This book presents recent advances in optimization and control methods with applications to industrial engineering and construction management. It consists of 15 chapters authored by recognized experts in a variety of fields including control and operation research, industrial engineering and project management. Topics include numerical methods in unconstrained optimization, robust optimal control problems, set splitting problems, optimum confidence interval analysis, a monitoring networks optimization survey, distributed fault detection, nonferrous industrial optimization approaches, neural networks in traffic flows, economic scheduling of CCHP systems, a project scheduling optimization survey, lean and agile construction project management, practical construction projects in Hong Kong, dynamic project management, production control in PC4P and target contracts optimization.

The book offers a valuable reference work for scientists, engineers, researchers and practitioners in industrial engineering and construction management.

Modern industry imposes ever increasing requirements upon tools and tool materials as to the provision for performance under the conditions of high cutting speeds and dynamic loads as well as under intensive thermal and chemical interactions with workpiece materials. The industry demands a higher productivity in combination with the accuracy of geometry and dimensions of workpieces and quality of working surfaces of the machined pieces. These requirements are best met by the tool superhard materials (diamond and diamond-like cubic boron nitride). Ceramics based on silicon carbide, aluminum and boron oxides as well as on titanium, silicon and aluminum nitrides offer promise as tool materials. Tungsten-containing cemented carbides are still considered as suitable tool materials. Hi- hardness and high strength composites based on the above materials fit all the requirements imposed by machining jobs when manufacturing elements of machinery, in particular those operating under the extreme conditions of high temperatures and loads. These elements are produced of difficult-- machine high-alloy steels, nickel refractory alloys, high-tech ceramics, materials with metallic and non-metallic coatings having improved wear resistance, as well as of special polymeric and glass-ceramic materials. Materials science at high pressure deals with the use of high-pressure techniques for the development and production of unique materials whose preparation at ambient pressure is impossible (e. g. , diamond, cubic boron nitride, etc. ) or of materials with properties exceeding those of materials produced at ambient pressure (e. g. , high-temperature superconductors).

Mathematics Across Cultures: A History of Non-Western Mathematics consists of essays dealing with the mathematical knowledge and beliefs of cultures outside the United States and Europe. In addition to articles surveying Islamic, Chinese, Native American, Aboriginal Australian, Inca, Egyptian, and African mathematics, among others, the book includes essays on Rationality, Logic and Mathematics, and the transfer of knowledge from East to West. The essays address the connections between science and culture and relate the mathematical practices to the cultures which produced them. Each essay is well illustrated and contains an extensive bibliography. Because the geographic range is global, the book fills a gap in both the history of science and in cultural studies. It should find a place on the bookshelves of advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and scholars, as well as in libraries serving those groups.

This contributed volume collects the scientific results of the DFG Priority Program 1180 Prediction and Manipulation of the Interactions between Structures and Processes. The research program has been conducted during the years 2005 and 2011, whereas the primary goal was the analysis of the interactions between processes and structures in modern production facilities. This book presents the findings of the 20 interdisciplinary subprojects, focusing on different manufacturing processes such as high performance milling, tool grinding or metal forming. It contains experimental investigations as well as mathematical modeling of production processes and machine interactions. New experimental advancements and novel simulation approaches are also included.

This textbook arms the reader with powerful techniques of Modern TRIZ self-training and real problem solving. It is designed as a simple and efficient, step-by-step crash course in primary TRIZ models based on the author's methods of extraction and reinvention, or retrieval of invention models from any real-life objects. Special content addresses the psychological support of the person during problem solving and promotion of the new idea to realization. The book introduces the so-called Theory of Developing the Creative Personality (TDCP), initiated but not completed by Genrikh Altshuller, father of TRIZ and TDCP. The textbook continues to develop a simple standard model presentation of the problem solving process with a four-step Meta-Algorithm of Invention (MAI) T-R-I-Z.

