This edited volume brings together a group of expert contributors to explorebthe opportunities and the challenges that Industry 4.0 (smart manufacturing) is likely to pose for regions, fi rms and jobs in Europe. Drawing on theory and empirical cases, it considers emerging issues like servitization, new innovation models for local production systems and the increase in reshoring. Industry 4.0 and Regional Transformations captures the complexity of this new manufacturing model in an accessible way and considers its implications for the future. It will be essential reading for advanced students and researchers and policy makers in regional studies, industrial policy, economic geography, innovation studies, operations management and engineering.

Shelving Guide: Business and Management / Strategic Planning / Leadership / Operations Culture, Strategy, Execution. These three components forge the path to realized potential. The Blendification (R) System breaks down and rebuilds these core concepts within your company's DNA, setting the foundation for an energizing, engaging, and impactful organization. It is based on the belief that many organizations fail to maximize their potential because they simply do not comprehend the magnitude of their personal and collective untapped capabilities. Many workplaces are stuck in "second gear," not quite embracing and pursuing their full potential. Corporate missions are based on market dominance and incremental profit growth, leaving a massive blind spot in terms of the connection between employees, customers, and communities. This short-sightedness may provide a clear focal point, but it leaves the company, its leadership, and its employees with limited sustained motivation to realize potential. The Blendification (R) System embraces the connection between culture, strategy, and execution using the Strategy Whiteboard and integrating emotional and system intelligence into the following three-step model: Strategic Analysis including Culture Strategic Focus, Strategic Outcomes, and Strategic Actions Strategic Execution The Blendification (R) System connects culture, strategy, and execution in a meaningful way that fosters an inspired, exceptional workforce. By focusing on the unifying purpose within each organization, the platform promotes alignment between leadership and employees setting a clear, strong foundation in which every individual can thrive. With this foundation in place, organizations activate their employee's potential who then take care of their customers. By fully engaging those with whom organizations directly interact, these individuals then become the spark that ignites community-wide advancement. This is not a theory-based, philosophical book. This is an in-depth operating system by which organizations reshape their infrastructure to realize potential. The methodology outlined in The Blendification (R) System creates agile and efficient action, maximizing success in periods of economic expansion and times of uncertainty such as the COVID-19 outbreak, the Great Recession, and 9/11. By following the structure outlined in The Blendification (R) System and using the Strategy Whiteboard, organizations will move beyond financial success to uplifting employees, customers, and entire communities.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art in the development of semiconductor nanostructures and nanophotonic devices. It covers epitaxial growth processes for GaAs- and GaN-based quantum dots and quantum wells, describes the fundamental optical, electronic, and vibronic properties of nanomaterials, and addresses the design and realization of various nanophotonic devices. These include energy-efficient and high-speed vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) and ultra-small metal-cavity nano-lasers for applications in multi-terabus systems; silicon photonic I/O engines based on the hybrid integration of VCSELs for highly efficient chip-to-chip communication; electrically driven quantum key systems based on q-bit and entangled photon emitters and their implementation in real information networks; and AlGaN-based deep UV laser diodes for applications in medical diagnostics, gas sensing, spectroscopy, and 3D printing. The experimental results are accompanied by reviews of theoretical models that describe nanophotonic devices and their base materials. The book details how optical transitions in the active materials, such as semiconductor quantum dots and quantum wells, can be described using a quantum approach to the dynamics of solid-state electrons under quantum confinement and their interaction with phonons, as well as their external pumping by electrical currents. With its broad and detailed scope, this book is indeed a cutting-edge resource for researchers, engineers and graduate-level students in the area of semiconductor materials, optoelectronic devices and photonic systems.

For mainstream economics, cultural production raises no special questions: creative expression is to be harvested for wealth creation like any other form of labour. As Karl Marx saw it, however, capital is hostile to the arts because it cannot fully control the process of creativity. But while he saw the arts as marginal to capital accumulation, that was before the birth of the mass media. Engaging with the major issues in Marxist theory around art and capitalism, From Printing to Streaming traces how the logic of cultural capitalism evolved from the print age to digital times, tracking the development of printing, photography, sound recording, newsprint, advertising, film and broadcasting, exploring the peculiarities of each as commodities, and their recent transformation by digital technology, where everything melts into computer code. Showing how these developments have had profound implications for both cultural creation and consumption, Chanan offers a radical and comprehensive analysis of the commodification of artistic creation and the struggle to realise its potential in the digital age.

