This book addresses the fabrication of responsive functional nanomaterials and their use in sustainable energy and environmental applications. Responsive functional nanomaterials can change their physiochemical properties to adapt to their environment. Accordingly, these novel materials are playing an increasingly important role in a diverse range of applications, such as sensors and actuators, self-healing materials, separation, drug delivery, diagnostics, tissue engineering, functional coatings and textiles. This book reports on the latest advances in responsive functional nanomaterials in a wide range of applications and will appeal to a broad readership across the fields of materials, chemistry, sustainable energy, environmental science and nanotechnology.

This book offers selected contributions to fundamental research and application in designing and engineering materials. It focuses on mechanical engineering applications such as automobile, railway, marine, aerospace, biomedical, pressure vessel technology, and turbine technology. This includes a wide range of material classes, like lightweight metallic materials, polymers, composites, and ceramics. Advanced applications include manufacturing using the new or newer materials, testing methods, and multi-scale experimental and computational aspects.

This book gathers contributions by researchers from several countries on all major areas of robotic research, development and innovation, as well as new applications and current trends. The topics covered include: novel designs and applications of robotic systems, intelligent cooperating and service robots, advanced robot control, human-robot interfaces, robot vision systems, mobile robots, humanoid and walking robots, bio-inspired and swarm robotic systems, aerial, underwater and spatial robots, robots for ambient assisted living, medical robots and bionic prostheses, cognitive robots, cloud robotics, ethical and social issues in robotics, etc. Given its scope, the book offers a source of information and inspiration for researchers seeking to improve their work and gather new ideas for future developments. The contents reflect the outcomes of the activities of RAAD (International Conference on Robotics in Alpe-Adria-Danube Region) in 2020.

The book comprehensively covers the different topics of graphene based biopolymer and nanocomposites, mainly synthesis methods for the composite materials, various characterization techniques to study the superior properties and insights on potential advanced applications.The book will address and rectify the complications of using plastics that are non-degradable and has abhorrent impact on environment. The limitations of properties of biopolymer can be vanquished by employing graphene as a nanomaterial. Outstanding properties of graphene in accordance with biopolymer can be utilized to develop applications like water treatment, tissue engineering, photo-catalysts, super-absorbents. This is a useful reference source for both engineers and researchers working in composite materials science as well as the students attending materials science, physics, chemistry, and engineering courses.

This book offers a comprehensive presentation of the most important phenomena in building physics: heat transfer, moisture/humidity, sound/acoustics and illumination. As the book is primarily aimed at engineers, it addresses technical issues with the necessary pragmatism and incorporates many practical examples and related international standards. In order to ensure a complete understanding, it also explains the underlying physical principles and relates them to practical aspects in a simple and clear manner. The relationships between the various phenomena of building physics are clarified through consistent cross-referencing of formulas and ideas. The second edition features both new and revised sections on topics such as energy balance, solar gain, ventilation, road traffic and daylighting and takes into account new developments in international standards. It newly features almost 200 illustrations and 21 videos worth of supplementary material. The book is primarily aimed at students of civil engineering and architecture, as well as scientists and practitioners in these fields who wish to deepen or broaden their knowledge of topics within building physics.

This volume highlights the latest advances, innovations, and applications in the field of fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) and discusses a diverse range of topics concerning FRC: rheology and early-age properties, mechanical properties, codes and standards, long-term properties, durability, analytical and numerical models, quality control, structural and Industrial applications, smart FRC's, nanotechnologies related to FRC, textile reinforced concrete, structural design and UHPFRC. The contributions present improved traditional and new ideas that will open novel research directions and foster multidisciplinary collaboration between different specialists. Although the symposium was postponed, the book gathers peer-reviewed papers selected in 2020 for the RILEM-fib International Symposium on Fibre Reinforced Concrete (BEFIB).

This book introduces the theory of structural dynamics, with focus on civil engineering structures. It presents modern methods of analysis and techniques adaptable to computer programming clearly and easily. The book is ideal as a text for advanced undergraduates or graduate students taking a first course in structural dynamics. It is arranged in such a way that it can be used for a one- or two-semester course, or span the undergraduate and graduate levels. In addition, this book serves the practicing engineer as a primary reference. This book is organized by the type of structural modeling. The author simplifies the subject by presenting a single degree-of-freedom system in the first chapters and then moves to systems with many degrees-of-freedom in the following chapters. Many worked examples/problems are presented to explain the text, and a few computer programs are presented to help better understand the concepts. The book is useful to the research scholars and professional engineers, besides senior undergraduate and postgraduate students.

