamical chemical processes, thermoelectricity, and explicit dynamical modeling of thermal and chemical processes. To make the book more useful for courses on thermodynamics and physical chemistry at different levels, coverage of topics is divided into introductory and more advanced and formal treatments. Previous knowledge of thermodynamics is not required, but the reader should be familiar with basic electricity, mechanics, and chemistry and should have some knowledge of elementary calculus. The special feature of the first edition -- the integration of thermodynamics, heat transfer, and chemical processes -- has been maintained and strengthened. Key Features: * First revised edition of a successful text/reference in fourteen years * More than 25 percent new material * Provides a unified approach to thermodynamics and heat transport in fundamental physical and chemical processes * Includes worked examples, questions, and problem sets for use as a teaching text or to test the reader's understanding * Includes many system dynamics models of laboratory experiments

The book describes the main physical processes and phenomena in pulsed electric breakdown. The knowledge and the control of the electric breakdown of liquids is important not only for the insulation inside power systems but it is also used for the creation and information of high voltage and high current pulses. Such high-voltage micro- and nanosecond pulses find wide application in experimental physics, electro discharge technology, physics of dielectrics, radar detection and ranging, high-speed photography.

The overall goal in this book is to explain key economic, environmental, technology, and transportation factors that are affecting the provincial and industrial energy intensities and environmental pollution in the People s Republic of China (China). The author defines energy intensity as the energy consumption per unit of output. She concentrates on China, because it is the second largest energy user and pollution generator in the world. In this book, the focus is on the cokemaking sector in the Shanxi Province. Cokemaking is the largest consumer of coal in the region, using more than one-half of the coal consumed there.

Throughout the book, the author stresses the important role of the Shanxi Province in encouraging improvements in energy efficiency and pollution by (1) introducing new coke-oven technologies and (2) encouraging pollution-abatement measures for the older ovens. Economic, environmental, technology, transportation, and social aspects of cokemaking are discussed and the author examines how these factors are affecting the energy intensities and pollution in the Shanxi Province. "

This book reviews numerous research papers published in the last fifteen years in the area of current injection based rectifiers. A partial list of coverage includes analysis of various magnetic current injection devices, the third harmonic current injection, injection networks, and optimal current injection. The book will be of interest to professionals involved in design of low-harmonic three-phase rectifiers, as well as students and researchers.

Service Quality Regulation in Electricity Distribution and Retail provides a guide for regulatory authorities and postgraduate students alike, accompanying readers through the necessary steps for designing and implementing regulatory policy. It builds a bridge between the theoretical aspects of service quality regulation and country-specific applied mechanisms. The book offers examples as provided by regulatory authorities (including some not often available in the English language), and suggests best practices as elaborated by a number of international regulatory organizations.

The book is a comprehensive, clear, well-organized description of applied quality regulation in the electricity sector as it is, today. Advanced readers will also appreciate its survey of the most innovative regulatory mechanisms currently being employed (and tested) in European countries, as well as those that have been proposed in the literature.

Analog design at ultra-low supply voltages is an important challenge for the semiconductor research community and industry.

Analog Circuit Design Techniques at 0.5V covers challenges for the design of MOS analog and RF circuits at a 0.5 V power supply voltage. All design techniques presented are true low voltage techniques - all nodes in the circuits are within the power supply rails. The circuit implementations of body and gate input fully differential amplifiers are also discussed. These building blocks enable us to build continuous-time filters, track-and-hold circuits, and continuous-time sigma delta modulators.

Current books on low voltage analog design typically cover techniques for supply voltages down to approximately 1V. This book presents novel ideas and results for operation from much lower supply voltages and the techniques presented are basic circuit techniques that are widely applicable beyond the scope of the presented examples.

Analog Circuit Design Techniques at 0.5V is written for analog circuit designers and researchers as well as graduate students studying semiconductors and integrated circuit design.

This book provides an account of the field of synchronized Phasor Measurement technology, its beginning, its technology and its principal applications. It covers wide Area Measurements (WAM) and their applications. The measurements are done using GPS systems and eventually will replace the existing technology. The authors created the field about twenty years ago and most of the installations planned or now in existence around the world are based on their work.