To meet the needs of today, engineered products and systems are an important element of the world economy, and each year billions of dollars are spent to develop, manufacture, operate, and maintain various types of products and systems around the globe. This book integrates and combines three of those topics to meet today's needs for the engineers working in these fields. This book provides a single volume that considers reliability, maintainability, and safety when designing new products and systems. Examples along with their solutions are placed at the end of each chapter to test readers' comprehension. The book is written in a manner that readers do not need any previous knowledge of the subject, and many references are provided. This book is also useful to many people, including design engineers, system engineers, reliability specialists, safety professionals, maintainability engineers, engineering administrators, graduate and senior undergraduate students, researchers, and instructors.

Written by the inventors and leading experts of this new field, the book results from the International Symposium on "Atomic Switch: Invention, Practical use and Future Prospects" which took place in Tsukuba, Japan on March 27th - 28th, 2017. The book chapters cover the different trends from the science and technology of atomic switches to their applications like brain-type information processing, artificial intelligence (AI) and completely novel functional electronic nanodevices. The current practical uses of the atomic switch are also described. As compared with the conventional semiconductor transistor switch, the atomic switch is more compact (~1/10) with much lower power consumption (~1/10) and scarcely influenced by strong electromagnetic noise and radiation including cosmic rays in space (~1/100). As such, this book is of interest to researchers, scholars and students willing to explore new materials, to refine the nanofabrication methods and to explore new and efficient device architectures.

This book provides an overview of the experimental characterization of materials and their numerical modeling, as well as the development of new computational methods for virtual design. Its 17 contributions are divided into four main sections: experiments and virtual design, composites, fractures and fatigue, and uncertainty quantification. The first section explores new experimental methods that can be used to more accurately characterize material behavior. Furthermore, it presents a combined experimental and numerical approach to optimizing the properties of a structure, as well as new developments in the field of computational methods for virtual design. In turn, the second section is dedicated to experimental and numerical investigations of composites, with a special focus on the modeling of failure modes and the optimization of these materials. Since fatigue also includes wear due to frictional contact and aging of elastomers, new numerical schemes in the field of crack modeling and fatigue prediction are also discussed. The input parameters of a classical numerical simulation represent mean values of actual observations, though certain deviations arise: to illustrate the uncertainties of parameters used in calculations, the book's final section presents new and efficient approaches to uncertainty quantification.

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.

This book reviews advances in cutting-edge micro-/nano-electrometers, and discusses the technological challenges involved in their practical implementation. The detection of electrostatic charge has a wide range of applications in ionization chambers, bio-analyte and aerosol particle instruments, mass spectrometers, scanning tunneling microscopes, and even quantum computers. Designing micro-/nano-electrometers (also known as charge sensors) for electrometry is considered vital because of the charge sensitivity and resolution issues at micro-/nano-scales. The remarkably dynamic microelectromechanical systems (MEMSs)/nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMSs), and advances in solid-state electronics, hold considerable potential for the design and fabrication of extremely sensitive charge sensors.

This book addresses the fundamental challenges underlying bioelectronics and tissue interface for clinical investigation. Appropriate for biomedical engineers and researchers, the authors cover topics ranging from retinal implants to restore vision, implantable circuits for neural implants, and intravascular electrochemical impedance to detect unstable plaques. In addition to these chapters, the authors also document the approaches and issues of multi-scale physiological assessment and monitoring in both humans and animal models for health monitoring and biological investigations; novel biomaterials such as conductive and biodegradable polymers to be used in biomedical devices; and the optimization of wireless power transfer via inductive coupling for batteryless and wireless implantable medical devices. In addition to engineers and researchers, this book is also an ideal supplementary or reference book for a number of courses in biomedical engineering programs, such as bioinstrumentation, MEMS/BioMEMS, bioelectronics and sensors, and more. Analyzes and discusses the electrode-tissue interfaces for optimization of biomedical devices. Introduces novel biomaterials to be used in next-generation biomedical devices. Discusses high-frequency transducers for biomedical applications.

