The 'long twelfth century' (1075-1225) was an era of seminal importance in the development of the book in medieval Europe and marked a high point in its construction and decoration. This comprehensive study takes the cultural changes that occurred during the 'twelfth-century Renaissance' as its point of departure to provide an overview of manuscript culture encompassing the whole of Western Europe. Written by senior scholars, chapters are divided into three sections: the technical aspects of making books; the processes and practices of reading and keeping books; and the transmission of texts in the disciplines that saw significant change in the period, including medicine, law, philosophy, liturgy, and theology. Richly illustrated, the volume provides the first in-depth account of book production as a European phenomenon.

The original role of RP was to confirm the shape and feel of concept design, but innovations in RP now allow for the development of sophisticated medical devices such as catheters, stents, drug delivery systems, syringes and cardio-vascular devices, and more. RP has moved beyond medical devices, as surgeons now regularly use RP models to brainstorm strategies for surgeries. This book presents new uses for rapid prototyping in state-of-the-art medical applications.

This volume gathers the proceedings of the Joint International Conference of the XIII International Conference on Mechanisms and Mechanical Transmissions (MTM) and the XXIV International Conference on Robotics (Robotics), held in Timisoara, Romania. It addresses the applications of mechanisms and transmissions in several modern technical fields such as mechatronics, biomechanics, machines, micromachines, robotics and apparatus. In doing so, it combines theoretical findings and experimental testing. The book presents peer-reviewed papers written by researchers specialized in mechanism analysis and synthesis, dynamics of mechanisms and machines, mechanical transmissions, biomechanics, precision mechanics, mechatronics, micromechanisms and microactuators, computational and experimental methods, CAD in mechanism and machine design, mechanical design of robot architecture, parallel robots, mobile robots, micro and nano robots, sensors and actuators in robotics, intelligent control systems, biomedical engineering, teleoperation, haptics, and virtual reality.

What has fifteenth-century England to do with the Renaissance? By challenging accepted notions of 'medieval' and 'early modern' David Rundle proposes a new understanding of English engagement with the Renaissance. He does so by focussing on one central element of the humanist agenda - the reform of the script and of the book more generally - to demonstrate a tradition of engagement from the 1430s into the early sixteenth century. Introducing a cast-list of scribes and collectors who are not only English and Italian but also Scottish, Dutch and German, this study sheds light on the cosmopolitanism central to the success of the humanist agenda. Questioning accepted narratives of the slow spread of the Renaissance from Italy to other parts of Europe, Rundle suggests new possibilities for the fields of manuscript studies and the study of Renaissance humanism.

Currently, the prime focus for US business plans should not be on the manufacturing process design and delivery processes, but on greatly improving innovation leadership, design engineering capability, and sales and marketing innovation. These three areas have been sadly lacking significant performance improvement during the past 20 years. The magic word for US business is "simplification." Most of the books written to date focus on the solution development aspect of the Innovation System Cycle, which is less than 15% of the total innovative system. Focusing on solution development is only the start -- the rest of the innovation system cycle is what turns an idea into a profitable business. The techniques in this book are directed at key tasks across the innovative process, such as maximizing quality, productivity, maintainability, usability, and reliability, while focusing on reducing the product cycle time and costs within the innovative process. This book uses more than 50 different approaches/concepts, which leads the reader in a very simple method for understanding, establishing, and effectively using an innovative system to provide a significant marketing advantage. Previous books have focused on what to do; however, this book focuses on how to do it. It transforms a complicated complex system into easy-to-use and understand methodology.

The many intriguing examples on the application of mechatronics reinforce the excitement of this creative field of technology. As a collection they present a stimulating resource to developers of future mechatronics technology, and to educators searching for interesting examples. From structured-light measurement of the build-up of detritus on railway bogies and detection of uncracked spores of Chinese medicine to a practical tractor vision guidance system embedded in a smart-phone application, the practical applications of mechatronics and machine vision abound. Fruits are counted on the tree, pasture biomass is measured and a robot collects camel dung as a resource. 3D printing is in vogue, but papers here discuss the construction and strategy of the printer itself. The measurement and analysis of myoelectric muscle signals enable a prosthesis to be controlled and a feeding robot is used for patient care. An exoskeleton has both soft and rigid links and an optical sensor analyses the tissue into which a surgical needle is being inserted. These are some of the papers in this collection from the 26th annual conference on Mechatronics and Machine Vision in Practice, carefully selected to exclude papers that are merely theoretical and to highlight those that show practical verification. Papers have been contributed from China, New Zealand, the Philippines, Emirates, Germany and of course Australia.

