The book deals with intelligent control of mobile robots, presenting the state-of-the-art in the field, and introducing new control algorithms developed and tested by the authors. It also discusses the use of artificial intelligent methods like neural networks and neuraldynamic programming, including globalised dual-heuristic dynamic programming, for controlling wheeled robots and robotic manipulators,and compares them to classical control methods.

Have you ever puzzled over how to perform Boolean logic at the atomic scale? Or wondered how you can carry out more general calculations in one single molecule or using a surface dangling bond atomic scale circuit? This volume gives you an update on the design of single molecule devices, such as recitfiers, switches and transistors, more advanced semi-classical and quantum boolean gates integrated in a single molecule or constructed atom by atom on a passivated semi-conductor surface and describes their interconnections with adapted nano-scale wiring. The main contributors to the field of single molecule logic gates and surface dangling bond atomic scale circuits theory and design, were brought together for the first time to contribute on topics such as molecule circuits, surface dangling bond circuits, quantum controlled logic gates and molecular qubits. Contributions in this volume originate from the Barcelona workshop of the AtMol conference series, held from January 12-13 2012.

For all the interest that wireless sensor networks have created over the past decade, there are few examples to show that they are truly delivering on this promise and anticipation. What is missing? Deviating from the usual focus on routing and energy efficiency, Building Sensor Networks: From Design to Applications attempts to stitch together the path from conceptual development of applications, on one end, to actual complete applications at the other. With this change in perspective, the book examines important facets of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) that are not often discussed in the literature. From Design Practices to the Networking Protocols that Glue Applications Together Organized into three sections, the book presents insights from international experts representing both industry and academia. The first section, on design practices, explores alternative ways to approach the tasks of developing a suitable WSN solution to an application and assisting that development in a manner that is not necessarily tied to a particular application. The second section, on networking protocols, illustrates the impact of the intermediaries-the "glue" of putting applications together. Chapters look at ways to address traffic, delays in network clustering, and the coexistence of a WSN with other systems on a frequency band. The final section of the book delves into experiences with applications in chemical sensing, defense, global trade and security, and ecosystem monitoring. Although these applications may fail the purist definition of an ideal WSN, they offer valuable lessons for the future development and deployment of WSNs. Challenge Your Thinking about Designing WSN Applications Emphasizing the need to build applications, the contributors present examples of what applications of WSNs could look like and identify the constraints. Throughout, the book challenges and illuminates your thinking about how to tame the complexity of designing a WSN application. It is essential reading for anyone interested in future wireless technologies.

This is a richly imaginative study of machines for writing and reading at the end of the nineteenth century in America. Its aim is to explore writing and reading as culturally contingent experiences, and at the same time to broaden our view of the relationship between technology and textuality.
At the book's heart is the proposition that technologies of inscription are materialized theories of language. Whether they failed (like Thomas Edison's "electric pen") or succeeded (like typewriters), inscriptive technologies of the late nineteenth century were local, often competitive embodiments of the way people experienced writing and reading. Such a perspective cuts through the determinism of recent accounts while arguing for an interdisciplinary method for considering texts and textual production.
Starting with the cacophonous promotion of shorthand alphabets in postbellum America, the author investigates the assumptions--social, psychic, semiotic--that lie behind varying inscriptive practices. The "grooves" in the book's title are the delicate lines recorded and played by phonographs, and readers will find in these pages a surprising and complex genealogy of the phonograph, along with new readings of the history of the typewriter and of the earliest silent films. Modern categories of authorship, representation, and readerly consumption emerge here amid the un- or sub-literary interests of patent attorneys, would-be inventors, and record producers. Modern subjectivities emerge both in ongoing social constructions of literacy and in the unruly and seemingly unrelated practices of American spiritualism, "Coon" songs, and Rube Goldberg-type romanticism.
Just as digital networks and hypertext have today made us more aware of printed books as knowledge structures, the development and dissemination of the phonograph and typewriter coincided with a transformed awareness of oral and inscribed communication. It was an awareness at once influential in the development of consumer culture, literary and artistic experiences of modernity, and the disciplinary definition of the "human" sciences, such as linguistics, anthropology, and psychology. Recorded sound, typescripts, silent films, and other inscriptive media are memory devices, and in today's terms the author offers a critical theory of ROM and RAM for the century before computers.