Part I introduces the basic "Principles and Methods of Force Measurement" according to a classification into a dozen of force transducerstypes: resistive, inductive, capacitive, piezoelectric, electromagnetic, electrodynamic, magnetoelastic, galvanomagnetic (Hall-effect), vibrating wires, (micro)resonators, acoustic and gyroscopic. Two special chapters refer to force balance techniques and to combined methods in force measurement. Part II discusses the "(Strain Gauge) Force Transducers Components", evolving from the classical force transducer to the digital / intelligent one, with the incorporation of three subsystems (sensors, electromechanics and informatics). The elastic element (EE) is the "heart" of the force transducer and basically determines its performance. A 12-type elastic element classification is proposed (stretched / compressed column or tube, bending beam, bending and/or torsion shaft, middle bent bar with fixed ends, shear beam, bending ring, yoke or frame, diaphragm, axial-stressed torus, axisymmetrical and voluminous EE), with emphasis on the optimum place of the strain gauges. The main properties of the associated Wheatstone bridge, best suited for the parametrical transducers, are examined, together with the appropriate electronic circuits for SGFTs. The handbook fills a gap in the field of Force Measurement, both experts and newcomers, no matter of their particular interest, finding a lot of useful and valuable subjects in the area of Force Transducers; in fact, it is the first specialized monograph in this inter- and multidisciplinary field.

This book presents fabrication approaches that could be adapted for the high-throughput and low-cost manufacturing of the proposed transparent electrode. It proposes and demonstrates a new type of embedded metal-mesh transparent electrode (EMTE) that offers superior electrical, optical, and mechanical properties. The structure of the EMTE allows thick metal mesh to be used (for high conductivity) without sacrificing surface smoothness. In addition, the embedded structure improves the EMTE's mechanical stability under high bending stress, as well as its chemical stability in ambient environments. These design aspects are then shown to be suitable for larger electrode areas, narrower metal-mesh line widths, and a wide range of materials, and can easily be adapted to produce flexible and even stretchable devices. In closing, the book explores the practical applications of EMTEs in flexible bifacial dye-sensitized solar cells and transparent thin-film heaters, demonstrating their outstanding performance.

This book discusses various challenges and solutions in the fields of operation, control, design, monitoring and protection of microgrids, and facilitates the integration of renewable energy and distribution systems through localization of generation, storage and consumption. It covers five major topics relating to microgrid i.e., operation, control, design, monitoring and protection. The book is primarily intended for electric power and control engineering researchers who are seeking factual information, but also appeals to professionals from other engineering disciplines wanting an overview of the entire field or specific information on one aspect of it. Featuring practical case studies and demonstrating different root causes of large power failures, it helps readers develop new concepts for mitigating blackout issues. This book is a comprehensive reference resource for graduate and postgraduate students, academic researchers, and practicing engineers working in the fields of power system and microgrid.

This book presents the findings of experimental and theoretical (including first-principles molecular dynamics simulation) studies of nanostructured and nanocomposite metal-based materials, and nanoscale multilayer coatings fabricated by physical or chemical vapor deposition, magnetron sputtering, electrospark alloying, ionic layer absorption, contact melting, and high-current electron beam irradiation. It also discusses novel methods of nanocomposite formation, as well as the structure of the deposited films, coatings and other nanoscale materials, their elemental and phase composition, and their physical-mechanical, tribological, magnetic and electrical properties. Lastly, it explores the influence of a various surface modification methods, such as thermal annealing, pulsed laser modification, and thermomechanical and ultrasonic treatment, as well as different properties of nanostructured films.

The series Topics in Current Chemistry Collections presents critical reviews from the journal Topics in Current Chemistry organized in topical volumes. The scope of coverage is all areas of chemical science including the interfaces with related disciplines such as biology, medicine and materials science. The goal of each thematic volume is to give the non-specialist reader, whether in academia or industry, a comprehensive insight into an area where new research is emerging which is of interest to a larger scientific audience. Each review within the volume critically surveys one aspect of that topic and places it within the context of the volume as a whole. The most significant developments of the last 5 to 10 years are presented using selected examples to illustrate the principles discussed. The coverage is not intended to be an exhaustive summary of the field or include large quantities of data, but should rather be conceptual, concentrating on the methodological thinking that will allow the non-specialist reader to understand the information presented. Contributions also offer an outlook on potential future developments in the field.

This book presents the latest research on mechatronic systems engineering. By bringing together the most important papers from the 2018 Mechatronics Forum Conference 'Reinventing Mechatronics,' it outlines key trends in research and applications that will define mechatronics for the next 50 years. Mechatronics was established as an engineering discipline over 50 years ago, as the integration of electronics and information technology with mechanical design. Given major technological advances and the growth of systems-level concepts such as Cyber-Physical Systems and the Internet of Things, along with Cloud Technologies and Big Data, it's now high time to reconsider the role of mechatronics, particularly within engineering design. Past and ongoing technological changes are impacting how systems are designed and configured in ways that could never have been envisaged when the field of mechatronics was first introduced.

