This book presents the proceedings of the 31st International Conference on Robotics in Alpe-Adria-Danube Region (RAAD), held in Klagenfurt, Austria, June 8-10, 2022. It 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. Chapter "The Use of Robots in Aquatic Biomonitoring with Special Focus on Biohybrid Entities" is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book delves into the field of immobilizing biologically active and non-active molecules. It discusses the designing strategy of immobilization and the current state-of-the-art applications for advancing biomedical, agricultural, environmental and industrial practices. It focuses on aspects ranging from fundamental principles to current technological advances at multi-scale levels (macro, micro, and nano) which are suitable for cell, enzyme, and nano-catalyst based applications. Written by experts from across the globe, the contents deal with illustrated examples of molecular and cellular interactions with materials/scaffolds and discussions on factors that can affect the functionality and yield of the process. With its discussions on material science, design of delivery vehicles, separation science, additive manufacturing, agriculture and environmental science, this book will be a useful reference for researchers across multiple disciplines.

This contributed volume reviews the latest advances in all the new technologies currently developed for MagnetoEncephaloGraphy (MEG) recordings, as well as sensor technologies and integrated sensor arrays for on-scalp MEG. The book gives an account of the first MEG imaging studies and explores the new field of feasible, experimental paradigms of on-scalp MEG. This is an ideal book for engineers, researchers, and students in the neurosciences interested in MEG imaging.

This book highlights the preparation and characterization of efficient electromagnetic shielding composites containing bio-carbon derived from natural loofah with unique three-dimensional porous structures by means of entire structure design of composites according to shielding theory. The synergistic effect of multifunctional nanoparticles and bio-carbon on electromagnetic shielding mechanism, mechanical performance, and thermal stability of composites obtained has been holistically investigated. The discovery of this renewable, environmentally friendly, and inexpensive bio-carbon represents a new class of conductive materials with multi-interfaces and unravels further research and development of a wide variety of new electromagnetic shielding material systems with potential commercial applications ranging from electronic devices to energy management.

Force and Position Control of Mechatronic Systems provides an overview of the general concepts and technologies in the area of force and position control. Novel ideas and innovations related to this area are presented and reported in detail, and examples of applications in medical technology are given. The book begins by introducing force sensing, and modelling of contacting objects. In then moves steadily through a variety of topics, including: * disturbance observer-based force estimation; * force-based supervisory control; * stabilization systems; * controller design; and * control of tube insertion procedures. This book will be of interest to researchers, engineers and students interested in force control, particularly those with a focus on medical applications of these ideas. Advances in Industrial Control reports and encourages the transfer of technology in control engineering. The rapid development of control technology has an impact on all areas of the control discipline. The series offers an opportunity for researchers to present an extended exposition of new work in all aspects of industrial control.

This book discusses the basic theoretical model and implementation method of intelligent machining technology and promotes the application of intelligent machining technology in the manufacturing of complex aviation components, such as aero-engine blisk, casing parts and blades. It not only presents the fundamental theory of intelligent machining, but also provides detailed examples of applications in the aviation industry.The topics covered include intelligent programming, intelligent processing models, process monitoring, machining process control, intelligent fixtures and applications in aviation components machining.This book is intended for researchers, engineers and postgraduate students in fields of manufacturing, mechatronics, mechanical engineering and related areas.

The learning objectives of this book are to: Show how individual objectives drive towards the organizational objectives Answer the question, "How do I influence leadership and get everyone on board"? Build on the principles of enterprise excellence Understand the relationship between behaviors, systems, principles, and how they drive to results Learn how KBIs drive KPIs and how this leads to excellent results.

This book covers advanced 3D printing processes and the latest developments in novel composite-based printing materials, thus enabling the reader to understand and benefit from the advantages of this groundbreaking technology. The rise in ecological anxieties has forced scientists and researchers from all over the world to find novel lightweight materials. Therefore, it is necessary to expand knowledge about the processing, applications, and challenges of 3D printing of composite materials to expanding the range of their application. This book presents an extensive survey on recent improvements in the research and development of additive manufacturing technologies that are used to make composite structures for various applications such as electronic, aerospace, construction, and biomedical applications. Advanced printing techniques including fused deposition modeling (FDM), selective laser sintering (SLS), selective laser melting (SLM), electron beam melting (EBM), inkjet 3D printing (3DP), stereolithography (SLA), and 3D plotting will be covered and discussed thoroughly in this book. This book also focuses the recent advances and challenges in polymer nanocomposite and introduces potential applications of these materials in various sectors.

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.

Discusses open principles, methods, and research problems Presents a vision for how IIoT could change the world in the distant future Covers how industry automation is projected to be the largest and fastest growing segment of the IIoT market Explores the collaboratively development of high performance telecommunications, military, industrial, and general purpose embedded computing applications Offers a systematic overview of the state-of-the-art research efforts and potential research directions for dealing with IIoT challenges.