The best-selling Distributed Sensor Networks became the definitive guide to understanding this far-reaching technology. Preserving the excellence and accessibility of its predecessor, Distributed Sensor Networks, Second Edition once again provides all the fundamentals and applications in one complete, self-contained source. Ideal as a tutorial for students or as research material for engineers, the book gives readers up-to-date, practical insight on all aspects of the field. Revised and expanded, this second edition incorporates contributions from many veterans of the DARPA ISO SENSIT program as well as new material from distinguished researchers in the field. Image and Sensor Signal Processing focuses on software issues and the history and future of sensor networks. The book also covers information fusion and power management. Readers of this book may also be interested in Distributed Sensor Networks, Second Edition: Sensor Networking and Applications (ISBN: 9781439862872).

This book proposes a thorough introduction for a varied audience. The reader will master London theory and the Pippard equations, and go on to understand type I and type II superconductors (their thermodynamics, magnetic properties, vortex dynamics, current transport...), Cooper pairs and the results of BCS theory. By studying coherence and flux quantization he or she will be lead to the Josephson effect which, with the SQUID, is a good example of the applications. The reader can make up for any gaps in his knowledge with the use of the appendices, follow the logic behind each model, and assimilate completely the underlying concepts. Approximately 250 illustrations help in developing a thorough understanding. This volume is aimed towards masters and doctoral students, as well as advanced undergraduates, teachers and researchers at all levels coming from a broad range of subjects (chemistry, physics, mechanical and electrical engineering, materials science...). Engineers working in industry will have a useful introduction to other more applied or specialized material. Philippe Mangin is emeritus professor of physics at Mines Nancy Graduate School of Science, Engineering and Management of the University of Lorraine, and researcher at the Jean Lamour Institute in France. He is the former director of both the French neutron scattering facility, Leon Brillouin Laboratory in Orsay, and the Material Physics Laboratory in Nancy, and has taught superconductivity to a broad audience, in particular to engineering students. Remi Kahn is a retired senior research scientist of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA-Saclay). He worked at the Leon Brillouin Laboratory and was in charge of the experimental areas of INB 101 (the Orphee research reactor). This work responded to the need to bring an accessible account suitable for a wide spectrum of scientists and engineers.

This handbook focuses on the entire development process of biomedical microsystems that promote special interactions with cells. Fundamentals of cell biology and mechanobiology are described as necessary preparatory input for design tasks. Advanced design, simulation, and micro/nanomanufacturing resources, whose combined use enables the development of biomedical microsystems capable of interacting at a cellular level, are covered in depth. A detailed series of chapters is then devoted to applications based on microsystems that offer enhanced cellular control, including microfluidic devices for diagnosis and therapy, cell-based sensors and actuators (smart biodevices), microstructured prostheses for improvement of biocompatibility, microstructured and microtextured cell culture matrices for promotion of cell growth and differentiation, electrophoretic microsystems for study of cell mechanics, microstructured and microtextured biodevices for study of cell adhesion and dynamics, and biomimetic microsystems (including organs-on-chips), among others. Challenges relating to the development of reliable in vitro biomimetic microsystems, the design and manufacture of complex geometries, and biofabrication are also discussed.