This book covers the latest developments in life cycle assessment LCA both in terms of methodology and its application in various research areas. It includes methodological questions as well as case studies concerning energy and mobility, materials and engineering, sustainable construction and future technologies. With numerous research articles from leading German and Austrian research institutes, the book is a valuable source for professionals working in the field of sustainability assessment, researchers interested in the current state of LCA research, and advanced university students in various scientific and technical fields. Chapter "Life Cycle Assessment of a Hydrogen and Fuel Cell RoPax Ferry Prototype" is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

System Modelling and Optimization covers research issues within systems theory, optimization, modelling, and computing. It includes contributions to structural mechanics, integer programming, nonlinear programming, interior point methods, dynamical systems, stability analysis, stochastic optimization, bilevel optimization, and semidefinite programming. Several survey papers written by leading experts in their fields complement new developments in theory and applications. This book contains most of the invited papers and a few carefully selected submitted papers that were presented at the 19th IFIP TC7 Conference on System Modelling and Optimization, which was held in Cambridge, England, from July 12 to 16, 1999, and sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP).

The future of manufacturing companies depends largely on their ability to adapt to swiftly changing global conditions. These are exemplified by international com- tition, rapidly growing intercommunication and the increased significance of en- ronmental issues [KLOC98a, ENGE02]. Precision machining with geometrically undefined cutting edges represents a key production engineering technology with high efficiency, security and machining quality. DIN norm 8589 subsumes within the group "machining with geometrically - defined cutting edges" the following material removal manufacturing processes: grinding, honing, lapping, free abrasive grinding and abrasive blast cutting. - chining is carried out in these production methods by means of more or less - regularly formed grains composed of hard substances brought into contact with the material. Of all methods understood as machining with geometrically undefined cutting edges, only grinding, honing and lapping can, strictly speaking, be considered p- cision machining. Free abrasive grinding and abrasive blast cutting, also treated in this book, represent a special group, as they generally cannot bring about geom- rical change in the material.

This book covers design of experiments (DoE) applied in production engineering as a combination of manufacturing technology with applied management science. It presents recent research advances and applications of design experiments in production engineering and the chapters cover metal cutting tools, soft computing for modelling and optmization of machining, waterjet machining of high performance ceramics, among others.

This book provides specific topics intending to contribute to an improved knowledge on Technology Evaluation and Selection in a Life Cycle Perspectives. Although each chapter will present possible approaches and solutions, there are no recipes for success. Each reader will find his/her balance in applying the different topics to his/her own specific situation. Case studies presented throughout will help in deciding what fits best to each situation, but most of all any ultimate success will come out of the interplay between the available solutions and the specific problem or opportunity the reader is faced with.

This book gathers the best articles presented by researchers and industrial experts at the International Conference on "Innovative Design, Analysis and Development Practices in Aerospace and Automotive Engineering (I-DAD 2020)". The papers discuss new design concepts, and analysis and manufacturing technologies, with a focus on achieving improved performance by downsizing; improving the strength-to-weight ratio, fuel efficiency and operational capability at room and elevated temperatures; reducing wear and tear; addressing NVH aspects, while balancing the challenges of Euro VI/Bharat Stage VI emission norms, greenhouse effects and recyclable materials. Presenting innovative methods, this book is a valuable reference resource for professionals at educational and research organizations, as well as in industry, encouraging them to pursue challenging projects of mutual interest.

Proceedings of the FISITA 2012 World Automotive Congress are selected from nearly 2,000 papers submitted to the 34th FISITA World Automotive Congress, which is held by Society of Automotive Engineers of China (SAE-China ) and the International Federation of Automotive Engineering Societies (FISITA). This proceedings focus on solutions for sustainable mobility in all areas of passenger car, truck and bus transportation. Volume 11: Advanced Vehicle Manufacturing Technology focuses on: *Applications of Aluminum, Magnesium and Zink Alloys , Composites *Advanced Body Manufacturing Technology *Body Corrosion Protection Technology *Welding, Joining and Fastening *Casting Technology *Stamping Technology *Paints, Polymers and Coatings *Exterior Body Panels *Advanced Process Management Above all researchers, professional engineers and graduates in fields of automotive engineering, mechanical engineering and electronic engineering will benefit from this book. SAE-China is a national academic organization composed of enterprises and professionals who focus on research, design and education in the fields of automotive and related industries. FISITA is the umbrella organization for the national automotive societies in 37 countries around the world. It was founded in Paris in 1948 with the purpose of bringing engineers from around the world together in a spirit of cooperation to share ideas and advance the technological development of the automobile.