The Shingo Enterprise Excellence Prize Model (SEEM) has exerted global influence over the ways that exceptional organizations formulate/deploy strategy with its focus on processes, Lean thinking, continuous improvement, innovation, workforce development, and supplier strategies. This book details the SEEM, which lies at the heart of the Shingo Prize. It will link the theoretical underpinnings of the SEEM and their implications for practice. Case studies illustrate important points. Selected tools that support practical implementation of the model are discussed and their use illustrated. This book will deepen understanding of why the model works and how implementation can be accomplished.

This thesis builds on recent innovations in multi-phase emulsion droplet design to demonstrate that emulsion morphologies enable a useful variety of dynamic optical phenomena. Despite the highly dynamic nature of fluid morphologies and their utility for stimuli-responsive, dynamic optical materials and devices, fluid matter is underrepresented in optical technology. Using bi-phase emulsion droplets as refractive micro-optical components, this thesis realizes micro-scale fluid compound lenses with optical properties that vary in response to changes in chemical concentrations, structured illumination, and thermal gradients. Theoretical considerations of emulsions as optical components are used to explain a previously unrecognized total internal reflection-enabled light interference phenomenon in emulsion droplets that results in rich structural coloration. While this work is focused on the fundamental optics of emulsion droplets, it also facilitates the use of light-emitting emulsion morphologies as chemo-optical transducers for early-stage food-borne pathogen detection. This thesis beautifully demonstrates the virtue of fundamental interdisciplinary exploration of unconventional material systems at the interface of optics, chemistry, and materials science, and the benefits arising from translation of the acquired knowledge into specific application scenarios.

Twenty-five years ago, micro- and nanotechnology were barely in their infancy. Today, technological advancements at the lower end of the nanoscale have radically changed the field of medicine, allowing for innovative and more personalized approaches to numerous pathologies. The initial cascade of advancements was triggered by the herculean efforts of a few pioneers in the field. Dr. Mauro Ferrari is one such visionary; his work over the past two decades has set the stage for medical innovation through nanotechnology. Written by world-renowned experts in the field, this book pays tribute to Dr. Mauro Ferrari's vast contribution to the field of nanotechnology and nanomedicine. It covers the multifaceted and fundamental aspects of biomedical research, including technological innovation, ethics, patient advocacy, and clinical translation, all areas where Dr. Ferrari's contribution has been and continue to be fundamental. Additionally, it presents recent advances in micro- and nanotechnologies. Chapter 2 and Chapters 9 through 27 were originally published in Biomedical Microdevices in the Topical Collection "Biomedical Micro-Nanotechnologies toward Translation"

This book discusses the early stages of the development of nanostructures, including synthesis techniques, growth mechanisms, the physics and chemistry of nanostructured materials, various innovative characterization techniques, the need for functionalization and different functionalization methods as well as the various properties of nanostructured materials. It focuses on the applications of nanostructured materials, such as mechanical applications, nanoelectronics and microelectronic devices, nano-optics, nanophotonics and nano-optoelectronics, as well as piezoelectric, agriculture, biomedical and, environmental remediation applications, and anti-microbial and antibacterial properties. Further, it includes a chapter on nanomaterial research developments, highlighting work on the life-cycle analysis of nanostructured materials and toxicity aspects.

This book discusses key techniques of protection and fault ride-through in VSC-HVDC grids, including high-speed selective protection, DC fault current limitation, converter restarting, and DCCB reclosing strategies. It investigates how high-speed transient-variable-based protection can be used to improve grids' acting sensitivity, acting reliability, and ability to withstand high transition resistance compared with traditional protection. In addition, it discusses the applicability of the pilot protections, including the current differential protection and travelign-wave based protection, in the dc grid, as well as the improved methods. Furthermore, it proposes several DC FCL topologies, which are suitable for DC grids. Lastly, in the context of overhead line application conditions, it explores converter restarting and DCCB reclosing strategies, which not only identify the fault property, but also limit the secondary damage to the system, improving the system's operation security and reliability. As such, the book offers a comprehensive overview of original and advanced methods and techniques for the protection of VSC-HVDC grids.

This book highlights the latest advances in bioMEMS for biosensing applications. It comprehensively reviews different detection methods, including colorimetric, fluorescence, luminescence, bioluminescence, chemiluminescence, biochemiluminescence, and electrochemiluminescence, and presents various bioMEMS for each, together with recent examples. The book also offers an overview of the history of BioMEMS and the design and manufacture of the first bioMEMS-based devices.

