Metrology is part of the essential but largely hidden infrastructure of the modern world. This book concentrates on the infrastructure aspects of metrology. It introduces the underlying concepts: International system of units, traceability and uncertainty; and describes the concepts that are implemented to assure the comparability, reliability and quantifiable trust of measurement results. It is shown what benefits the traditional metrological principles have in fields as medicine or in the evaluation of cyber physical systems.

This book introduces sonar system and acoustic channel model, average energy channel, coherent multipath channel, the theoretical basis for the stochastic time-varying space-variant channel, slowly time-varying coherent multipath channel, and reverberation channel. Based on the basic theory of underwater acoustic channels and the various characteristics of the marine acoustic environment factor, this textbook aims to help students understand the impact of the marine acoustic channel on the sonar system. It helps students to grasp underwater acoustic signal processing principles and obtain the ability to solve practical problems in underwater acoustic channel engineering. Finally, it aims at laying a foundation for the further sonar system design. This textbook is recommended for graduate or undergraduate students in the field of sonar signal processing, underwater acoustic engineering, as well as some related subjects of marine technology.

The, Uranium Seekers, saga began in 1976 when world-famous Hollywood, California photographer, Martin, was contracted to come to Utah and begin documenting, paying photographic tribute to, uranium miners, native Americans, and the Vanadium King uranium and vanadium mines on Temple Mountain, Emery County, Utah. The essence of the project was to pay tribute to the persons who traversed Zane Grey's and John Ford's great western expanse in search of uranium ore, one rock at a time, from before Madame Curies trips to the, then, present, and to remind the world's public that uranium was, and still is, used to kill, not humanity, rather cancer. I harbored the hope that by going back to the first uranium rocks the nuclear industry would re-evaluate the physical structure of nuclear reactors, one cubic yard at a time. Nuclear reactors, when built, witness Fukushima Daiichi, are still being created with too much haste. Like the uranium miners themselves, it's the hands of the humanity who cast the cement forms in which the reactors rest which determines safety. I also, rather naively, hoped when uranium's harmonous utilization was embraced its destructive military reality, throughout the world, would melt. Even with the support of the fine Beverly Hills, California literary agent, Clyde M. Vandeburg of Vandeburg-Linkletter Associates who represented Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Barry Goldwater, and many others at the time, the national and international events at Three-Mile Island and Chernobyl put Uranium Seekers and Martins great photographs to bed for decades. However, recently I learned the Utah Historical Quarterly Unpublished Manuscripts from the Department of Community and Culture at the Utah State Archives had harbored some of the manuscript material for decades and the recent events at Fukushima Daiichi made uranium part of the international conversation once again, I decided to dust off Martin's work and snatches of the original material for Uranium Seekers.

Speech enhancement is a classical problem in signal processing, yet still largely unsolved. Two of the conventional approaches for solving this problem are linear filtering, like the classical Wiener filter, and subspace methods. These approaches have traditionally been treated as different classes of methods and have been introduced in somewhat different contexts. Linear filtering methods originate in stochastic processes, while subspace methods have largely been based on developments in numerical linear algebra and matrix approximation theory.

This book bridges the gap between these two classes of methods by showing how the ideas behind subspace methods can be incorporated into traditional linear filtering. In the context of subspace methods, the enhancement problem can then be seen as a classical linear filter design problem. This means that various solutions can more easily be compared and their performance bounded and assessed in terms of noise reduction and speech distortion. The book shows how various filter designs can be obtained in this framework, including the maximum SNR, Wiener, LCMV, and MVDR filters, and how these can be applied in various contexts, like in single-channel and multichannel speech enhancement, and in both the time and frequency domains.

The use of fracking is a tremendously important technology for the recovery of oil and gas, but the advantages and costs of fracking remain controversial. This book examines the issues and social, economic, political, and legal aspects of fracking in the United States. Hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells-known commonly as "fracking"-has been in use in the United States for more than half a century. In recent years, however, massive expansion of shale gas fracturing across the nation has put fracking in the public eye. Is fracking a "win win" like its proponents say, or are there significant costs and dangers associated with the use of this energy production technology? This book examines fracking from all angles, addressing the promise of the United States becoming energy independent through the use of the process to tap the massive amounts of natural gas and oil available as well as the host of problems associated with fracking-groundwater contamination and increased seismic activity, just to mention two-that raise questions about the long-term feasibility of the process as a source of natural gas. The first part of the book provides a historical background of the topic; a review of technical information about fracking; and a detailed discussion of the social, economic, political, legal, and other aspects of the current fracking controversy. The second part of the book provides a host of resources for readers seeking to learn even more in-depth information about the topic, supplying a chronology, glossary, annotated bibliography, and profiles of important individuals and organizations. Written specifically for students and young adults, the content is accessible to readers with little or no previous knowledge regarding fracking. Provides readers with a complete historical review of the origins, development, and expansion of the use of fracking Explains the technical principles related to the use of fracking in clear, nontechnical language Presents an unbiased review of the arguments for and against the use of fracking for the recovery of oil and gas Supplies a summary of the history of the use of fracking in the United States

An annotated bibliography of the Space Shuttle program, 1979-2011, originally published by NASA as Towards A History of the Space Shuttle. This version of the book includes both the first and second volumes; the first volume is not elsewhere available in print. Facsimile edition.

A wildly fun and scientifically sound exploration of what alien life must be like Scientists are confident that life exists elsewhere in the universe. Yet rather than taking a realistic approach to what aliens might be like, we imagine that life on other planets is the stuff of science fiction. The time has come to abandon our fantasies of space invaders and movie monsters and place our expectations on solid scientific footing. Using his own expert understanding of life on Earth and Darwin's theory of evolution--which applies throughout the universe--Cambridge zoologist Dr. Arik Kershenbaum explains what alien life must be like: how these creatures will move, socialize, and communicate. Might there be an alien planet with supersonic animals? A moon where creatures have a language composed of smells? Will aliens scream with fear, act honestly, or have technology? The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy answers these questions using the latest science to tell the story of how life really works, on Earth and in space.

Finding a new oil and gas discovery and evaluating its volume is a difficult and challenging task, and yet there is very little published on the topic. Luiz Amado delivers a one-of-a-kind introductory guide titled "Reservoir Exploration and Appraisal. "Providing logistical instruction and processes for the entire exploration and appraisal process, Amado furnishes the guidance, workflow, and practical recommendations needed based on real-world scenarios. Written by an engineer with over 15 years of experience in the North Sea, Gulf of Mexico, South America and West Africa, "Reservoir Exploration and Appraisal" equips engineersand economists with expert advice on critical subjects such as detailed methods of estimating recovery factors, creating production curves using either simple or complex approaches, understanding main fluid and rock properties that govern volume and productivity, and communicating examples of field case evaluations, including deepwater projects.
Details methods of estimating recovery factors and rules of thumb that can be used if there is an absence of dataHow to create production curves using either simple or complex approachesUnderstanding main fluid and rock properties that govern volume and productivity, saving time from analyzing countless fluid samples or rock data from coresDescribes the process of lease sales, bid rounds and farm-in opportunitiesCommunicates examples of field case evaluations, including deepwater projects, to illustrate the steps covered in the book, showing the reader the full project cycle"