Precision Nanometrology describes the new field of precision nanometrology, which plays an important part in nanoscale manufacturing of semiconductors, optical elements, precision parts and similar items. It pays particular attention to the measurement of surface forms of precision workpieces and to stage motions of precision machines. The first half of the book is dedicated to the description of optical sensors for the measurement of angle and displacement, which are fundamental quantities for precision nanometrology. The second half presents a number of scanning-type measuring systems for surface forms and stage motions. The systems discussed include: * error separation algorithms and systems for measurement of straightness and roundness, * the measurement of micro-aspherics, * systems based on scanning probe microscopy, and * scanning image-sensor systems. Precision Nanometrology presents the fundamental and practical technologies of precision nanometrology with a helpful selection of algorithms, instruments and experimental data. It will be beneficial for researchers, engineers and postgraduate students involved in precision engineering, nanotechnology and manufacturing.

The advent of the digital economy has the potential to dramatically change the conventional interrelationships among individuals, enterprises and society. There can be little doubt that to achieve vigorous socioeconomic developments in the 21st century, people will have to aggressively use information technology to boost innovation and to organically link the results of that innovation to solutions to global environmental issues and social challenges such as the opportunity divide. We are responsible for taking advantage of the opportunities opened up by the digital economy and for turning those opportunities into things that reflect our values and goals. The book examines the overall impact of the digital economy and the development of a practical institutional design.

Service orientation is emerging nowadays at multiple organizational levels in enterprise business, and it leverages technology in response to the growing need for greater business integration, flexibility and agility of manufacturing enterprises.

The "Service Oriented Architecture" (SOA) analysed throughout the book represents a technical architecture, a business modelling concept, a type of infrastructure, an integration source and a new way of viewing units of automation within the enterprise. The primary goal of SOA is to align the "business world" with the world of "information technology" in a way that makes both more effective.

The service value creation model at enterprise level consists of using a Service Component Architecture for business process applications, based on entities which handle services. In this view a service is a piece of software encapsulating the business/control logic or resource functionality of an enterprise entity that exhibits an individual competence and responds to a specific request to fulfil a local (operation) or global objective (batch production). The value creation model is based on a 2-stage approach:

"Agentification" complex manufacturing processes are split in services provided by informational agents which are discovered, accessed and executed. This leads to a modular, reusable, agile and easy integrate integration.

"Holonification" holons link the material flow and physical entities of the manufacturing processes with the informational part (IT services realized by distributed intelligence) facilitating thus traceability the developing of flexible control systems.

This book gathers contributions from scientists, researchers and industrialists on concepts, methods, frameworks and implementing issues addressing trends in the "service orientation" of control technology and management applied to manufacturing enterprise.

This book gathers contributions from scientists, researchers and industrialists on concepts, methods, frameworks and implementing issues addressing trends in the "service orientation" of control technology and management applied to manufacturing enterprise. "

This volume gathers the peer reviewed papers which were presented at the 5th edition of the International Workshop "Service Orientation in Holonic and Multi-agent Man-ufacturing - SOHOMA'15" organized in November 5-6, 2015 by the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) of the University of Cambridge, UK in collaboration with the CIMR Research Centre in Computer Integrated Manufacturing and Robotics of the University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania, the LAMIH Laboratory of Industrial and Human Automation Control, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science of the University of Valenciennes and Hainaut-Cambresis, France and the CRAN Re-search Centre for Automatic Control, Nancy of the University of Lorraine, France.The book is structured in seven parts, each one grouping a number of chapters de-scribing research in actual domains of the digital transformation in manufacturing and trends in future manufacturing control: (1) Applications of Intelligent Products; (2) Advances in Control of Physical Internet and Interconnected Logistics; (3) Sustaina-bility Issues in Intelligent Manufacturing Systems; (4) Holonic and Multi-agent Sys-tem Design for Industry and Services; (5) Service Oriented Enterprise Management and Control; (6) Cloud and Computing-oriented Manufacturing; (7) Smart Grids and Wireless Sensor Networks.These seven evolution lines have in common concepts, methodologies and imple-menting solutions for the Digital Transformation of Manufacturing. The book offers an integrated vision on complexity, big data and virtualization in service- and compu-ting-oriented manufacturing, combining emergent information and communication technologies, control with distributed intelligence and MAS implementation for total