This extensive and singular work focuses on current applications of nanotechnology in food systems. The functionality and applicability of food-related nanotechnology is covered in depth, presenting a view on the food processing, packaging,storage and safety assessment of nanotechnology in the food industry. Multiple nanostructures are covered, each with their specific ingredient choice, production strategy, functionality and application in food engineering. Individual chapters focus on current processing methods and applications of nanotechnology in foods. Nano-food Engineering Volume One brings together panels of highly accomplished experts in the field of composites, nanotechnology and chemical engineering and food technology. The work encompasses basic studies and addresses novel issues, covering all engineering aspects, opportunities and challenges and solutions of nano-foods.

This book fully details, as the title suggests, the real secret to maximizing an organization's profitability. While many companies have implemented improvement initiatives such as Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing, there is a missing link which, when discovered and implemented, will take these same companies to profit levels not seen before. This missing link is the Theory of Constraints, and when it's combined with Lean and Six Sigma, true transformational improvements are sure to follow. In this book, the author walks you through the step-by-step method on how to combine these three methodologies with the result being significant improvements to flow, major improvements in variation, substantial reductions in waste, superior on-time delivery, and ultimately, maximized profitability. He has been using this integrated methodology for many years and each time, the results realized were well beyond what the leadership teams had experienced previously. The genesis behind this combined improvement cycle is based upon many years of analysis of both failures and successes using Lean, Six Sigma, and the Theory of Constraints as stand-alone improvement initiatives. By integrating Lean, Six Sigma and the Theory of Constraints into a single improvement cycle, the author has developed a recipe that will maximize your return on investment, cash flow, and net profit. The Secret to Maximizing Profitability is both stimulating and thought provoking, but more importantly it will provide your organization with a roadmap for maximizing the use of your resources to achieve more bottom-line improvement than you ever imagined possible.

Book, Text, Medium: Cross Sectional Reading for a Digital Age utilizes codex history, close reading, and language philosophy to assess the transformative arc between medieval books and today's e-books. It examines what happens to the reading experience in the twenty-first century when the original concept of a book is still held in the mind of a reader, if no longer in the reader's hand. Leading critic Garrett Stewart explores the play of mediation more generally, as the concept of book moves from a manufactured object to simply the language it puts into circulation. Framed by digital poetics, phonorobotics, and the rising popularity of audiobooks, this study sheds new light on both the history of reading and the negation of legible print in conceptual book art.

Like many great toys of the past, penny banks are considered abstracts from real life. Here are still banks, those with no moving parts, and mechanical banks that flip coins into a receptor, chosen to illustrate the history of penny banks. There are banks made of cast iron, tin, pottery, wood, and pot metal in forms that include folk art, political events, and special places such as a World's Fair. The book presents over 250 color photographs of intriguing American banks arranged from the 18th century through the present. They are treasured toys to some and fascinating mechanical devices to others who cherish the advances made possible by new technologies and subjects. While toy collectors and dealers will enjoy the variety, bankers-and we all know a few of them-will appreciate the thrift these banks convey.

This book highlights the latest advances in AFM nano-manipulation research in the field of nanotechnology. There are numerous uncertainties in the AFM nano-manipulation environment, such as thermal drift, tip broadening effect, tip positioning errors and manipulation instability. This book proposes a method for estimating tip morphology using a blind modeling algorithm, which is the basis of the analysis of the influence of thermal drift on AFM scanning images, and also explains how the scanning image of AFM is reconstructed with better accuracy. Further, the book describes how the tip positioning errors caused by thermal drift and system nonlinearity can be corrected using the proposed landmark observation method, and also explores the tip path planning method in a complex environment. Lastly, it presents an AFM-based nano-manipulation platform to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method using theoretical research, such as tip positioning and virtual nano-hand.

Presents comprehensive information on advanced technologies in both manufacturing and industrial engineering Focuses on Industry 4.0 based technologies in manufacturing Provides a collection of unique experimental research along with case studies Discusses Micro and Sustainable Manufacturing Technologies Sheds light on advancements for enhancement in productivity, quality, and sustainability

This book provides a complete overview of a wide range of nanomaterials from their synthesis and characterization to current and potential applications with special focus on the use of such nano-based products as functional agents in biomedical, environmental and industrial applications. It addresses the intrinsic relationship between aspects involving the synthesis of nanocompounds, their bio-physico-chemical properties and their interactions occurring in biomedical, environmental and industrial matrix. This book is of interest to engineers, academics and research scholars working in these fields.

