This monograph systematically presents the fundamentals of theoretical and experimental research into the most important physical characteristics of porous structures. Non-standard behavior of certain physical parameters, such as the breakdown of the electric field of porous substances, is described. The method of calculation of the thermal conductivity coefficient of porous dielectrics, based on the non-equilibrium principle, is illustrated in detail. The present approach may be applied to the investigation of the properties of "disparate" substances such as cellulose matrices, composites, and fibrous structures. The book is intended for physicists, physical chemists and materials scientists at research and postgraduate and undergraduate levels. It may also be helpful for engineers and technical workers in the applied sciences.

Understanding the recent developments in renewable energy is crucial for a range of fields in today's society. As environmental awareness and the need for a more sustainable future continues to grow, the uses of renewable energy, particularly in areas such as smart grid, must be considered and studied thoroughly to be implemented successfully and move society toward a more sustainable future. Optimal Planning of Smart Grid With Renewable Energy Resources offers a detailed guide to the new problems and opportunities for sustainable growth in engineering by focusing on modeling diverse problems occurring in science and engineering as well as novel effective theoretical methods and robust optimization theories, which can be used to analyze and solve multiple types of problems. Covering topics such as electric drives and energy systems, this publication is ideal for researchers, academicians, industry professionals, engineers, scholars, instructors, and students.

The term "nonconventional machining" refers a group of processes that removes material by various methods involving thermal, electrical, chemical and mechanical energy. Nonconventional machining is required when workpieces are extremely hard, too flexible or have complex geometries. Most recent methods and applications are described by acknowledged experts in the field to provide a useful reference for academics, researchers and decision takers.

This book describes thermal plant simulation, that is, dynamic simulation of plants which produce, exchange and otherwise utilize heat as their working medium. Directed at chemical, mechanical and control engineers involved with operations, control and optimization and operator training, the book gives the mathematical formulation and use of simulation models of the equipment and systems typically found in these industries. The author has adopted a fundamental approach to the subject. The initial chapters provide an overview of simulation concepts and describe a suitable computer environment. Reviews of relevant numerical computation methods and fundamental thermodynamics are followed by a detailed examination of the basic conservation equations. The bulk of the book is concerned with development of specific simulation models. Care is taken to trace each model derivation path from the basic underlying physical equations, explaining simplifying and restrictive assumptions as they arise and relating the model coefficients to the physical dimensions and physical properties of the working materials. Numerous photographs of real equipment complement the text and most models are illustrated by numerical examples based on typical real plant operations.

The book introduces an original and effective method for the analysis of peak-to-peak output current ripple amplitude in three-phase two-level inverters. It shows that the method can be extended to both multiphase inverters, with particular emphasis on five-phase and seven-phase inverters, and multilevel ones, with particular emphasis on three-level inverters, and provides, therefore, a comparison among different number of output phases and voltage levels. The work reported on here represents the first detailed analysis of the peak-to-peak output current ripple. It makes an important step toward future developments in the field of high-power generation, and in grid-connected and motor-load systems.

There is a growing number of applications that require fast-rotating machines; motivation for this thesis comes from a project in which downsized spindles for micro-machining have been researched. The thesis focuses on analysis and design of high-speed PM machines and uses a practical design of a high-speed spindle drive as a test case. Phenomena, both mechanical and electromagnetic, that take precedence in high-speed permanent magnet machines are identified and systematized. The thesis identifies inherent speed limits of permanent magnet machines and correlates those limits with the basic parameters of the machines. The analytical expression of the limiting quantities does not only impose solid constraints on the machine design, but also creates the way for design optimization leading to the maximum mechanical and/or electromagnetic utilization of the machine. The models and electric-drive concepts developed in the thesis are evaluated in a practical setup.

Offering thorough coverage of atomic layer deposition (ALD), this book moves from basic chemistry of ALD and modeling of processes to examine ALD in memory, logic devices and machines. Reviews history, operating principles and ALD processes for each device.

This volume contains selected presentations of the "EUROMECH Colloquium 412 on LES of complex transitional and turbulent flows" held at the Munich University of Technology from 4 to 6 October 2000.

The articles focus on new developments in the field of large-eddy simulation of complex flows and are related to the topics: modelling and analysis of subgrid scales, numerical issues in LES cartesian grids for complex geometries, curvilinear and non-structured grids for complex geometries. DES and RANS-LES coupling, aircraft wake vortices, combustion and magnetohydrodynamics.

Progress has been made not only in understanding and modelling the dynamics of unresolved scales, but also in designing means that prevent the contamination of LES predictions by discretization errors. Progress is reported as well on the use of cartesian and curvilinear coordinates to compute flow in and around complex geometries and in the field of LES with unstructured grids. A chapter is dedicated to the detached-eddy simulation technique and its recent achievements and to the promising technique of coupling RANS and LES solutions in order to push the resolution-based Reynolds number limit of wall-resolving LES to higher values.