At the start of the Industrial Revolution, it appeared that most scientific instruments were made and sold in London, but by the time of the Great Exhibition in 1851, a number of provincial firms had the self-confidence to exhibit their products in London to an international audience. How had this change come about, and why? This book looks at the four main, and two lesser, English centres known for instrument production outside the capital: Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield, along with the older population centres in Bristol and York. Making wide use of new sources, Dr Morrison-Low, curator of history of science at the National Museums of Scotland, charts the growth of these centres and provides a characterisation of their products. New information is provided on aspects of the trade, especially marketing techniques, sources of materials, tools and customer relationships. From contemporary evidence, she argues that the principal output of the provincial trade (with some notable exceptions) must have been into the London marketplace, anonymously, and at the cheaper end of the market. She also discusses the structure and organization of the provincial trade, and looks at the impact of new technology imported from other closely-allied trades. By virtue of its approach and subject matter the book considers aspects of economic and business history, gender and the family, the history of science and technology, material culture, and patterns of migration. It contains a myriad of stories of families and firms, of entrepreneurs and customers, and of organizations and arms of government. In bringing together this wide range of interests, Dr Morrison-Low enables us to appreciate how central the making, selling and distribution of scientific instruments was for the Industrial Revolution.

"Wave Propagation in Nanostructures "describes the fundamental and advanced concepts of waves propagating in structures that have dimensions of the order of nanometers. The book is fundamentally based on non-local elasticity theory, which includes scale effects in the continuum model. The book predominantly addresses wave behavior in carbon nanotubes and Graphene structures, although the methods of analysis provided in this text are equally applicable to other nanostructures.

The book takes the reader from the fundamentals of wave propagation in nanotubes to more advanced topics such as rotating nanotubes, coupled nanotubes, and nanotubes with magnetic field and surface effects. The first few chapters cover the basics of wave propagation, different modeling schemes for nanostructures and introduce non-local elasticity theories, which form the building blocks for understanding the material provided in later chapters. A number of interesting examples are provided to illustrate the important features of wave behavior in these low dimensional structures.

This volume summarizes the state-of-the-art technologies, key advances and future trends in the field of label-free biosensing. It provides detailed insights into the different types of solid-state, label-free biosensors, their underlying transducer principles, advanced materials utilized, device-fabrication techniques and various applications. The book offers graduate students, academic researchers, and industry professionals a comprehensive source of information on all facets of label-free biosensing and the future trends in this flourishing field. Highlights of the subjects covered include label-free biosensing with: * semiconductor field-effect devices such as nanomaterial-modified capacitive electrolyte-insulator-semiconductor structures, silicon nanowire transistors, III-nitride semiconductor devices and light-addressable potentiometric sensors * impedimetric biosensors using planar and 3D electrodes * nanocavity and solid-state nanopore devices * carbon nanotube and graphene/graphene oxide biosensors * electrochemical biosensors using molecularly imprinted polymers * biomimetic sensors based on acoustic signal transduction * enzyme logic systems and digital biosensors based on the biocomputing concept * heat-transfer as a novel transducer principle * ultrasensitive surface plasmon resonance biosensors * magnetic biosensors and magnetic imaging devices

The book provides an introduction of surface plasmons and presents its applications in the sensing of various chemical and biological analyses using optical fiber technology. The field is developed by introducing the surface plasmons for semi-infinite metal-dielectric interface with discussion of their propagation length and penetration depth. Practical issues with the excitation of surface plasmons in different configurations and in various geometries including various means of their excitation have also been included. The book discusses the essential components of fiber optic sensors, their functions and the performance parameters along with the theoretical description of fiber optic Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) sensors with respect to various light launching conditions. The fabrication methods and protocols used for the fabrication of the fiber optic SPR chemical and biosensors have been described. Some fiber optic sensing applications based on SPR phenomena and various issues, such as sensitivity enhancement, influence of external stimuli etc, have been an important part of the book.The book will help beginners as well as established researchers in understanding the fundamentals and advancements of optical fiber plasmonic sensor technology. The book contains both the rigorous theory and the experimental techniques of SPR and related variety of sensors.

This book provides an overview of the noteworthy developments in the field of micromachining, with a specific focus on microinjection systems used for biological micromanipulation. The author also explores the design, development, and fabrication of new mechanical designs for micromachines, with plenty of examples that elucidate their modeling and control. The design and fabrication of a piezoelectric microinjector, constant force microinjector, constant force microgripper, PDVF microforce sensor, and a piezoelectric microsyringe are presented as examples of new technology for microinjection systems. This book is appropriate for both researchers and advanced students in bioengineering.