This book covers the recent research on nanomaterials and nanotechnology based on the hybridization of graphene with other nanoparticles. With their simple synthesis, nanoscale dimensions, high aspect ratio, mechanical, electrical and thermal properties, graphene and its hybridized materials have witnessed a great interest, and the chapters in this book cover the spectrum of research from the preparation and synthesis of novel nanocomposites to their potential use in aeronautic, automative, energy and environmental applications. Written by respected researchers from both industry and academia, this book is of interest to researchers and students working on nanomaterials.

This book focuses on applications of three-dimensional (3D) printing in healthcare. It first describes a range of biomaterials, including their physicochemical and biological properties. It then reviews the current state of the art in bioprinting techniques and the potential application of bioprinting, computer-aided additive manufacturing of cells, tissues, and scaffolds to create organs in regenerative medicine. Further, it discusses the orthopedic applications of 3D printing in the design and fabrication of dental implants, and the use of 3D bioprinting in oral and maxillofacial surgery and in tissue and organ engineering. Lastly, the book examines the 3D printing technologies that are used for the fabrication of the drug delivery system. It also explores the current challenges and the future of 3D bioprinting in medical sciences, as well as the market demand.

This textbook fills a gap to supply students with the fundamental principles and tools they need to perform the quantitative analyses of the neuroelectrophysiological approaches, including both conventional and emerging ones, prevalently used in neuroscience research and neuroprosthetics. The content grows out of a course on Neuroengineering and Neuroprosthetics, which the author has taught already several times. The key problems the author addresses include (1) the universal operating mechanisms of neuroelectrophysiological approaches, (2) proper configuration of each approach, and (3) proper interpretation of the resulting signals. Efforts are made both to extract the universal principles underlying this common class of approaches and discern the unique properties of each individual approach. To address these important problems, equivalent electrical circuit modeling and signal analysis are used to unravel the functioning mechanisms and principles and provide sound interpretations to the associated signals and phenomena. This book aims to derive analytical solutions to these equivalent circuits, which can offer clear and complete mechanistic insights to the underlying biophysics.

This book addresses the manufacturing methods, characteristic tubular morphologies, diverse functions, and potent applications of organic tubular architectures prepared or self-assembled from rationally designed molecular building blocks. The hollow cylindrical structures with high-aspect ratios are capable of creating unique functions that can be differentiated from well-known self-assembled nanostructures such as organic nanofibers, nanoribbons, and nanorods. Encapsulation, stabilization, transportation, release, and their cooperative functions pave the way for innovative chemical, physical, biological, and medical applications. The book presents attractive advantages of soft-matter nanotubes, which are also different from well-known hard-matter nanostructures such as carbon nanotubes. The topics and figures in this volume intrigue not only academic researchers but also engineers and university students.

This book focuses on the design, fabrication and applications of carbon-based materials for lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. It provides insights into the localized electrochemical transition of the "solid-solid" reaction instead of the "sulfur-polysulfides-lithium sulfides" reaction through the desolvation effect in subnanometer pores; demonstrates that the dissolution/diffusion of polysulfide anions in electrolyte can be greatly reduced by the strong binding of sulfur to the oxygen-containing groups on reduced graphene oxide; manifests that graphene foam can be used as a 3D current collector for high sulfur loading and high sulfur content cathodes; and presents the design of a unique sandwich structure with pure sulfur between two graphene membranes as a very simple but effective approach to the fabrication of Li-S batteries with ultrafast charge/discharge rates and long service lives. The book offers an invaluable resource for researchers, scientists, and engineers in the field of energy storage, providing essential insights, useful methods, and practical ideas that can be considered for the industrial production and future application of Li-S batteries.

The book highlights the research contributions of the interdigitated (IDT) sensors over a period of two decades in the field of sensing technology. It presents theory, design, and practical realization of the IDT sensors working over wide frequency rage for scientific, industrial, and consumer applications. The IDT sensors have been widely investigated for wide range of sensing applications including agriculture, environmental monitoring, structural health monitoring, health care, food and beverage testing, testing of dielectric material, proximity sensing, microfluidic application, automatic dispensing system etc. Hence, importance of IDT sensors is growing continuously for future applications. As such, it offers a key reference guide on IDT sensors for students, applied physicists, material scientists, engineers, sensors designers and technicians.

This book presents new data on combustion processes for practical applications, discussing fire safety issues in the development of flame arresters and the use of noble metals in hydrogen recombiners for nuclear power plants. It establishes the basic principles of production of metal nanostructures, namely nanopowders of metals and compact products made of them, with the preservation of the unique properties of nanoproducts.