Complexity due to physical mechanisms links the last two chapters. It is shown that LES constitutes the tool to analyse the physics of aircraft wake vortices during landing and takeoff. Its thorough understanding is a prerequisite for reliable predictions of the distance between consecutive landing airplanes. Subgrid combustion modelling for LES of single and two-phase reacting flows is demonstrated to have the potential to deal with finite-rate kinetics in high Reynolds numberflows of full-scale gas turbine engines. Fluctuating magnetic fields are more reliably predicted by LES when tensor-diffusivity rather than gradient-diffusion models are used. An encouraging result in the context of turbulence control by magnetic fields.

In the last decade, signi?cant changes have occurred in the ?eld of vehicle motion planning, and for UAVs in particular. UAV motion planning is especially dif?cult due to several complexities not considered by earlier planning strategies: the - creased importance of differential constraints, atmospheric turbulence which makes it impossible to follow a pre-computed plan precisely, uncertainty in the vehicle state, and limited knowledge about the environment due to limited sensor capabilities. These differences have motivated the increased use of feedback and other control engineering techniques for motion planning. The lack of exact algorithms for these problems and dif?culty inherent in characterizing approximation algorithms makes it impractical to determine algorithm time complexity, completeness, and even soundness. This gap has not yet been addressed by statistical characterization of experimental performance of algorithms and benchmarking. Because of this overall lack of knowledge, it is dif?cult to design a guidance system, let alone choose the algorithm. Throughout this paper we keep in mind some of the general characteristics and requirements pertaining to UAVs. A UAV is typically modeled as having velocity and acceleration constraints (and potentially the higher-order differential constraints associated with the equations of motion), and the objective is to guide the vehicle towards a goal through an obstacle ?eld. A UAV guidance problem is typically characterized by a three-dimensional problem space, limited information about the environment, on-board sensors with limited range, speed and acceleration constraints, and uncertainty in vehicle state and sensor data.

Fibre-to-the-Home networks constitute a fundamental telecom segment with the required potential to match the huge capacity of transport networks with the new user communication demands. Huge investments in access network infrastructure are expected for the next decade, with many initiatives already launched around the globe recently, driven by the new broadband service demands and the necessity by operators to deploy a future-proof infrastructure in the field. Dense FTTH Passive Optical Networks (PONs) is a cost-efficient way to build fibre access, and international standards (G/E-PON) have been already launched, leading to new set of telecom products for mass deployment. However, these systems only make use of less than 1% of the optical bandwidth; thus, relevant research is taking place to maximize the capacity of these systems, with the latest opto-electronic technologies, demonstrating that the huge bandwidth available through the fibre access can be exploited in a cost-efficient and reliable manner.

Next-Generation FTTH Passive Optical Networks gathers and analyzes the most relevant techniques developed recently on technologies for the next generation FTTH networks, trying to answer the question: what's after G/E-PONs?

Multicore Processors and Systems provides a comprehensive overview of emerging multicore processors and systems. It covers technology trends affecting multicores, multicore architecture innovations, multicore software innovations, and case studies of state-of-the-art commercial multicore systems. A cross-cutting theme of the book is the challenges associated with scaling up multicore systems to hundreds of cores.

The book provides an overview of significant developments in the architectures for multicore processors and systems. It includes chapters on fundamental requirements for multicore systems, including processing, memory systems, and interconnect. It also includes several case studies on commercial multicore systems that have recently been developed and deployed across multiple application domains. The architecture chapters focus on innovative multicore execution models as well as infrastructure for multicores, including memory systems and on-chip interconnections. The case studies examine multicore implementations across different application domains, including general purpose, server, media/broadband, network processing, and signal processing.

Multicore Processors and Systems is the first book that focuses solely on multicore processors and systems, and in particular on the unique technology implications, architectures, and implementations. The book has contributing authors that are from both the academic and industrial communities.

Power engineering has become a multidisciplinary field ranging from linear algebra, electronics, signal processing to artificial intelligence including recent trends like bio-inspired computation, lateral computing and so on. In this book, Ukil builds the bridge between these inter-disciplinary power engineering practices. The book looks into two major fields used in modern power systems: intelligent systems and the signal processing.

The intelligent systems section comprises of fuzzy logic, neural network and support vector machine. The author looks at relevant theories on the topics without assuming much particular background. Following the theoretical basics, he studies their applications in various problems in power engineering, like, load forecasting, phase balancing, or disturbance analysis. These application studies are of two types: full application studies explained like in-depth case-studies, and semi-developed application ideas with scope for further extension. This is followed by pointers to further research information.

In the second part, the book leads into the signal processing from the basics of the system theory, followed by fundamentals of different signal processing transforms with examples. A section follows about the sampling technique and the digital filters which are the ultimate processing tools. The theoretical basics are substantiated by some of the applications in power engineering, both in-depth and semi-developed as before. This also ends up with pointers to further research information.