This book presents a range of low-dimensional superlattice thermoelectric materials based on physical vapor deposition (PVD) methods and explores various material types, thicknesses, and processing conditions. With the advances made in the performance of semiconductor thermoelectric materials and the efficiency of thermoelectric devices in recent years, thermoelectric power generation systems are likely to replace traditional mechanical heat engines, offering an environmentally friendlier alternative. The use of low-dimensional, nanostructured materials can significantly increase the density of states near the Fermi level and greatly improve the thermoelectric properties of materials. In addition, the book demonstrates that it is possible to influence thermoelectric performance, establish more accurate mathematical models through the regulation of relevant parameters, and ultimately improve the thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT).

This book introduces readers to the emerging carbon nanotube field-effect transistor (CNTFET) technology, and examines the problem of designing efficient arithmetic circuits in CNTFET technology. Observing that CNTFETs make it possible to achieve two distinct threshold voltages merely by altering the diameter of the carbon nanotube used, the book begins by discussing the design of basic ternary logic elements. It then examines efficient CNTFET-based design of single and multiple ternary digit adders by judicious choice of unary operators in ternary logic, as well as the design of a ternary multiplier in CNTFET technology, and presents detailed simulation results in HSPICE. Lastly, the book outlines a procedure for automating the synthesis process and provides sample code in Python.

This book comprehensively discusses the basic principles and working mechanism of all kind of batteries towards clean energy storage devices. In addition, it focuses on the synthesis of various electrode materials with 1D architecture via electrospinning technique. This book will give a clear idea about recent synthetic strategy towards nanofibers and nanocomposites for alkali-ion storage applications. The reader could understand the formation mechanism of nanofibers and their potential application in the future energy storage system.

This book presents nanomaterials as predicted by computational modelling and numerical simulation tools, and confirmed by modern experimental techniques. It begins by summarizing basic theoretical methods, then giving both a theoretical and experimental treatment of how alkali metal clusters develop into nanostructures, as influenced by the cluster's "magic number" of atoms. The book continues with a discussion of atomic clusters and nanostructures, focusing primarily on boron and carbon, exploring, in detail, the one-, two-, and three-dimensional structures of boron and carbon, and describing their myriad potential applications in nanotechnology, from nanocoating and nanosensing to nanobatteries with high borophene capacity. The broad discussion of computational modelling as well as the specific applications to boron and carbon, make this book an essential reference resource for materials scientists in this field of research.

Do you know
that black holes can affect time?
that Stonehenge is a giant calendar?
that the Oracle Bones of the North China Plain predict the phases of the moon?
that the Pyramids are giant compasses?
how Jonathan Swift knew that Mars had two moons when he wrote Gulliver's Travels?
that the effects of black holes are described in the story of Alice in Wonderland?
that an atomic reactor existed 2 billion years ago in Equatorial Africa?
that an electron on the other side of the galaxy can deflect a billiard ball?
that Schrodingers cat is both alive and dead?
Derek York fathoms these and many other mysteries of time and space in In Search of Lost Time. A reflection of York's obsession with time and its measurement, the book discusses the mind-bending universe of the special and general theories of relativity, the ghostly world of quantum mechanics, and the unpredictable haunts of chaos.
It explores the pyramids of Egypt, Stonehenge, and the South China plain; the universities of Cambridge, McGill, and Chicago; the Patent Office in Berne; and back to the Ethiopian desert on the banks of the Awash River. Companions to share and illuminate the path range from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland to J.B. Priestley's Dangerous Corner. It also presents the father of master-spy Kim Philby in the Empty Quarter of Arabia, the fantasist Velikovsky in the clouds, and Newton, Darwin, Rutherford, Einstein and the great Earth scientists of this century who fathomed the depths of lost time and discovered the age of the Earth.
Written in an engaging, nontechnical style, this book will delight and amaze all who encounter it."

This book covers the performance aspects of nanocomposite supercapacitor materials based on transition metal oxides, activated carbon, carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers, graphene and conducting polymers. It compares the performance of simple electrode materials versus binary and ternary composites, while highlighting the advantages and challenges of different supercapacitor electrode materials. This book is part of the Handbook of Nanocomposite Supercapacitor Materials. Supercapacitors have emerged as promising devices for electrochemical energy storage, playing an important role in energy harvesting for meeting the current demands of increasing global energy consumption. The handbook covers the materials science and engineering of nanocomposite supercapacitors, ranging from their general characteristics and performance to materials selection, design and construction. Covering both fundamentals and recent developments, this handbook serves a readership encompassing students, professionals and researchers throughout academia and industry, particularly in the fields of materials chemistry, electrochemistry, and energy storage and conversion. It is ideal as a reference work and primary resource for any introductory senior-level undergraduate or beginning graduate course covering supercapacitors.