This book provides a single-source reference on carbon nanotubes for interconnect applications. It presents the recent advances in modelling and challenges of carbon nanotube (CNT)-based VLSI interconnects. Starting with a background of carbon nanotubes and interconnects, this book details various aspects of CNT interconnect models, the design metrics of CNT interconnects, crosstalk analysis of recently proposed CNT interconnect structures, and geometries. Various topics covered include the use of semiconducting CNTs around metallic CNTs, CNT interconnects with air gaps, use of emerging ultra low-k materials and their integration with CNT interconnects, and geometry-based crosstalk reduction techniques. This book will be useful for researchers and design engineers working on carbon nanotubes for interconnects for both 2D and 3D integrated circuits.

This book summarizes the state of the art in the theoretical modeling of inorganic nanostructures. Extending the first edition, published in 2015, it presents applications to new nanostructured materials and theoretical explanations of recently discovered optical and thermodynamic properties of known nanomaterials. It discusses the developments in theoretical modeling of nanostructures, describing fundamental approaches such as symmetry analysis and applied calculation methods. The book also examines the theoretical aspects of many thermodynamic and the optical properties of nanostructures. The new edition includes additional descriptions of the theoretical modeling of nanostructures in novel materials such as the V2O5 binary oxide, ZnS, CdS, MoSSe and SnS2.

This book highlights the applications of nanotechnology in modern medicine. Today we are living in a world of fast-changing behavior and lifestyles. Despite health and wellbeing are often pronounced and enforced, the diseases and illnesses are emerging in different forms, at an alarming rate. Protecting the mankind is becoming ever more challenging. In this backdrop, medicine needs new approaches and technologies to build the defenses. Nanotechnology is successfully confronting the situation. It does so in two avenues, namely, nanomaterials, and, nanodevices. Nanomaterials possess extraordinary properties that are utilized to confront bacteria and viruses, and for targeted drug delivery. Nanodevices can be maneuvered inside the human body to reach extreme locations. This book presents the latest developments in these areas.

This book presents improved numerical techniques and applied computer-aided simulations as a part of emerging trends in mechatronics in all areas related to complex fluids, with particular focus on using a combination of modeling, theory, and simulation to study systems that are complex due to the rheology of fluids (i.e., ceramic pastes, polymer solutions and melts, colloidal suspensions, emulsions, foams, micro-/nanofluids, etc.) and multiphysics phenomena in which the interactions of various effects (thermal, chemical, electric, magnetic, or mechanical) lead to complex dynamics. The areas of applications span materials processing, manufacturing, and biology.

This book introduces a passivity-based approach which simplifies the controller design task for AC-motors. It presents the application of this novel approach to several classes of AC motors, magnetic levitation systems, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and rigid robot manipulators actuated by AC motors. The novel passivity-based approach exploits the fact that the natural energy exchange existing between the mechanical and the electrical subsystems allows the natural cancellation of several high order terms during the stability analysis. This allows the authors to present some of the simplest controllers proposed in scientific literature, but provided with formal stability proofs. These simple control laws will be of use to practitioners as they are robust with respect to numerical errors and noise amplification, and are provided with tuning guidelines. Energy-based Control of Electromechanical Systems is intended for both theorists and practitioners. Therefore, the stability proofs are not based on abstract mathematical ideas but Lyapunov stability theory. Several interpretations of the proofs are given along the body of the book using simple energy ideas and the complete proofs are included in appendices. The complete modeling of each motor studied is also presented, allowing for a thorough understanding. Advances in Industrial Control reports and encourages the transfer of technology in control engineering. The rapid development of control technology has an impact on all areas of the control discipline. The series offers an opportunity for researchers to present an extended exposition of new work in all aspects of industrial control.

This book offers a comprehensive reference guide for graduate students and professionals in both academia and industry, covering the fundamentals, architecture, processing details, and applications of 3D microelectronic packaging. It provides readers an in-depth understanding of the latest research and development findings regarding this key industry trend, including TSV, die processing, micro-bumps for LMI and MMI, direct bonding and advanced materials, as well as quality, reliability, fault isolation, and failure analysis for 3D microelectronic packages. Images, tables, and didactic schematics are used to illustrate and elaborate on the concepts discussed. Readers will gain a general grasp of 3D packaging, quality and reliability concerns, and common causes of failure, and will be introduced to developing areas and remaining gaps in 3D packaging that can help inspire future research and development.

This book covers novel and innovative technologies used in development, modeling, chemical/physical investigation and biomedical (in-vitro and in-vivo) trials of nanomaterials and nanocomposites. Novel methods for nanoparticle development and manufacturing are presented, as well as their safety and promising applications. In addition, the book highlights new frontiers in the use of metal / metal oxide nanoparticles, hierarchical nanostructures and organic coatings as sensors for detecting gases, inorganic and organic materials, including biosensors for bacteria and cancers. Organic nanoparticle composites for medical applications (tissue engineering, tissue replacement, regeneration, etc.), including hydroxyapatite NPs, are also covered, together with related in-vitro and preclinical investigations. In closing, the book shares recent findings on orthopedic and dental implant coatings using nanoparticles, their biological efficacy and safety.