Mechanics Over Micro and Nano Scales covers the recent developments in the fields of mechanics in all forms over micro, meso and nano scales. Special emphasis is given to related novel applications and includes fundamental aspects of fluid and solid mechanics, soft matters, scaling laws, and synthetic biology. At the micro and nano scales, realization of many technologically viable ideas relies on the skillful integration of mechanics at macroscopic and molecular levels, both for solids as well as fluids. Research in the related areas is no longer confined to the understanding of the governing the physics of the system, but is also responsible for triggering a technological revolution at small scales. This book also: discusses the fundamentals of mechanics over micro and nano scales in a level accessible to multi-disciplinary researchers, with a balance of mathematical details and physical principles, covers life sciences and chemistry for use in emerging applications related to mechanics over small scales and demonstrates the explicit interconnection between various scale issues and the mechanics of miniaturized systems. Mechanics Over Micro and Nano Scales is an ideal book for researchers and engineers working in mechanics of both solids and fluids.

Written by industry experts, this book aims toprovide you with an understanding of how to design and work with wearable sensors. Together these insights provide the first single source of information on wearable sensors that would be avaluable addition to the library of any engineer interested in this field. "

Wearable Sensors "covers a wide variety of topics associated with the development and application of various wearable sensors. It also provides an overview and coherent summary of many aspects of current wearable sensor technology. Both industry professionals and academic researchers will benefit from this comprehensive referencewhich contains the mostup-to-dateinformation on the advancement of lightweight hardware, energy harvesting, signal processing, and wireless communications and networks. Practical problems with smart fabrics, biomonitoring and health informatics are all addressed, plus end user centric design, ethical and safety issues.
Provides the first comprehensive resource of all currently used wearable devices in an accessible and structured manner.Helps engineers manufacture wearable devices with information on current technologies, witha focuson end user needs and recycling requirements.Combines the expertise of professionals and academics in one practical and applied source."

The majority of the cost-savings for any oil production facility is the prevention of failure in the production equipment such as pressure vessels. Money lost through lost production far outweighs expenses associated with maintenance and proper operation. However, many new engineers lack the necessary skills to effectively find and troubleshoot operating problems while experienced engineers lack knowledge of the latest codes and standards. The fifth book in the Field Manual Series, the "Pressure Vessel Operations Field Manual" provides new and experienced engineers with the latest tools to alter, repair and re-rate pressure vessels using ASME, NBIC and API 510 codes and standards.
Step-by-step procedure on how to design, perform in-shop and in-field inspections and repairs, perform alterations and re-rate a pressure vessel

How to select the appropriate vessel specifications, evaluate associated reports and determine allowable stresses

Calculations for stresses in pressure vessels

Select the appropriate materials of construction for a pressure vessel

Design pressure vessels using the ASME Code Section VIII, Division 1 and 2 to best fit the circumstance

This book provides an overview of electrodeposition of nanomaterials from principles to modern concepts for advanced materials in science and technology. Electrochemical deposition or electrodeposition is explained for fabrication and mass production of functional and nanostructured device materials. The present book spans from principles to modern insights and concepts. It gives a comprehensive overview of the electrochemistry of materials, which is useful as basic information to understand concepts used for nanostructuring of electrodeposited materials, reviews the electrodeposition constituents, thermodynamics and kinetics of electrodeposition, electrochemical and instrumental assessment techniques and other physical factors affecting the electrodeposition mechanisms. A wide variety of nanostructured materials and related concepts and applications are explained with respect to nanocrystals, nanocrystalline films, template-based nanostructures, nanocomposite films, nanostructures on semiconductors, multilayers, mesoporous films, scanning microscopical probe assisted fabrication and galvanic replacement. This book is useful for researchers in materials science, engineering technologists and graduate students. It can also be used as a textbook for undergraduates and graduate students studying related disciplines.

