For the first time in power electronics, this comprehensive treatment of switch-mode DC/DC converter designs addresses many analytical closed form equations such as duty cycle prediction, output regulation, output ripple, control loop-gain, and steady state time-domain waveform. Each of these equations are given various topologists and configurations, including forward, flyback, and boost converters. Pulse Width Modulated DC/DC Converters begins with a detailed approach to the quiescent operating locus of a power plant under open-loop. The reader is then led through other supporting circuits once again in the quiescent condition. These exercises result in the close-loop formulations of the subject system, providing designers with the ability to study the sensitivities of a system against disturbances. With the quiescent conditions well established, the book then guides the reader further into the territories of system stability where small signal behaviors are explored. Finally, some important large signal time-domain studies cap the treatment. Some distinctive features of this book include: *detailed coverage of dynamic close-loop converter simulations using only personal computer and modern mathematical software *Steady-state, time-domain analysis based on the concept of continuity of states Voltage-mode and current-mode control techniques and their differences of merits A detailed description on setting up different equations for DC/DC converters'simulation using only PC

This book describes a series of research topics investigated during the 6 years from 2010 through 2015 in the project "Advanced Materials Development and Integration of Novel Structured Metallic and Inorganic Materials". Every section of the book is aimed at understanding the most advanced research by describing details starting with the fundamentals as often as possible. Because both fundamental and cutting-edge topics are contained in this book, it provides a great deal of useful information for chemists as well as for materials scientists and engineers who wish to consider future prospects and innovations. The contents of Novel Structured Metallic and Inorganic Materials are unique in materials science and technology. The project was carried out through the cooperation of research groups in the following six institutes in Japan: the Institute for Materials Research (IMR), Tohoku University; the Materials and Structures Laboratory (MSL), Tokyo Institute of Technology; the Joining and Welding Research Institute (JWRI), Osaka University; the Eco-Topia Science Institute (EST), Nagoya University; the Institute of Biomaterials and Bioengineering (IBB), Tokyo Medical and Dental University; and the Institute for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (INN), Waseda University. Major objectives of the project included creation of advanced metallic and inorganic materials with a novel structure, as well as development of materials-joining technologies for development of cutting-edge applications as environmental and energy materials, biomedical materials, and electronic materials for contributing to the creation of a safer and more secure society.

Understanding the relationship between landslides and climate change is crucially important in planning a proactive approach to hazard and risk management. Advances in geohazard modelling and prediction enable us to be better prepared for the impacts of climate change, but there is still a need for effective risk management and informed planning policy to improve the safety and sustainability of communities at risk. The increasing frequency of extreme weather events has highlighted our vulnerability to the impact of climate change, and has resulted in enormous human and economic loss. This book presents the Proceedings of the International Conference on 'Landslides and Climate Change - Challenges and Solutions', which was held in Ventnor, Isle of Wight, UK in May 2007. The volume considers the practical experiences of hazard management, risk governance and response to climate change, and will be of interest to engineers, planners, practitioners, regional and local authorities, academics and politicians.

This thesis presents pioneering experimental and numerical studies on three aspects of the combustion characteristics of lean premixed syngas/air flames, namely the laminar flame speed, extinction limit and flammability limit. It illustrates a new extinction exponent concept, which enriches the combustion theory. Above all, the book provides the following: a) a series of carefully measured data and theoretical analyses to reveal the intrinsic mechanisms of the fuel composition effect on the propagation and extinction of lean syngas/air flames; b) a mixing model and correlation to predict the laminar flame speed of multi-component syngas fuels, intended for engineering computations; c) a new "extinction exponent" concept to describe the critical effects of chemical kinetics on the extinction of lean premixed syngas/air flames; and d) the effects and mechanism of the dilution of incombustible components on lean premixed syngas/air flames and the preferential importance among the thermal, chemical and diffusion effects.

Voltage Stability is a relatively recent and challenging problem in Power Systems Engineering. It is gaining in importance as the trend of operating power systems closer to their limits continues to increase.

Voltage Stability of Electric Power Systems presents a clear description of voltage instability and collapse phenomena. It proposes a uniform and coherent theoretical framework for analysis and covers state-of-the-art methods. The book describes practical methods that can be used for voltage security assessment and offers a variety of examples.

This NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Disposal of Weapons Plutonium is a follow-up event to two preceding workshops, each dealing with a special subject within the overall disarmament issue: "Disposition of Weapon Plutonium," sponsored by the NATO Science Committee. The first workshop of this series was held at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London on 24-25 January 1994, entitled "Managing the Plutonium Surplus, Applications, and Options." Its over all goal was to clarify the current situation with respect to pluto nium characteristics and availability, the technical options for use or disposal, and their main technical, environmental, and economic constraints. In the immediate term, plutonium recovered from dismantled nuclear warheads will have to be stored securely, and under international safeguards if possible. In the intermediate term, the principal alter natives for disposition of this plutonium are: irradiation in mixed oxide (MOX) fuel assemblies in existing commercial light-water reac tors or in specially adapted light-water reactors capable of operation with full cores of MOX fuel .and irradiation in future fast reactors. Another option is to blend plutonium with high-level waste as it is vitrified for final disposal in a geologic repository. In both cases, the high radioactivity of the resulting products provides "self shielding" and prevents separation of plutonium without already developed and available sophisticated technology. The so-called "spent fuel standard" as an effective protection barrier is - quired in either case."

This book provides a comprehensive discussion and analysis of global energy resources, international energy markets, international energy forecasts for the first quarter of the 21st century, conventional and alternative energy technologies and pertinent historical developments of world energy. It is organized into four parts with 27 chapters that cover advance energy technologies, primary and alternative energy resources and country profiles. Part I introduces conventional energy resources; Part II covers alternative energy sources and conservation; Part III covers energy modelling and forecast methods for anlaysing energy development in the United States of America and the world; Part IV provides a country-by-country analysis of energy issues, law, resources and programs. It is indeed an assessment of the outlook for international energy that relates to major fuels, transportation, electricity and the environment.

Students embarking on their studies in chemical, mechanical, aerospace, energy, and environmental engineering will face continually changing combustion problems, such as pollution control and energy efficiency, throughout their careers. Approaching these challenges requires a deep familiarity with the fundamental theory, mathematics, and physical concepts of combustion. Based on more than two decades of teaching experience, Combustion Science and Engineering lays the necessary groundwork while using an illustrative, hands-on approach.

Taking a down-to-earth perspective, the book avoids heavy mathematics in the first seven chapters and in Chapter 17 (pollutants formation and destruction), but considers molecular concepts and delves into engineering details. It begins with an outline of thermodynamics; basics of thermochemistry and chemical equilibrium; descriptions of solid, liquid, and gaseous fuels; chemical kinetics and mass transfer; and applications of theory to practical systems. Beginning in chapter 8, the authors provide a detailed treatment of differential forms of conservation equations; analyses of fuel combustion including jet combustion and boundary layer problems; ignition; flame propagation; interactive and group combustion; pollutant formation and control; and turbulent combustion.

In addition, this textbook includes abundant examples, illustrations, and exercises, as well as spreadsheet software in combustion available for download. This software allows students to work out the examples found in the text. Combustion Science and Engineering imparts the skills and foundational knowledge necessary for students to successfully approach and solve new problems.

This state of the art report from an international task group (TG44) of CIB, the International Council of Building Research Organizations, presents a highly authoritative guide to the application of innovative technologies on response control and seismic isolation of buildings to practice worldwide.

Many countries and cities are located in earthquake-prone areas making effective seismic design a major issue in structural engineering. Reassuringly, structural response control and seismic isolation have advanced remarkably in recent years following numerous studies internationally. Several major conferences have been held and reports have been written but little has been issued on the application of the technologies to good structural engineering practice.

Plugging that gap, Response Control and Seismic Isolation of Buildings presents researchers in structural engineering (dynamics) and construction management with up-to-date applications of the latest technologies.

Key Features: Describes feedstock evaluation and the effects of elemental, chemical and fractional composition. Details reactor types and bed types. Explores the process options and parameters involved. Assesses coke formation and additives. Considers next generation processes and developments.

Predictive and Optimised Life-Cycle Management sets out methodologies to meet the demands of the current trend towards sustainable civil engineering and building.

Encompassing all aspects of construction practice, from design through to demolition and the recycling of materials, Sarja provides tools for optimal property-value protection, including a description of an integrated and predictive Life-Cycle Maintenance and Management Planning System (LMS), which employs a wide range of techniques.

Clear and practical, this guide provides effective methodology required to change a reactive system of management to a predictive one, which will benefit practitioners and students involved in construction, from the architect to local and government authorities; from design engineers to facility managers.

