Computer vision-based crack-like object detection has many useful applications, such as pavement surface inspection, underground pipeline inspection, bridge cracking monitoring, railway track assessment, etc. However, in most contexts, cracks appear as thin, irregular long-narrow objects, and often are buried into complex, textured background with high diversity which make the crack detection very challenging. During the past a few years, the deep learning technique has achieved great success and has been utilized for solving a variety of object detection problems. However, using deep learning for accurate crack localization is non-trivial. This book discusses crack-like object detection problem in a comprehensive way. It starts by discussing traditional image processing approaches for solving this problem, and then introduces deep learning-based methods. The book provides a comprehensive review of object detection problems and focuses on the most challenging problem, crack-like object detection, to dig deep into the deep learning method. It includes examples of real-world problems, which are easy to understand and could be a good tutorial for introducing computer vision and machine learning.

Solar Thermal Conversion Technologies for Industrial Process Heating presents a comprehensive look at the use of solar thermal energy in industrial applications, such as textiles, chemical processing, and food. The successful projects implemented in a variety of industries are shown in case studies, alongside performance assessment methodologies. The book will be useful for researchers, graduate students, and industry professionals with an aim to promote mutual understanding between sectors dealing with solar thermal energy. The book includes various solar thermal energy conversion technologies and new techniques and applications of solar collectors in industrial sectors. Features: Covers the key designs and novel technologies employed in the processing industries. Discusses challenges in the incorporation of the solar thermal system in industrial applications. Explores the techno-economic, environmental impact, and life cycle analysis, with government policies for promoting the system. Includes real-world case studies. Presents chapters written by global experts in the field. The book will be useful for researchers, graduate students, and industry professionals with an aim to promote mutual understanding between sectors dealing with solar thermal energy.

Grounded in the user-centered design movement, this book offers a broad consideration of how our civilization has evolved its technical infrastructure for human purpose to help us make sense of the contemporary world of information infrastructure and online existence. The author incorporates historical, cultural and aesthetic approaches to situating information and its underlying technologies across time in the collective, lived experiences of humanity. In today's digital information world, user experience is vital to the success of any product or service. Yet as the user population expands to include us all, designing for people who vary in skills, abilities, preferences and backgrounds is challenging. This book provides an integrated understanding of users, and the methods that have evolved to identify usability challenges, that can facilitate cohesive and earlier solutions. The book treats information creation and use as a core human behavior based on acts of representation and recording that humans have always practiced. It suggests that the traditional ways of studying information use, with their origins in the distinct layers of social science theories and models is limiting our understanding of what it means to be an information user and hampers our efforts at being truly user-centric in design. Instead, the book offers a way of integrating the knowledge base to support a richer view of use and users in design education and evaluation. Understanding Users is aimed at those studying or practicing user-centered design and anyone interested in learning how people might be better integrated in the design of new technologies to augment human capabilities and experiences.

* A clear and accessible guide using a wide variety of literary examples commonly found on courses and student-friendly features such as a glossary and further reading * Ecocriticism is one of the most popular (and urgent) options taught at Universities across the globe – with sometimes up to 150 students * Now in its third edition this book is the most popular introduction to the topic for students and professors

In recent years, increasing attention and resources have been brought to bear on the relationship between the environment and congenital diseases. These diseases were previously thought to be mostly due to genetic causes. Even though the importance of genes as factors in causation is accepted, environmental factors seem to be implicated just as strongly. This book explores some further concepts that have arisen from more recent perceptions of environmental effects and their possible interactions with living systems. Amongst the topics discussed are: effects of prenatal exposure to toxic chemicals; intra-uterine exposure to drugs; effects of endocrine disrupters; environmental risk and sex ratio in newborns; surveillance of environmental impact; research and policy.