Potential Function Methods For Approximately Solving Linear Programming Problems breaks new ground in linear programming theory. The book draws on the research developments in three broad areas: linear and integer programming, numerical analysis, and the computational architectures which enable speedy, high-level algorithm design. During the last ten years, a new body of research within the field of optimization research has emerged, which seeks to develop good approximation algorithms for classes of linear programming problems. This work both has roots in fundamental areas of mathematical programming and is also framed in the context of the modern theory of algorithms. The result of this work, in which Daniel Bienstock has been very much involved, has been a family of algorithms with solid theoretical foundations and with growing experimental success. This book will examine these algorithms, starting with some of the very earliest examples, and through the latest theoretical and computational developments.

Membrane Reactors for Hydrogen Production Processes deals with technological and economic aspects of hydrogen selective membranes application in hydrogen production chemical processes. Membrane Reactors for Hydrogen Production Processes starts with an overview of membrane integration in the chemical reaction environment, formulating the thermodynamics and kinetics of membrane reactors and assessing the performance of different process architectures. Then, the state of the art of hydrogen selective membranes, membrane manufacturing processes and the mathematical modeling of membrane reactors are discussed. A review of the most useful applications from an industrial point of view is given. These applications include: natural gas steam reforming, autothermal reforming, water gas shift reaction, decomposition of hydrogen sulphide, and alkanes dehydrogenation. The final part is dedicated to the description of a pilot plant where the novel configuration was implemented at a semi-industrial scale. Plant engineers, researchers and postgraduate students will find Membrane Reactors for Hydrogen Production Processes a comprehensive guide to the state of the art of membrane reactor technology.

This work is the first and only book on the fundamentals of ultrasonic machining. It presents the foundations of dynamic and control for ultrasonic processing systems and considers ultrasonic systems as special vibratory machines that function by exploiting nonlinear dynamic processes. Recommendations are given for designing and tuning ultrasonic machines. The ultrasonic machines analyzed are predominantly concerned with the processing of solids.

Presenting the concept and design and implementation of configurable intelligent optimization algorithms in manufacturing systems, this book provides a new configuration method to optimize manufacturing processes. It provides a comprehensive elaboration of basic intelligent optimization algorithms, and demonstrates how their improvement, hybridization and parallelization can be applied to manufacturing. Furthermore, various applications of these intelligent optimization algorithms are exemplified in detail, chapter by chapter. The intelligent optimization algorithm is not just a single algorithm; instead it is a general advanced optimization mechanism which is highly scalable with robustness and randomness. Therefore, this book demonstrates the flexibility of these algorithms, as well as their robustness and reusability in order to solve mass complicated problems in manufacturing. Since the genetic algorithm was presented decades ago, a large number of intelligent optimization algorithms and their improvements have been developed. However, little work has been done to extend their applications and verify their competence in solving complicated problems in manufacturing. This book will provide an invaluable resource to students, researchers, consultants and industry professionals interested in engineering optimization. It will also be particularly useful to three groups of readers: algorithm beginners, optimization engineers and senior algorithm designers. It offers a detailed description of intelligent optimization algorithms to algorithm beginners; recommends new configurable design methods for optimization engineers, and provides future trends and challenges of the new configuration mechanism to senior algorithm designers.

This volume represents the proceedings of the First International Conference on S- tainability in Energy and Buildings, SEB'09, held in the City of Brighton and Hove in the United Kingdom, organised by KES International with the assistance of the World Renewable Energy Congress / Network, and hosted by the University of Brighton. KES International is a knowledge transfer organisation providing high-quality c- ference events and publishing opportunities for researchers. The KES association is a community consisting of several thousand research scientists and engineers who p- ticipate in KES activities. For over a decade KES has been a leader in the area of Knowledge Based and Intelligent information and Engineering Systems. Now KES is starting to make a contribution in the area of Sustainability and Renewable Energy with this first conference specifically on renewable energy and its application to - mestic and other buildings. Sustainability in energy and buildings is a topic of - creasing interest and importance on the world agenda. We therefore hope and intend that this first SEB event may grow and evolve into a conference series. KES International is a member of the World Renewable Energy Congress / N- work which is Chaired by Professor Ali Sayigh. We are grateful to Professor Sayigh for the collaboration and assistance of WREC/N in the organisation of SEB'09. We hope to continue to work with WREC/N in the future on projects of common interest.