This book highlights leading-edge research in multi-disciplinary areas in Physics, Engineering, Medicine, and Health care, from the 6th IRC Conference on Science, Engineering and Technology (IRC-SET 2020) held in July 2020 at Singapore. The papers were shortlisted after extensive rounds of reviews by a panel of esteemed individuals who are pioneers in their domains. The book also contains excerpts of the speeches by eminent personalities who graced the occasion, thereby providing written documentation of the event.

This book deals with key aspects of modelling, deposition and characterization of thin solid films. The main attention is paid to the physical vacuum deposition methods and particularly to the magnetron sputtering. Measurement methods for optical and electrical properties of thin films, that are described in the book, are based on the equipment situated in the thin-films laboratory of the Holon Institute of Technology (HIT). The book is written based on Dr Axelevitch's long experience (more than 30 years) in the field. It is mainly intended for students of microelectronics, electrooptics and nanotechnology specialties, as well as for practical engineers.

This textbook presents the classical treatment of the problems of heat transfer in an exhaustive manner with due emphasis on understanding of the physics of the problems. This emphasis will be especially visible in the chapters on convective heat transfer. Emphasis is also laid on the solution of steady and unsteady two-dimensional heat conduction problems. Another special feature of the book is a chapter on introduction to design of heat exchangers and their illustrative design problems. A simple and understandable treatment of gaseous radiation has been presented. A special chapter on flat plate solar air heater has been incorporated that covers mathematical modeling of the air heater. The chapter on mass transfer has been written looking specifically at the needs of the students of mechanical engineering. The book includes a large number and variety of solved problems with supporting line diagrams. A number of application-based examples have been incorporated where applicable. The end-of-chapter exercise problems are supplemented with stepwise answers. Though the book has been primarily designed to serve as a complete textbook for undergraduate and graduate students of mechanical engineering, it will also be useful for students of chemical, aerospace, automobile, production, and industrial engineering streams. The book fully covers the topics of heat transfer coursework and can also be used as an excellent reference for students preparing for competitive graduate examinations.

This book presents different thermodynamic approaches in the area of constitutive theory: thermodynamics of irreversible processes, rational thermodynamics, and extended thermodynamics. These different approaches are analyzed with respect to their presuppositions, as well as to their results, and each method is applied to several important examples. In many cases these examples are archetypes for numerous technologically important materials; i.e. complex materials having an internal structure. Some of the examples dealt with in this book are liquid crystals, colloid suspensions, ans fiber suspensions. The book well serves students and researchers who have basic knowledge in continuum mechanics and thermodynamics. It provides a systematic overview of the vast field of thermodynamic constitutive theory, beginning from a historical perspective and concluding with outstanding questions in recent research.

This detailed volume explores molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), which have attracted great interest both in fundamental research and for practical applications due to their selective molecular recognition capabilities, extraordinary stability, and ease of preparation. Beginning with key laboratory protocols describing the different steps towards the synthesis of MIPs by different polymerization strategies, the volume continues by examining MIP use in sample preparation, their implementation on the development of sensors, as well as applications in other areas such catalysis and the use of bioinformatics and molecular modeling for MIPs design. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include introductions to the respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, Molecularly Imprinted Polymers: Methods and Protocols serves as an ideal guide for researchers seeking to harness this very powerful approach for the preparation of molecular selective synthetic polymers.

This book presents selected papers from the International Conference on Renewable Energy Systems (ICRES 2020). It throws light over the state of the art of renewable energy sources and their technological advances. Renewable energy sources discussed in this book include solar, wind, biomass, fuel cells, hydropower , hydrogen, nuclear, and geothermal. This book comprehensively explains each of these sources, materials associated, technological development, economics and their impact on the environment. As the renewable energy sources are intermittent, they require specific power electronic converter to convert the generated power into useful form that can be used for utility. Hence, this book describes different forms of power converter such as AC-DC, DC-DC, DC-AC and AC-AC. Advanced power semiconductor devices, their gate drive and protection circuits, heat sink design and magnetic components for power converter are the additional topics included in this book. The topics covered in these proceedings will have a large impact among academicians, researchers, policy makers, scientists, practitioners and students in fields of electronics and electrical engineering, energy engineering, automotive engineering, and so on.

