This much anticipated volume looks at the historical evolution of towns and cities in medieval India from the early thirteenth to the late eighteenth century. The selection is based on the availability of documents. These include the narratives of European travellers in English, French, Italian, Dutch, and German with the exception of Ibn Battuta in mid-fourteenth century and also Middle Bengali literature in case of towns in Bengal. While the coastal towns and cities have been looked at, the interior ones are also described on the basis of the writings of later historians and archaeologists. Care has been taken to explain the rise, growth and the decline of some towns and cities in which the changing courses of rivers had played a crucial role. Attempts have been made to search other factors responsible for such eventualities. The delineation of physical features within the city has been given due emphasis including the different quarters of the city and the manners and customs of the local population with reference to craft production and commercial links. The morphological differences between the cities of eastern and those of the western or northern India have also been described. This is clear from the observations of port towns described here. All these would show that India was one of the most urbanized area in the medieval period before advent of the British.

The Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller operates the majority of modern control systems and has applications in many industries; thus any improvement in its design methodology has the potential to have a significant engineering and economic impact. Despite the existence of numerous methods for setting the parameters of PID controllers, the stability analysis of time-delay systems that use PID controllers remains extremely difficult and unclear, and there are very few existing results on PID controller synthesis.Filling a gap in the literature, this book is a presentation of recent results in the field of PID controllers, including their design, analysis, and synthesis. The focus is on linear time-invariant plants that may contain a time-delay in the feedback loop-a setting that captures many real-world practical and industrial situations. Emphasis is placed on the efficient computation of the entire set of PID controllers achieving stability and various performance specifications, which is important for the development of future software design packages, as well as further capabilities such as adaptive PID design and online implementation.

Adaptive Internal Model Control is a methodology for the design and analysis of adaptive internal model control schemes with provable guarantees of stability and robustness. Written in a self-contained tutorial fashion, this research monograph successfully brings the latest theoretical advances in the design of robust adaptive systems to the realm of industrial applications. It provides a theoretical basis for analytically justifying some of the reported industrial successes of existing adaptive internal model control schemes, and enables the reader to synthesise adaptive versions of their own favourite robust internal model control scheme by combining it with a robust adaptive law. The net result is that earlier empirical IMC designs can now be systematically robustified or replaced altogether by new designs with assured guarantees of stability and robustness.

Successfully classroom-tested at the graduate level, Linear Control Theory: Structure, Robustness, and Optimization covers three major areas of control engineering (PID control, robust control, and optimal control). It provides balanced coverage of elegant mathematical theory and useful engineering-oriented results.

The first part of the book develops results relating to the design of PID and first-order controllers for continuous and discrete-time linear systems with possible delays. The second section deals with the robust stability and performance of systems under parametric and unstructured uncertainty. This section describes several elegant and sharp results, such as Kharitonov's theorem and its extensions, the edge theorem, and the mapping theorem. Focusing on the optimal control of linear systems, the third part discusses the standard theories of the linear quadratic regulator, Hinfinity and l1 optimal control, and associated results.

Written by recognized leaders in the field, this book explains how control theory can be applied to the design of real-world systems. It shows that the techniques of three term controllers, along with the results on robust and optimal control, are invaluable to developing and solving research problems in many areas of engineering.

In many industrial applications, the existing constraints mandate the use of controllers of low and fixed order while, typically, modern methods of optimal control produce high order controllers. Structure and Synthesis of PID Controllers seeks to start to bridge the resultant gap and presents a novel methodology for the design of low-order controllers such as those of the P, PI and PID types. Written in a self-contained and tutorial fashion, this research monograph first develops a fundamental result, generalizing a classical stability theorem - the Hermite-Biehler Theorem - and then applies it to designing controllers that are widely used in industry. It contains material on: current techniques for PID controller design, generalization of the Hermite-Biehler theorem, stabilization of linear time-invariant plants using PID controllers, optimal design with PID controllers, robust and non-fragile PID controller design, stabilization of first-order systems with time delay, constant-gain stabilization with desired damping, constant-gain stabilization of discrete-time plants. Practitioners, researchers and graduate students should find this book a valuable source of information on cutting-edge research in the field of control.