The well documented increase in the use of high performance composites as structural materials in aerospace components is continuously raising the demands in terms of dynamic performance, structural integrity, reliable life monitoring systems and adaptive actuating abilities. Current technologies address the above issues separately; material property tailoring and custom design practices aim to the enhancement of dynamic and damage tolerance characteristics, whereas life monitoring and actuation is performed with embedded sensors that may be detrimental to the structural integrity of the component. This publication explores the unique properties of carbon nanotubes (CNT) as an additive in the matrix of Fibre Reinforced Plastics (FRP), for producing structural composites with improved mechanical performance as well as sensing/actuating capabilities. The successful combination of the CNT properties and existing sensing actuating technologies leads to the realization of a multifunctional FRP structure. The current volume presents the state of the art research in this field. The contributions cover all the aspects of the novel composite systems, i.e. modeling from nano to macro scale, enhancement of structural efficiency, dispersion and manufacturing, integral health monitoring abilities, Raman monitoring, as well as the capabilities that ordered carbon nanotube arrays offer in terms of sensing and/or actuating in aerospace composites.

Mechanical design includes an optimization process in which designers always consider objectives such as strength, deflection, weight, wear, corrosion, etc. depending on the requirements. However, design optimization for a complete mechanical assembly leads to a complicated objective function with a large number of design variables. It is a good practice to apply optimization techniques for individual components or intermediate assemblies than a complete assembly. Analytical or numerical methods for calculating the extreme values of a function may perform well in many practical cases, but may fail in more complex design situations. In real design problems, the number of design parameters can be very large and their influence on the value to be optimized (the goal function) can be very complicated, having nonlinear character. In these complex cases, advanced optimization algorithms offer solutions to the problems, because they find a solution near to the global optimum within reasonable time and computational costs.

"Mechanical Design Optimization Using Advanced Optimization Techniques" presents a comprehensive review on latest research and development trends for design optimization of mechanical elements and devices. Using examples of various mechanical elements and devices, the possibilities for design optimization with advanced optimization techniques are demonstrated. Basic and advanced concepts of traditional and advanced optimization techniques are presented, along with real case studies, results of applications of the proposed techniques, and the best optimization strategies to achieve best performance are highlighted. Furthermore, a novel advanced optimization method named teaching-learning-based optimization (TLBO) is presented in this book and this method shows better performance with less computational effort for the large scale problems.

"Mechanical Design Optimization Using Advanced Optimization Techniques" is intended for designers, practitioners, managers, institutes involved in design related projects, applied research workers, academics, and graduate students in mechanical and industrial engineering and will be useful to the industrial product designers for realizing a product as it presents new models and optimization techniques to make tasks easier, logical, efficient and effective. .

"Examining reliability, availability, and risk analysis and reviewing in probability and statistics essential to understanding reliability methods, this outstanding volume describes day-to-day techniques used by practicing engineers -- discussing important reliability aspects of both components and complex systems. "

Production engineering and management involve a series of planning and control activities in a production system. A production system can be as small as a shop with only one machine or as big as a global operation including many manufacturing plants, distribution centers, and retail locations in multiple continents. The product of a production system can also vary in complexity based on the material used, technology employed, etc. Every product, whether a pencil or an airplane, is produced in a system which depends on good management to be successful. Production management has been at the center of industrial engineering and management science disciplines since the industrial revolution. The tools and techniques of production management have been so successful that they have been adopted to various service industries, as well. The book is intended to be a valuable resource to undergraduate and graduate students interested in the applications of production management under fuzziness. The chapters represent all areas of production management and are organized to reflect the natural order of production management tasks. In all chapters, special attention is given to applicability and wherever possible, numerical examples are presented. While the reader is expected to have a fairly good understanding of the fuzzy logic, the book provides the necessary notation and preliminary knowledge needed in each chapter.