This book presents fundamental theories, design and testing methodologies, and engineering applications concerning spacecraft thermal control systems, helping readers gain a comprehensive understanding of spacecraft thermal control systems and technologies. With abundant design methods, advanced technologies and typical applications to help them grasp the basic concepts and principles of engineering applications, it is mainly intended for engineering and technical staff engaged in spacecraft thermal control areas. The book discusses the thermal environments commonly used for space flight missions, rules and regulations for system design, thermal analysis and simulation, and thermal testing methods, as well as the design and validation of the thermal control systems for Chinese spacecraft, such as the Shenzhou spacecraft and Chang'e Lunar Lander and Rover. It also introduces them to communication and remote sensing satellites and presents advanced thermal control technologies developed in recent years, including heat transfer, heat insulation, heating, refrigeration and thermal sensor technologies. Addressing the design and validation of thermal control systems for various types of Chinese spacecraft, the book offers a valuable theoretical and practical reference guide for researchers and engineers alike.

This volume brings together contributions from world renowned researchers and practitioners in the field of geotechnical engineering. The chapters of this book are based on the keynote and invited lectures delivered at the 7th International Conference on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics. The book presents advances in the field of soil dynamics and geotechnical earthquake engineering. A strong emphasis is placed on proving connections between academic research and field practice, with many examples, case studies, best practices, and discussions on performance-based design. This volume will be of interest to research scholars, academicians and industry professionals alike.

This book reports on an original approach to problems of loci. It shows how the theory of mechanisms can be used to address the locus problem. It describes the study of different loci, with an emphasis on those of triangle and quadrilateral, but not limited to them. Thanks to a number of original drawings, the book helps to visualize different type of loci, which can be treated as curves, and shows how to create new ones, including some aesthetic ones, by changing some parameters of the equivalent mechanisms. Further, the book includes a theoretical discussion on the synthesis of mechanisms, giving some important insights into the correlation between the generation of trajectories by mechanisms and the synthesis of those mechanisms when the trajectory is given, and presenting approximate solutions to this problem. Based on the authors' many years of research and on their extensive knowledge concerning the theory of mechanisms, and bridging between geometry and mechanics, this book offers a unique guide to mechanical engineers and engineering designers, mathematicians, as well as industrial and graphic designers, and students in the above-mentioned fields alike.

Based on "The Virtual Conference on Chemistry and its Applications (VCCA-2020) - Research and Innovations in Chemical Sciences: Paving the Way Forward" held in August 2020 and organized by the Computational Chemistry Group of the University of Mauritius. The chapters reflect a wide range of fundamental and applied research in the chemical sciences and interdisciplinary subjects.

This book discusses systems of damage detection and structural health monitoring in mechanical, civil, and aerospace structures. It utilizes principles of fuzzy logic, probability theory, and signal processing to develop systems and approaches that are robust in the presence of both noise in the data and variations in properties of materials which are intrinsic to the process of mass production. This volume will be useful to graduate students, researchers, and engineers working in this area, especially those looking to understand and address model uncertainty in their algorithms.

Using HPC for Computational Fluid Dynamics: A Guide to High Performance Computing for CFD Engineers offers one of the first self-contained guides on the use of high performance computing for computational work in fluid dynamics. Beginning with an introduction to HPC, including its history and basic terminology, the book moves on to consider how modern supercomputers can be used to solve common CFD challenges, including the resolution of high density grids and dealing with the large file sizes generated when using commercial codes. Written to help early career engineers and post-graduate students compete in the fast-paced computational field where knowledge of CFD alone is no longer sufficient, the text provides a one-stop resource for all the technical information readers will need for successful HPC computation.

Production, new materials development, and mechanics are the central subjects of modern industry and advanced science. With a very broad reach across several different disciplines, selecting the most forward-thinking research to review can be a hefty task, especially for study in niche applications that receive little coverage. For those subjects, collecting the research available is of utmost importance. The Handbook of Research on Advancements in Manufacturing, Materials, and Mechanical Engineering is an essential reference source that examines emerging obstacles in these fields of engineering and the methods and tools used to find solutions. Featuring coverage of a broad range of topics including fabricating procedures, automated control, and material selection, this book is ideally designed for academics; tribology and materials researchers; mechanical, physics, and materials engineers; professionals in related industries; scientists; and students.