This book presents selected articles from the 2nd International Conference on Nanomaterials and Advanced Composites, which brings together leading researchers and professionals from academia and industry to present their findings and provides a platform for the exchange of ideas and future collaboration. The book covers eight topics, including nanomaterials, polymer materials, mechanical materials, materials chemistry, materials physics, ceramics, recycling materials and green composites.

This thesis presents various applications of graphene-based nanomaterials, especially in biomedicine. Graphene and its derivatives have gained enormous attention from scientists in all fields of study due to many unprecedented properties. The initial scientific attention was focused on the development of transparent flexible electrodes by exploiting two-dimensional graphene film's extraordinary electrical and physical properties. Recently, given an increasing evidence of dispersed graphene-based nanomaterials' biocompatibility, researchers have endeavored to employ these materials in other studies relevant to biomedical technologies. In this respect, the thesis provides a comprehensive review on the synthesis, toxicity, and a few of the key biomedical applications in the first chapter. The following chapter discusses the use of a graphene film as a novel catalyst to oxidatively destroy phenols, which are known to be potentially mutagenic and carcinogenic. Finally, and most importantly, the last chapter introduces the therapeutic role of graphene quantum dots, the smallest graphene-based nanomaterials, for Parkinson's disease. The results are promising for the use of graphene quantum dots as the basis of future clinical drug candidates for neurodegenerative disorders.

Exam Board: SQA Level: Higher Subject: Design and Manufacture First Teaching: 2018, First Exam: 2019 The Higher Design & Manufacture Course Notes help teachers and students map their route through the CfE programme, providing comprehensive and authoritative guidance for the course. Full coverage of the new Higher course specifications with list of learning intentions Attractive layout with clear text features Key questions highlight crucial concepts and techniques that need to be grasped by students in order to progress to the next learning intention What the examiner/assessor is looking for to help teachers & students feel secure End of unit material - unit assessment, exam-style questions with worked answers and examiners commentary, self-assessment Course Notes give a practical, supportive approach to help deliver the new curriculum and offer a blend of sound teaching and learning with assessment guidance.

Plant Nanobionics, Volume 2 continues the important discussion of nanotechnology in plants, but focuses with a focus on biosynthesis and toxicity. This book discusses novel approaches to biosynthesis of nanoparticles for the increase of plant production systems, controlled release of agrochemicals and management of plant biotic stress. Green biosynthesis of metallic nanoparticles from bee propolis, artificial photosynthesis and hybrid structures are presented. Although engineered nanoparticles have great potential for solving many agricultural and societal problems, their consequences on the ecosystems and environment must be responsibly considered. This volume aims to contribute to the limited literature on this topic through its comprehensive examination of nanoparticle toxicity on plants, microbes and human health. Environmental risks with recent data are discussed as well as risks associated with the transfer of nanoparticles through the food chain. This volume highlights the study of a mechanistic approach and the study of nanoparticles towards nanobionics. The application of polymeric materials for smart packing in the food industry and agriculture sector as well as the future of nanomaterials in detecting soil microbes for environmental remediation are also included.

This book deals with mathematical modeling, namely, it describes the mathematical model of heat transfer in a silicon cathode of small (nano) dimensions with the possibility of partial melting taken into account. This mathematical model is based on the phase field system, i.e., on a contemporary generalization of Stefan-type free boundary problems. The approach used is not purely mathematical but is based on the understanding of the solution structure (construction and study of asymptotic solutions) and computer calculations. The book presents an algorithm for numerical solution of the equations of the mathematical model including its parallel implementation. The results of numerical simulation concludes the book. The book is intended for specialists in the field of heat transfer and field emission processes and can be useful for senior students and postgraduates.

This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date description of the Josephson effect, a topic of never-ending interest in both fundamental and applied physics. In this volume, world-renowned experts present the unique aspects of the physics of the Josephson effect, resulting from the use of new materials, of hybrid architectures and from the possibility of realizing nanoscale junctions. These new experimental capabilities lead to systems where novel coherent phenomena and transport processes emerge. All this is of great relevance and impact, especially when combined with the didactic approach of the book. The reader will benefit from a general and modern view of coherent phenomena in weakly-coupled superconductors on a macroscopic scale. Topics that have been only recently discussed in specialized papers and in short reviews are described here for the first time and organized in a general framework. An important section of the book is also devoted to applications, with focus on long-term, future applications. In addition to a significant number of illustrations, the book includes numerous tables for comparative studies on technical aspects.