The book presents machine learning as an approach to building models that learn from data, and that can be used to complement the existing modelling practice in aquatic and geotechnical environments. It provides concepts of learning from data, and identifies segmentation (clustering), classification, regression and control as the learning tasks. A unified methodology based on the concepts of machine learning, information theory and statistics is presented that can be followed to build models using data as well as expert knowledge. Several machine learning methods are used to extract features to build data-driven models in geotechnics. A set of regression models are built to predict sediment transport rates and assess harbour sedimentation. Controllers that replicate the control strategy of model-based optimal controllers of water systems are built for situations where fast and accurate decisions are needed. The models built demonstrate excellent performance; they may complement or even replace the existing models and can be used in practice. The performance of the models proves the effectiveness of the methodology and machine learning in general.

Dynamics is a science concerned with movement and changes. In the most general approach it relates to life processes as well as behavior in nature in rest. It governs small particles, technical objects, conversion of matter and materials but also concerns people, groups of people in their individual and, in particular, social dimension.

In dynamics we always have to do with causes or stimuli for motion, the rules of reaction or behavior and its result in the form of trajectory of changes.

This book is devoted to dynamics of a wide class of specific but very important objects such as electromechanical systems. This is a very rigorous discipline and has a long tradition, as its theoretical bases were formulated in the first half of the XIX century by d' Alembert, Lagrange, Hamilton, Maxwell and other prominent scientists, but their crucial results were based on previous pioneering research of others such as Copernicus, Galileo, Newton...

This book in its theoretical foundations is based on the principle of least action which governs classical as well as relativistic mechanics and electromagnetism and leads to Lagrange's equations which are applied in the book as universal method to construct equations of motion of electromechanical systems. It gives common and coherent grounds to formulate mathematical models for all lumped parameters' electromechanical systems, which are vital in our contemporary industry and civilized everyday life.

From these remarks it seems that the book is general and theoretical but in fact it is a very practical one concerning modern electrical drives in a broad sense, including electromechanical energy conversion, induction motor drives, brushless DC drives with a permanent magnet excitation and switched reluctance machines (SRM). And of course their control, which means shaping of their trajectories of motion using modern tools, their designed autonomy in keeping a track according to our programmed expectations.

The problems presented in the book are widely illustrated by characteristics, trajectories, dynamic courses all computed by use of developed simulation models throughout the book. There are some classical subjects and the history of the discipline is discussed but finally all modern tools and means are presented and applied.

More detailed descriptions follow in abstracts for the particular chapters.

The author hopes kind readers will enjoy and profit from reading this book.

This unique publication provides the only detailed, multinational guide to the cost of construction work across Africa. Thirteen chapters cover individual countries (Algeria, Cameroon, Chad, Cote d'lvoire, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia) providing: key data on the main economic and construction indicators an outline of the national construction industry, covering structure, tendering and contract procedures, regulations and standards labour and materials cost data measured rates for a range of construction work items approximate estimating costs for a range of building types price index data and exchange rate movements against GBP sterling and US $ addresses of public and private construction related organisations. To facilitate country-to-country comparisons the book also includes a comparative data section and comparative regional information with figures given in national currencies, GBP sterling and US $. Extensively revised and thoroughly updated with additional reference to civil engineering and infrastructure projects, this book provides more supplementary information and includes costs based on locally-sourced materials to enable quick and useful comparisons. This new edition is the indispensible guide to African construction costs.

The indispensable guide to building costs in Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the UAE. Features detailed information across all sectors and by individual country, plus comparative information.

This book provides a methodological framework to set properly the thermal enhancement and energy efficiency in historical buildings during a renovation process. It describes the unique thermal features of historical properties, closely examining how the building materials, structural elements, and state of conservation can impact energy efficiency, including sample calculations and results. It also describes means and aims of several fundamental steps to improve energy efficiency in historical buildings with an experimentation on a case study. This timely text also introduces leading-edge technologies for enhancing the energy performance of historical buildings, including the potential for integration of co- ad tri-generation though micro-turbines, photovoltaics and solar collectors and their compatibility with architectural preservation.

This thesis focuses on chalcogenide compound quantum dots with special crystal structures and behaviors in an effort to achieve the synergistic optimization of electrical and thermal transport for high-efficiency thermoelectric materials. The controllability and large-scale synthesis of chalcogenide quantum dots are realized through simple colloid synthesis, and the synergistic optimization of the materials' electrical and thermal transport properties is successfully achieved. Furthermore, the book explores the mechanism involved in the integration of high thermoelectric performance and reversible p-n semiconducting switching in bimetal chalcogenide semiconductors. As such, the thesis will be of interest to university researchers and graduate students in the materials science, chemistry and physics.