Discusses all the major tools and techniques for Decision Support System supported by examples Techniques are explained considering their deterministic and stochastic aspects Covers network tools including GERT and Q-GERT Explains application of both probability and fuzzy orientation in the pertinent techniques Includes a number of relevant case studies along with a dedicated chapter on software

The book is concerned with contemporary methodologies used for automatic text summarization. It proposes interesting approaches to solve well-known problems on text-summarization using computational intelligence (CI) techniques including cognitive approaches. A better understanding of the cognitive basis of the summarization task is still an open research issue, an extent of its use in text summarization is highlighted for further exploration. With the ever-growing text and people on research has little time to spare for extensive reading, where, summarized information helps for a better understanding of the context at a shorter time. This book helps students and researchers to automatically summarize the text documents in an efficient and effective way. The computational approaches and the research techniques presented guides to achieve text summarization at ease. The summarized text generated supports readers to learn the context or the domain at a quicker pace. The book is presented with reasonable amount of illustrations and examples convenient for the readers to understand and implement for their use. The book is not to make readers understand what text summarization is, but for people to perform text summarization using various approaches. This also describes measures that can help to evaluate, determine and explore the best possibilities for text summarization to analyse and use for any specific purpose. The illustration is based on social media and healthcare domain, which shows the possibilities to work with any domain for summarization. The new approach for text summarization based on cognitive intelligence is presented for further exploration in the field.

A three volume set consisting of: Water Quality Monitoring: A practical guide to the design and implementation of freshwater quality studies and monitoring programmes Richard Balance & Jamie Bartram 9780419217305 July 1996 234x156mm 400pp Water quality monitoring is an essential tool in the management of water resources and this book comprehensively covers the entire monitoring operation. This important text is the outcome of a collborative programme of activity between UNEP and WHO with inputs from WMO and UNESCO and draws on the international standards of the International Organization of Standardization. Water Pollution Control: A Guide to the Use of Water Quality Management Principles Richard Helmer & Ivanildo Hespanhol 9780419229100 October 1997 234x156mm 520pp This is a handbook for policy makers and environmental managers in water authorities and engineering companies engaged in water quality programmes, especially in developing countries. It is also suitable for use as a textbook or as training material for water quality management courses. It is a companion volume to Water Quality Assessments and Water Quality Monitoring.Water Quality Assessments: A Guide to the Use of Biota, Sediments and Water in Environmental Monitoring Deborah V. Chapman 9780419216001 August 1996 234x156mm 650pp This guidebook, now thorougly updated and revised in its second edition, gives comprehensive advice on the designing and setting up of monitoring programmes for the purpose of providing valid data for water quality assessments in all types of freshwater bodies. It is clearly and concisely written in order to provide the essential information for all agencies and individuals responsible for water quality.

Environmental Chemistry is a relatively young science. Interest in this subject, however, is growing very rapidly and, although no agreement has been reached as yet about the exact content and limits of this interdisciplinary discipline, there appears to be increasing interest in seeing environmental topics which are based on chemistry embodied in this subject. One of the first objectives of Environ mental Chemistry must be the study of the environment and of natural chemical processes which occur in the environment. A major purpose of this series on Environmental Chemistry, therefore, is to present a reasonably uniform view of various aspects of the chemistry of the environment and chemical reactions occurring in the environment. The industrial activities of man have given a new dimension to Environ mental Chemistry. We have now synthesized and described over five million chemical compounds and chemical industry produces about hundred and fifty million tons of synthetic chemicals annually. We ship billions of tons of oil per year and through mining operations and other geophysical modifications, large quantities of inorganic and organic materials are released from their natural deposits. Cities and metropolitan areas of up to 15 million inhabitants produce large quantities of waste in relatively small and confined areas. Much of the chemical products and waste products of modern society are released into the environment either during production, storage, transport, use or ultimate disposal. These released materials participate in natural cycles and reactions and frequently lead to interference and disturbance of natural systems.