Intelligent Systems and Signal Processing in Power Engineering is helpful for students, researchers and engineers, trying to solve power engineering problems using intelligent systems and signal processing, or seeking applications of intelligent systems and signal processing in power engineering."

Promptly growing demand for telecommunication services and information interchange has led to the fact that communication became one of the most dynamical branches of an infrastructure of a modern society. The book introduces to the bases of classical MDP theory; problems of a finding optimal CAC in models are investigated and various problems of improvement of characteristics of traditional and multimedia wireless communication networks are considered together with both classical and new methods of theory MDP which allow defining optimal strategy of access in teletraffic systems. The book will be useful to specialists in the field of telecommunication systems and also to students and post-graduate students of corresponding specialties.

In this book, recent progress in batteries is firstly reviewed by researchers in three leading Japanese battery companies, SONY, Matsushita and Sanyo, and then the future problems in battery development are stated. Then, recent development of solid state ionics for batteries, including lithium ion battery, metal-hydride battery, and fuel cells, are reviewed. A battery comprises essentially three components: positive electrode, negative electrode, and electrolyte. Each component is discussed for the construction of all-solid-state Batteries. Theoretical understanding of properties of battery materials by using molecular orbital calculations is also introduced.

The continous development of computer technology supported by the VLSI revolution stimulated the research in the field .of multiprocessors systems. The main motivation for the migration of design efforts from conventional architectures towards multiprocessor ones is the possibi I ity to obtain a significant processing power together with the improvement of price/performance, reliability and flexibility figures. Currently, such systems are moving from research laboratories to real field appl ications. Future technological advances and new generations of components are I ikely to further enhance this trend. This book is intended to provide basic concepts and design methodologies for engineers and researchers involved in the development of mul tiprocessor systems and/or of appl ications based on multiprocessor architectures. In addition the book can be a source of material for computer architecture courses at graduate level. A preliminary knowledge of computer architecture and logical design has been assumed in wri ting this book. Not all the problems related with the development of multiprocessor systems are addressed in th i s book. The covered range spans from the electrical and logical design problems, to architectural issues, to design methodologis for system software. Subj ects such as software development in a multiprocessor environment or loosely coupled multiprocessor systems are out of the scope of the book. Since the basic elements, processors and memories, are now available as standard integrated circuits, the key design problem is how to put them together in an efficient and reliable way."

This book constitutes the Final Report of COST Action 279, Analysis and DesignofAdvancedMultiserviceNetworkssupportingMultimedia, Mobility, andInterworking, a guided tour of the state-of-the-art work on diverse aspects of modern telecommunications networks design developed within this Action during the four years of its operation, started on July 1, 2001, and ended on June 30, 2005. As stated in its founding charter, its Memorandum of Understanding, the work area of COST 279 is the analysis, design, and control aspects of prese- day networks-quite a wide scope. Behind the unifying fac, ade put on by the Internet Protocol (IP) network layer, todays networks hide a mess of hete- geneity: heterogeneity at the level of applications, both concerning the traf?c they produce and the network Quality of Service (QoS) they require, and h- erogeneity at the level of network component subsystems, in particular an - creasingly important mobile/wireless access segment. A common ground for the treatment of this disparate set of topics was given by the strong meth- ological component contained in the approach followed in COST 279, with importance placed on the development and application, whenever possible, of analytical techniques and models for the mathematical understanding of the systems under study. The results expected from the Action ranged thus from mathematical models and algorithms as entities of own interest to the und- standing of systembehavior via their application."

Information technology is the enabling foundation for all of human activity at the beginning of the 21st century, and advances in this area are crucial to all of us. These advances are taking place all over the world and can only be followed and perceived when researchers from all over the world assemble, and exchange their ideas in conferences such as the one presented in this proceedings volume regarding the 26th International Symposium on Computer and Information Systems, held at the Royal Society in London on 26th to 28th September 2011. Computer and Information Sciences II contains novel advances in the state of the art covering applied research in electrical and computer engineering and computer science, across the broad area of information technology. It provides access to the main innovative activities in research across the world, and points to the results obtained recently by some of the most active teams in both Europe and Asia.

Power Quality Enhancement Using Custom Power Devices considers the structure, control and performance of series compensating DVR, the shunt DSTATCOM and the shunt with series UPQC for power quality improvement in electricity distribution.
Also addressed are other power electronic devices for improving power quality in Solid State Transfer Switches and Fault Current Limiters. Applications for these technologies as they relate to compensating busses supplied by a weak line and for distributed generation connections in rural networks, are included. In depth treatment of inverters to achieve voltage support, voltage balancing, harmonic suppression and transient suppression in realistic network environments are also covered. New material on the potential for shunt and series compensation which emphasizes the importance of control design has been introduced.

This volume includes a comprehensive theoretical treatment and current state-of-the art applications of the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). It discusses interface circuits and the study of viscoelasticity and micromechanics as well as surface roughness with the QCM. Coverage also details the broad field of analytical applications of piezoelectric sensors.