This book offers a nuanced and detailed examination of two of the most important current debates about contemporary Russia's international activity: is Moscow acting strategically or opportunistically, and should this be understood in regional or global terms? The book addresses core themes of Russian activity - military, energy and economic - but it offers an unusual multi-disciplinary analysis to these themes. Monaghan incorporates both regional and thematic specialist expertise to give a fresh perspective to each of these core themes. Underpinned by detailed analyses of the revolution in Russian geospatial capabilities and the establishment of a strategic planning foundation, the book includes chapters on military and maritime strategies, energy security and economic diversification and influence. This serves to highlight the connections between military and economic interests that shape and drive Russian strategy. -- .

Interest in biofuels began with oil shocks in the 1970's, but the more rapid development and consumption of biofuel industry in recent years has been primarily driven by mandates, subsidies, climate change concerns, emissions targets and energy security. From 2004 to 2006, fuel ethanol grew by 26% and biodiesel grew by 172%. As biofuel production continues to expand, investments in capacity expansion and research and development have been made. The 2008 food crisis emphasized the need to re-examine biofuel consequences. Biofuels remain an important renewable energy resource to substitute for fossil fuels, particularly in the transportation sector, yet biofuels' success is still uncertain. The future of biofuels in the energy supply mix relies on mitigating potential and improving the environmental gains. This book brings together leading authorities on biofuel from the World Bank to examine all of the impacts of biofuel (economic, social, environmental) within a unified framework and in a global perspective, making it of interest to academics in agricultural and environmental economics as well as industry and policy-makers.

This book was written to give energy-involved professionals the tools they need to take their energy audits to the next level, and use them to accurately predict a building's future energy use and true savings potential. Going beyond the conventional energy audit, which can lead to projections which are frequently off by as much as 20%, this book provides detailed guidelines on how to use the new tool, the investment grade audit (IGA), which enables prediction of savings with much greater accuracy. Building on the traditional audit, the IGA requires the addition of a "risk assessment component" which evaluates conditions in a specific building and/or process and reduces the level of uncertainty as to how proposed energy efficiency measures will really behave over time. The authors have covered every aspect of the IGA, including risk management, the "people" factor, measurement and verification, financing issues, report presentation guidelines, and master planning strategies.

This book examines the issue of capacity withdrawals in the electricity wholesale market. Electricity generators can exercise market power in the wholesale market either by withdrawing generation capacity, or by pricing above competitive levels in order to achieve a higher market price and, thereby, increase revenues. After a comprehensive explanation of capacity withdrawal practices and the issues that arise when proceeding under competition law, the book analyses whether an increased state of transparency, as provided for in the REMIT and Regulation 543/2013, could facilitate the efficient functioning of electricity wholesale markets and the investigation of capacity withdrawal practices. It also examines the effect of the prohibition of market manipulation as prescribed in the REMIT in dealing with abusive capacity withdrawals in the electricity wholesale market.

This volume presents current thoughts, research, and findings that were presented at a summit focusing on energy as a cross-cutting concept in education, involving scientists, science education researchers and science educators from across the world. The chapters cover four key questions: what should students know about energy, what can we learn from research on teaching and learning about energy, what are the challenges we are currently facing in teaching students this knowledge, and what needs be done to meet these challenges in the future?
Energy is one of the most important ideas in all of science and it is useful for predicting and explaining phenomena within every scientific discipline. The challenge for teachers is to respond to recent policies requiring them to teach not only about energy as a disciplinary idea but also about energy as an analytical framework that cuts across disciplines. Teaching energy as a crosscutting concept can equip a new generation of scientists and engineers to think about the latest cross-disciplinary problems, and it requires a new approach to the idea of energy.
This book examines the latest challenges of K-12 teaching about energy, including how a comprehensive understanding of energy can be developed. The authors present innovative strategies for learning and teaching about energy, revealing overlapping and diverging views from scientists and science educators. The reader will discover investigations into the learning progression of energy, how understanding of energy can be examined, and proposals for future directions for work in this arena.
Science teachers and educators, science education researchers and scientists themselves will all find the discussions and research presented in this book engaging and informative.