This book features selected papers presented at the 14th International Conference on Electromechanics and Robotics 'Zavalishin's Readings' - ER(ZR) 2019, held in Kursk, Russia, on April 17-20, 2019. The contributions, written by professionals, researchers and students, cover topics in the field of automatic control systems, electromechanics, electric power engineering and electrical engineering, mechatronics, robotics, automation and vibration technologies. The Zavalishin's Readings conference was established as a tribute to the memory of Dmitry Aleksandrovich Zavalishin (1900-1968) - a Russian scientist, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and founder of the school of valve energy converters based on electric machines and valve converters energy. The first conference was organized by the Institute of Innovative Technologies in Electromechanics and Robotics at the Saint Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation in 2006. The 2019 conference was held with the XIII International Scientific and Technical Conference "Vibration 2019", and was organized by Saint Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation (SUAI), Saint Petersburg Institute for Informatics and Automation of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SPIIRAS) and the Southwest State University (SWSU) in with cooperation Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project No. 19-08-20021).

There are names in horological history that echo much more than just watches... Such is the case of Jaquet-Droz, 18th Swiss watchmakers with an international horizon, whose ceremonial clocks, prodigious androids, fashionable birdcages, pocket watches with moving scenes or collector's snuffboxes remain the stuff of dreams for passionate enthusiasts. Today, the Maison Jaquet Droz continues to draw its inspiration from this rich heritage in order to reinterpret techniques and aesthetics, pushing back the boundaries of watchmaking and representing a perpetual source of fascination for collectors. Based on the latest research on the subject and published on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the birth of Pierre Jaquet-Droz (1721-2021), this book offers a deep dive into the history of characters with a captivating journey. Born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, in what was then the principality of Neuchatel, Pierre Jaquet-Droz founded a watchmaking workshop and developed it through a combination of technical, artistic and commercial skills enabling it to reach international markets. His son Henry-Louis developed the family business and further diversified production, a significant portion of which found its way to China and its dignitaries, devotees of luxurious and ingenious mechanical marvels. This richly illustrated book aims to enable a rediscovery of their mechanical masterpieces as well as those of the Maison Jaquet Droz, whose rebirth and recent history are recounted here. These splendid historical and contemporary pieces embody a love of technical challenges and a taste for artistic refinement, adhering as much as possible to the sources of inspiration offered by nature. The Worlds of Jaquet Droz thus reveals part of the expansive universe of pre-industrial watchmaking while drawing parallels between past and present productions.

Achieve any cost goals in half the time and achieve stable production with quality designed in right-the-first-time. Design for Manufacturability: How to Use Concurrent Engineering to Rapidly Develop Low-Cost, High-Quality Products for Lean Production is still the definitive work on DFM. This second edition extends the proven methodology to the most advanced product development process with the addition of the following new, unique, and original topics, which have never been addressed previously. These topics show you how to: Cut cost from 1/2 to 1/10 in 9 categories-with ways to remove that much cost from product charges and pricing Commercialize innovation-starting with Manufacturable Research and learning from the new section on scalability, you will learn how to design products and processing equipment to quickly scale up to any needed demand or desired growth. Design product families that can be built "on-demand" in platform cells that also "mass customize" products to-order Make Lean production easier to implement with much more effective results while making build-to-order practical with spontaneous supply chains and eliminating forecasted inventory by including an updated chapter on "Designing Products for Lean Production" The author's 30 years of experience teaching companies DFM based on pre-class surveys and plant tours is the foundation of this most advanced design process. It includes incorporating dozens of proven DFM guidelines through up-front concurrent-engineering teamwork that cuts the time to stable production in half and curtails change orders for ramps, rework, redesign, substituting cheaper parts, change orders to fix the changes, unstable design specs, part obsolescence, and late discovery of manufacturability issues at periodic design reviews. This second edition is for the whole product development community, including: Engineers who want to learn the most advanced DFM techniques Managers who want to lead the most advanced product development Project team leaders who want to immediately apply all the principles taught in this book in their own micro-climate Improvement leaders and champions who want to implement the above and ensure that the company can design products and versatile processing equipment for low-volume/high-mix product varieties Designing half to a tenth of cost categories can avoid substituting cheap parts, which degrades quality, and encourages standardization and spontaneous supply chains, which will encourage Lean initiatives. Using cellular manufacturing to shift production between lines for mixed production of platforms and build-to-order to offer the fastest order fulfillment can beat any competitors' delivery time.