This book serves as a textbook for an introductory course in metric spaces for undergraduate or graduate students. The goal is to present the basics of metric spaces in a natural and intuitive way and encourage students to think geometrically while actively participating in the learning of this subject. In this book, the authors illustrated the strategy of the proofs of various theorems that motivate readers to complete them on their own. Bits of pertinent history are infused in the text, including brief biographies of some of the central players in the development of metric spaces. The textbook is divided into seven chapters that contain the main materials on metric spaces; namely, introductory concepts, completeness, compactness, connectedness, continuous functions and metric fixed point theorems with applications. Some of the noteworthy features of this book include * Diagrammatic illustrations that encourage readers to think geometrically * Focus on systematic strategy to generate ideas for the proofs of theorems * A wealth of remarks, observations along with a variety of exercises * Historical notes and brief biographies appearing throughout the text

This book serves as a textbook for an introductory course in metric spaces for undergraduate or graduate students. The goal is to present the basics of metric spaces in a natural and intuitive way and encourage students to think geometrically while actively participating in the learning of this subject. In this book, the authors illustrated the strategy of the proofs of various theorems that motivate readers to complete them on their own. Bits of pertinent history are infused in the text, including brief biographies of some of the central players in the development of metric spaces. The textbook is divided into seven chapters that contain the main materials on metric spaces; namely, introductory concepts, completeness, compactness, connectedness, continuous functions and metric fixed point theorems with applications. Some of the noteworthy features of this book include * Diagrammatic illustrations that encourage readers to think geometrically * Focus on systematic strategy to generate ideas for the proofs of theorems * A wealth of remarks, observations along with a variety of exercises * Historical notes and brief biographies appearing throughout the text

This book provides an integrated view of the Delhi Sultanate government from 1206 to 1526. It is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the political events and the dynastic history of the Sultans and the second part with the administration, different land issues, social life including two major religious movements and other cultural aspects including architecture and sculpture. The growth of the city of Delhi has been shown here perhaps for the first time. Most of the books on Delhi Sultanate mainly narrate the political events. Here other aspects have been included to show the real character of the Sultanate. It may be mentioned that the English officials from the end of the eighteenth Century had termed the medieval period of India as a 'dark age' - a statement that has been accepted by several Indian writers. It is to negate this view that an integrated narrative has been provided here. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

Water is our natural heritage, our miracle of life. However, our increasingly technological society has become indifferent to water. Far from being pure, modern drinking water around the world contains many undesirable chemical and bacterial contaminants. The existing techniques employed for the disinfection of water are either energy-intensive or have by-products harmful to human health. Drinking Water Disinfection Techniques reviews these processes and explores novel technologies for water disinfection synergistic with existing techniques. The book covers a wide audience and gives a comprehensive review of various physical, chemical, and hybrid techniques commonly used for the disinfection of water as well as newer emerging technologies in terms of their mode of action, scale of operation, efficacy, merits, and demerits. It broadly addresses the issues related to water disinfection in three sections: Disinfection techniques-chemical, physical, and hybrid (combination)-and their likely scale of operation efficacy Disinfection by-product as a function of water source and the type of treatment Emerging and novel techniques, including new work on cavitation, an economical, energy-efficient, and simple alternative to the conventional methods of disinfection Drinking Water Disinfection Techniques effectively combines the chemical, physical, biological, and engineering principles of water disinfection in one text. Discussing both conventional and novel techniques used for disinfection and the economics involved, the book gives a comprehensive review of various physical, chemical, and hybrid techniques used for disinfection to create potable water.

Human Rights and the Third World: Issues and Discourses deals with the controversial questions on the universalistic notions of human rights. It finds Third World perspectives on human rights and seeks to open up a discursive space in the human rights discourse to address unresolved questions, citing issues and problems from different countries in the Third World: 1.Whether alternative perspectives should be taken as the standard for human rights in the Third World countries? 2.Should there be a universalistic notion of rights for Homo sapiens or are we talking about two diametrically opposite trends and standards of human rights for the same species? 3.How far these Third World perspectives of human rights can ensure the protection of the minorities and the vulnerable sections of population, particularly the women and children within the Third World? 4.Can these alternative perspectives help in fighting the Third World problems like poverty, hunger, corruption, despotism, social exclusion like the caste system in India, communalism, and the like? 5.Can there be reconciliation between the Third World perspectives and the Western perspective of human rights?