This book comprises the select proceedings of the International Conference on Water, Environment, Energy and Society. The book is divided into four parts. Part I deals with some aspects of climatic characteristics ranging from changes in temperature and sunshine hours to downscaling to global climate patterns and effects of El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) on extreme rainfall. Part II covers rainfall analysis, including changes in regional rainfall series, analysis of non-stationarity, summer monsoon and rainfall scenarios. Impacts of climate change are treated in Part III. Change point analysis, greenhouse gas emissions, rainfall variability, water resources variability, and water resources sustainability are discussed in this part. The concluding Part IV is on low flow and drought. It deals with the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) concept and assessment of drought. This book is of interest to researchers and practitioners in the field of water resources, hydrology, environmental resources, agricultural engineering, watershed management, and earth sciences, as well as those engaged in natural resources planning and management. Graduate students and those wishing to conduct further research in water and environment and their development and management find the book to be of value.

Environmental science and engineering is a truly interdisciplinary field. From its origins in public health practice, concern for the well-being of our environment has embraced areas as diverse as chemistry, the earth sciences, biology, engineering and law. The specialist language of any discipline can be a barrier to co-operation and understanding in solving environmental problems. The Dictionary of Environmental Science and Engineering explains many important specialist environmental terms in a clear and concise way. It also provides an extensive guide to the many acronyms encountered in environmental science. The Dictionary of Environmental Science and Engineering will be a valuable reference tool for anyone working, whether directly or indirectly, with the environment. The dictionary describes many of the acts, organisations and requirements related to the legislation of the environment, giving particular emphasis to those of the United States of America. Thus, it will be particularly useful to those seeking a greater understanding of the US perspective on the environmental question.

Systemic change is required move to a circular economy (CE) model which can meet the demands of a growing population in a manner that is decoupled from resource use and waste generation. This book takes a deep dive into the innovation aspect of the circular economy (CE), with a specific focus on India as a geography, where the transformation to a circular economy is underway. How a developing country like India is tackling the complexities in the transformation and creating innovative solutions is showcased in this book through many practical examples and inspirational case studies. The book lays the foundations for mainstreaming Resource Efficiency (RE) / CE in India, and covers innovation led by businesses and start-ups, along with innovative policies, financing and collaborative models required to spur and accelerate circular economy approaches and provides linkages to the international context. Features: * Provides insight into role of innovation in circular economy transition. * Helps to develop and facilitate adoption of resource efficiency policy and strategy with particular focus on key resource sectors and waste streams. * Treats circular economy as a holistic approach across the entire lifecycle, and places emphasis on upstream interventions and systems change. * Examines current context of COVID19 and its impact on circular economy models and practices. * Touches upon how the EU-based approach was adapted and contextualized significantly to work in the unique Indian landscape. This book is aimed at students, researchers and professionals in circular economy, sustainability, business innovation, environmental studies, natural resources management, environmental and resource conservation policy.

1) Fills in the gap in ABET requirements to teach experiment design. 2) Provides a standardized approach to experiment design that can work for any experiment. 3) Provides completed experiment designs suitable for college laboratory and professional applications. 4) Shows how to organize experimental data as it is collected to optimize usefulness. 5) Provides templates for design of the experiment and for presenting the resulting data to technical and non-technical audiences or clients.

Tackling environmental issues such as global warming, ozone depletion, acid rain, water pollution, and soil contamination requires an understanding of the underlying science and chemistry of these processes in real-world systems and situations. Chemistry for Environmental and Earth Sciences provides a student-friendly introduction to the basic chemistry used for the mitigation, remediation, and elimination of pollutants. Written and organized in a style that is accessible to science as well as non-science majors, this textbook divides its content into four intuitive chapters: Fire, Earth, Water, and Air. The first chapter explains classical concepts in chemistry that occur in nature such as atomic and molecular structures, chemical bonding and reactions, states of matter, phase transitions, and radioactivity. Subsequent chapters focus on the chemistry relating to the geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere-including the chemical aspects of soil, water, and air pollution, respectively. Chemistry for Environmental and Earth Sciences uses worked examples and case studies drawn from current applications along with clear diagrams and concise explanations to illustrate the relevance of chemistry to geosciences. In-text and end-of-chapter questions with complete solutions also help students gain confidence in applying concepts from this book towards solving current, real-world problems.