"Photophysics of Carbon Nanotubes Interfaced with Organic and Inorganic Materials "describes physical, optical and spectroscopic properties of the emerging class of nanocomposites formed from carbon nanotubes (CNTs) interfacing with organic and inorganic materials.

The three main chapters detail novel trends in photophysics related to the interaction of light with various carbon nanotube composites from relatively simple CNT/small molecule assemblies to complex hybrids such as CNT/Si and CNT/DNA nanostructures. The latest experimental results are followed up with detailed discussions and scientific and technological perspectives to provide a through coverage of major topics including:

-Light harvesting, energy conversion, photoinduced charge separation and transport in CNT based nanohybrids

-CNT/polymer composites exhibiting photoactuation; and

-Optical spectroscopy and structure of CNT/DNA complexes.

Including original data and a short review of recent research, "Photophysics of Carbon Nanotubes Interfaced with Organic and Inorganic Materials" makes this emerging field of photophysics and its applications available to academics and professionals working with carbon nanotube composites in fundamental and applied fields

Due to their speed, data density, and versatility, optical metrology tools play important roles in today s high-speed industrial manufacturing applications. Handbook of Optical Dimensional Metrology provides useful background information and practical examples to help readers understand and effectively use state-of-the-art optical metrology methods.

The book first builds a foundation for evaluating optical measurement methods. It explores the many terms of optical metrology and compares it to other forms of metrology, such as mechanical gaging, highlighting the limitations and errors associated with each mode of measurement at a general level. This comparison is particularly helpful to current industry users who operate the most widely applied mechanical tools.

The book then focuses on each application area of measurement, working down from large area to medium-sized to submicron measurements. It describes the measurement of large objects on the scale of buildings, the measurement of durable manufactured goods such as aircraft engines and appliances, and the measurement of fine features on the micron and nanometer scales. In each area, the book covers fast, coarse measures as well as the finest measurements possible. Best practices and practical examples for each technology aid readers in effectively using the methods.

Requiring no prior expertise in optical dimensional metrology, this handbook helps engineers and quality specialists understand the capabilities and limitations of optical metrology methods. It also shows them how to successfully apply optical metrology to a vast array of current engineering and scientific problems.

The thesis tackles one of the most difficult problems of modern nanoscale science and technology - exploring what governs thermal phenomena at the nanoscale, how to measure the temperatures in devices just a few atoms across, and how to manage heat transport on these length scales. Nanoscale heat generated in microprocessor components of only a few tens of nanometres across cannot be effectively fed away, thus stalling the famous Moore's law of increasing computer speed, valid now for more than a decade. In this thesis, Jean Spiece develops a novel comprehensive experimental and analytical framework for high precision measurement of heat flows at the nanoscale using advanced scanning thermal microscopy (SThM) operating in ambient and vacuum environment, and reports the world's first operation of cryogenic SThM. He applies the methodology described in the thesis to novel carbon-nanotube-based effective heat conductors, uncovers new phenomena of thermal transport in two- dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene and boron nitride, thereby discovering an entirely new paradigm of thermoelectric cooling and energy production using geometrical modification of 2D materials.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the current state-of-art in oxide nanostructures, carbon nanostructures and 2D materials fabrication. It covers mimicking of sensing mechanisms and applications in gas sensors. It focuses on gas sensors based on functional nanostructured materials, especially related to issues of sensitivity, selectivity, and temperature dependency for sensors. It covers synthesis, properties, and current gas sensing tools and discusses the necessity for miniaturized sensors. This book will be of use to senior undergraduate and graduate students, professionals, and researchers in the field of solid-state physics, materials science, surface science and chemical engineering.