During the last decade, many new concepts have been proposed for improving the performance of power rectifiers and transistors. The results of this research are dispersed in the technical literature among journal articles and abstracts of conferences. Consequently, the information is not readily available to researchers and practicing engineers in the power device community. There is no cohesive treatment of the ideas to provide an assessment of the relative merits of the ideas.

Advanced Power Rectifier Concepts provides an in-depth treatment of the physics of operation of advanced power rectifiers. Analytical models for explaining the operation of all the advanced power rectifier devices will be developed. The results off numerical simulations will be provided to provide additional insight into the device physics and validate the analytical models. The results of two-dimensional simulations will be provided to corroborate the analytical models and provide greater insight into the device operation.

The present study is a slightly revised version of my PhD thesis which was accepted at the Economics Department of Dresden University of Technology in July 2008. It has a long and a short history. For it began, as suggested theme, as a fundamental evaluation of evolutionary economics for ecological economics, asking, especially, for what the two ?elds actually constitutes and, eventually, relates. In several years of unfruitful dwelling, however, neither of these two young, non-mainstream ?elds proved as constituted at a fundamental level as yet. Rather, ecological economics, founded at the end of the 1980s as an attempt to combine social and natural s- ence approaches(in particular economics and ecology) to study especially long-run environmental problems in an encompassing manner, has mainly developed into an interdisciplinary research forum on environmental-economicissues. Particularly uni?edbycertainnormativestances sharedwithinits community, it constitutes, well understood, a new discpline of its own right, distinct from economics, with its own scienti?c standards, questions, methodologies and institutions (Baumgartner ] and Becker 2005). Modern evolutionaryeconomicson the other hand has been a quarter of a century after its inception with Nelson and Winter (1982) still a mainly h- erogeneousendeavor, linked by a (rather amorphous) common interest in economic "evolution" and a critical stance towards neoclassical mainstream economics, with a certain strength in applied studies on industrial dynamics (Heinzel 2004, 2006)."

As societies face the challenge of securing an efficient and environmentally sound energy supply, researchers have strived to determine the future development of energy consumption, infrastructure and technology endowment. This book proposes a new agent-based approach to studying the development of urban energy systems. Decisions of private and commercial investors and operators are modeled using a bounded rational decision model which are parameterized by socio-economic data.

Innovation is key to achieving a sustainable electricity system. New technologies and organizational changes can bring about more sustainable, climate-friendly electricity structures. Yet the dynamics of innovation are complex, and difficult to shape. This book, written by experts in the field, sets out to explore the dynamics, the drivers and the setting of innovation processes. Case studies on micro cogeneration, carbon capture and storage, consumer feedback, network regulation and emissions trading provide insights into innovation dynamics in the electricity system and are analyzed to derive strategic implications for innovation policies. A special focus is placed on drivers and barriers of change, and their consequences for shaping the innovation process. This book is an indispensable source of information for researchers and decision makers in energy and climate change as well as for lecturers and students interested in the principles and ramifications of electricity innovation dynamics.

Environmental voluntary agreements (VAs) between regulators and polluters are becoming an increasingly relevant environmental policy instrument, thanks to their flexibility and consensual character. These agreements can assume a wide variety of forms and aims. Efficiency conditions and effectiveness in their use depend on their design, rules of implementation and framework conditions.

The book provides a comprehensive economic theory and analysis of environmental voluntary agreements, which takes into account the variety of forms and application situations characterizing this environmental policy instrument. Common methodologies, implementation rules and evaluation criteria for researchers, policy makers and business operators in the use of environmental voluntary agreements are discussed.

Case analysis complements the theoretical analysis. A European and an American approach to VAs are distinguished, and cases in China and Australia are also included. National and sector experiences are investigated in order to consider the full range of applications which the flexibility of VAs allows. Opportunities and risks in the use of VAs are examined. Their evaluation, also in comparison and in conjunction with other policy tools, is performed. VAs are still an instrument in evolution, so the trends in their design and enforcement rules are considered.

The authors are mainly economists and law scholars from Universities, research centers, environmental agencies and international institutions. The book is destined to researchers, scholars and graduate and post-graduate students. Most contributions can be of great interest also for environmental officers in various Public Administration administrative and technical bodies and for environmental managers and consultants.