Pattern recognition and other chemometrical techniques are important tools in interpreting environmental data. This volume presents authoritatively state-of-the-art applications of measuring and handling environmental data. The chapters are written by leading experts.

The demand and supply chain planning process for manufacturers, distributors, and retailers has evolved over the years. It has gone from a disjointed, unconnected, slow, inaccurate, fairly manual set of processes to an integrated, timely process enabled by the use and coordination of highly trained people, lean, agile processes, and cutting-edge technology. To make this set of processes work effectively, one has to fully understand and appreciate that there is an "art and science" aspect to the process which can take years of education and experience to fully understand. Essentially, this book will offer the reader a chance to fully understand the interconnected set of processes in a "best-practice" application. Furthermore, examples and cases will be used to illustrate its practical application in today's complex global supply chain. In addition, readers will understand and be able to apply and articulate the concepts, tools, and techniques used in the efficient supply of goods and services in today's changing global economy. It will help them to learn how businesses, through their supply chain, work both internally and with their trading partners - both upstream and downstream - to build strong relationships and integrate demand and supply planning activities across the supply chain to deliver customer value efficiently and effectively. They will learn about the tools and technologies enabling integration, and the critical drivers and key metrics of supply chain performance.

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.

1) Power electronics dominated power systems 2) Controlling of Power electronics converters 3) Understanding the control and stability of power converters 4) To Increase the hosting capacity of renewable generations in modern power systems 5) To familiar with applications of emerging technologies in the power electronics dominated power systems.

This book covers the ultrafiltration membranes, specifically focusing on the elements that are produced using PVDF technology and out-side-in configuration. It specifically targets ultrafiltration technology as a pretreatment of seawater reverse osmosis desalination process. However, what is described in the book can be leveraged in other ultrafiltration membrane types. It explains how to significantly improve the efficiency of the process.

Conservation tillage systems have been adopted by farmers in many countries to solve the problem of land degradation and declining water productivity. Direct application of such tillage systems has not been possible among resource-poor, smallholder farmers in semi-arid areas of Ethiopia. Problems such as the lack of rainfall, the costs of herbicides and implements, and the special cultivation needs of the crop tef, which can not be planted in rows, have developed locally-adapted conservation tillage systems. This book considers traditional tillage systems and the results of tests carried out on appropriate conservation tillage implements and systems for smallholder farmers in semi-arid regions of Ethiopia. The traditional tillage implement, the Maresha Plough, and the related tillage systems were identified as being the main cause of repeated and cross-ploughing, leading to land degradation and reduced water productivity. Modified implements were found to be suitable for conservation tillage systems while being simple, light and affordable. Two types of tillage systems developed for maize and tef were found to reduce surface runoff, increase availability of water to crops and increase yields.

This new book offers an engineer's perspective on the history of water technology and it's impact on the development of civilisation.
A Second Edition and translation into English of the French book "L'Hydraulique dans les Civilisations Anciennes."
Water professionals, engineers, scientists, and students will find this book fascinating and invaluable to their understanding of the fundamental role of water engineering in the development of civilization. The book abounds with descriptions of hydraulic techniques in the civilizations of the classical era and the Middle Ages, including illustrations ands translated descriptions of ancient observers and authors. The work is unique in offering an engineer perspective not only on the history of water technology, but also demonstration of the genesis of ideas and the transmissions of ideas and technology from one age and civilization to the next. The book is specially noteworthy for its efforts to situate hydraulic developments in their historical and intellectual context.

When wastewater infiltrates into the soil, groundwater may be contaminated. If the distance from source of pollution to point of groundwater abstraction is small, there is a real chance of abstracting pathogenic microorganisms. In this book, the transport of Escherichia coli in aquifers under saturated conditions is studied. Starting point is the well known colloid filtration theory. Straining or physical sieving, geochemical heterogeneity, variable deposition rate coefficients, and preferential flow mechanisms are then included in the theory. The case of Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, served to evaluate the importance of bacteria transport processes in a field situation. This book is useful for hydrogeologists concerned with microbiological contamination of aquifers.