Human Rights and the Third World: Issues and Discourses deals with the controversial questions on the universalistic notions of human rights. It finds Third World perspectives on human rights and seeks to open up a discursive space in the human rights discourse to address unresolved questions, citing issues and problems from different countries in the Third World: 1. Whether alternative perspectives should be taken as the standard for human rights in the Third World countries? 2. Should there be a universalistic notion of rights for Homo sapiens or are we talking about two diametrically opposite trends and standards of human rights for the same species? 3. How far these Third World perspectives of human rights can ensure the protection of the minorities and the vulnerable sections of population, particularly the women and children within the Third World? 4. Can these alternative perspectives help in fighting the Third World problems like poverty, hunger, corruption, despotism, social exclusion like the caste system in India, communalism, and the like? 5. Can there be reconciliation between the Third World perspectives and the Western perspective of human rights?

Handbook of Nanomaterials for Wastewater Treatment: Fundamentals and Scale up Issues provides coverage of the nanomaterials used for wastewater treatment, covering photocatalytic nanocomposite materials, nanomaterials used as adsorbents, water remediation processes, and their current status and challenges. The book explores the major applications of nanomaterials for effective catalysis and adsorption, also providing in-depth information on the properties and application of new advanced nanomaterials for wastewater treatment processes. This is an important reference source for researchers who need to solve basic and advanced problems relating to the use of nanomaterials for the development of wastewater treatment processes and technologies. As nanotechnology has the potential to substantially improve current water and wastewater treatment processes, the synthesis methods and physiochemical properties of nanomaterials and noble metal nanoparticles make their performance and mechanisms efficient for the treatment of various pollutants.

In the days of the British Raj Calcutta was a great port city. Thousands of men, women, and children worked there, loading and unloading valuable cargoes that sustained the regional economy, and contributed significantly to world trade. In the second half of the nineteenth century, in response to a shift from sailing ships to steamers, port authorities in Calcutta began work on a massive modernization project. This book is the first study of port labor in colonial Calcutta and British India. Drawing on primary source material, including government documents and newspaper records, the author demonstrates how the modernization process worsened class conflict and highlights the important part played by labor in the shaping of the port's modernization. Class Conflict and Modernization in India places this history in a comparative context, highlighting the interconnected nature of port and port labor histories. It examines how the port's modernization affected the port workforce and the port's managers, as well as the impact on class formation that emerged as labourers resisted through acts of everyday resistance and organized strikes. A detailed study of state power, technological change, and class conflict, this book will be of interest to academics of modern Indian history, labour history and the history of science and technology.

The development of large-scale renewable generation and load electrification call for highly efficient and flexible electric power integration, transmission and interconnection. High Voltage DC (HVDC) transmission technology has been recognized as the key technology for this scenario. HVDC transmissions, including both the line commutated converter (LCC) HVDC and voltage source converter (VSC) HVDC have played an important role in the modern electric power system. However, with the inclusion of power electronic devices, HVDC introduces the characteristics of nonlinearity and different timescales into the traditional electromechanical system and thus careful modeling and simulation of HVDC transmission are essential for power system design, commissioning, operation and maintenance. This book focuses on the modeling and simulation of HVDC transmission systems. The development of HVDC technologies is briefly introduced, and then the role of modeling and simulation in the research and development of HVDC systems is discussed. The chapters cover the general practice of HVDC modeling and simulation; electromagnetic modeling of LCC HVDC; VSC HVDC system modeling and stability analysis; electromagnetic modeling of DC grids; electromagnetic simulation of HVDC transmission; electromechanical transient simulation of LCC HVDC; electromechanical simulation of VSC HVDC; dynamic phasor modeling of HVDC; small-signal modeling of HVDC systems; hybrid simulation for HVDC; and real-time modeling and simulation for HVDC systems. The simulation algorithms are explained for each model and case studies and application examples are included. This book is essential reading for engineers and researchers involved with transmission grid construction, as well as advanced students of electrical engineering.

Natural Convection in Composite Fluid-Porous Domains provides a timely overview of the current state of understanding on the phenomenon of convection in composite fluid-porous layers. Natural convection in horizontal fluid-porous layers has received renewed attention because of engineering problems such as post-accident cooling of nuclear reactors, contaminant transport in groundwater, and convection in fibrous insulation systems. Because applications of the problem span many scientific domains, the book serves as a valuable resource for a wide audience.