This volume offers a comprehensive examination of the subject of heat and mass transfer with nanofluids as well as a critical review of the past and recent research projects in this area. Emphasis is placed on the fundamentals of the transport processes using particle-fluid suspensions, such as nanofluids. The nanofluid research is examined and presented in a holistic way using a great deal of our experience with the subjects of continuum mechanics, statistical thermodynamics, and non-equilibrium thermodynamics of transport processes. Using a thorough database, the experimental, analytical, and numerical advances of recent research in nanofluids are critically examined and connected to past research with medium and fine particles as well as to functional engineering systems. Promising applications and technological issues of heat/mass transfer system design with nanofluids are also discussed.

This book also: Provides a deep scientific analysis of nanofluids using classical thermodynamics and statistical thermodynamics to explain and interpret experimental observationsPresents the theory and experimental results for both thermodynamic and transport propertiesExamines all transport properties and transport processes as well as their relationships through the pertinent macroscopic coefficientsCombines recent knowledge pertaining to nanofluids with the previous fifty years of research on particulate flows, including research on transient flow and heat transfer of particulate suspensionsConducts an holistic examination of the material from more than 500 archival publications

Drawing on their experiences in successfully executing hundreds of MEMS development projects, the authors present the first practical guide to navigating the technical and business challenges of MEMS product development, from the initial concept stage all the way to commercialization. The strategies and tactics presented, when practiced diligently, can shorten development timelines, help avoid common pitfalls, and improve the odds of success, especially when resources are limited. MEMS Product Development illuminates what it really takes to develop a novel MEMS product so that innovators, designers, entrepreneurs, product managers, investors, and executives may properly prepare their companies to succeed.

Bismuth-containing compounds comprise a relatively unexplored materials system that is expected to offer many unique and desirable optoelectronic, thermoelectric, and electronic properties for innovative device applications. This book serves as a platform for knowledge sharing and dissemination of the latest advances in novel areas of bismuth-containing compounds for materials and devices, and provides a comprehensive introduction to those new to this growing field. Coverage of bismides includes theoretical considerations, epitaxial growth, characterization, and materials properties (optical, electrical, and structural). In addition to the well-studied area of highly mismatched Bi-alloys, the book covers emerging topics such as topological insulators and ferroelectric materials. Built upon fundamental science, the book is intended to stimulate interest in developing new classes of semiconductor and thermoelectric materials that exploit the properties of Bismuth. Application areas for bismide materials include laser diodes for optical communications, DVD systems, light-emitting diodes, solar cells, transistors, quantum well lasers, and spintronic devices.

The development of near-field optics marked a major advance in microscopy and our ability to develop nanoscale technologies. However, the tapered optical fiber widely in use as the optical near-field probe has serious limitations in its fabrication, its optical transmission efficiency, and its use in arrays.

Fabrication of Silicon Microprobes for Optical Near-Field Applications reports on several technological approaches to using silicon micromachining techniques for fabricating microprobes without the drawbacks of conventional optical fiber probes. The authors have developed a simple, effective method for batch-process production of silicon cantilevered probes with apertures as small as 20 nanometers. They have investigated in detail the probes' optical performance characteristics and show how the silicon probes overcome the limitations of the optical fiber probes in terms of production throughput, optical throughput, reproducibility, simplicity of instrumentation, and mechanical performance.

The need for both intrinsic and extrinsic fiber optic sensor technologies continues to grow. To meet the demands of this fast expanding applications-driven market, Fiber Optic Sensors, Second Edition presents both the latest advances in fiber optic sensor technology, such as the application of photonic crystal fibers to fiber optic gyroscopes, and recent application opportunities, including the use of fiber optic sensors as a minimally invasive medical treatment.

The new edition of this seminal work highlights the development of fiber optic sensors, while providing an overview of current methods for the construction of high-speed and high-capacity fiber optic systems. Two new chapters cover topics such as femtosecond laser illumination inscription and the growing application sector of fiber optic chemical and biological sensors.

Adding significant new material, the book continues to provide a progressive history of each sensor type as well as basic principles and fundamental building blocks for practical applications in the electrical aerospace, defense and manufacturing, smart structure, undersea surveillance, medical, and gas and oil industries.