Today's facilities have better electrical and electronic systems. They are, however, more complex. The applications of digital technology (and software) increased the complexity of their design, analysis, and maintenance. This book describes some of the complex issues and ways to solve them. These issues are in the areas of: [ Design of power system [ Energy conservation [ Design of lighting systems [ Communication systems [ Microprocessor controls [ Grounding and noise [ Making investment and business decisions

Relays and instrument transformers are the building blocks of protection systems for generators, busses, transformers, motors, and power lines. Yet, it appears that the subject is a mystery to most. The author greatly simplified the approach in presenting the fundamental ideas of protection systems. After showing the basics of a fault, the author presented the inverse-time characteristics of overcurrent relays, their pick-up currents, and their operating times. When possible, Boolean algebra was used in simplifying relay logic. Several chapters describe the basics of relays and instrument transformers. Finally, the design project, in the last chapter, encapsulates the fundamental ideas in the book. Control system engineers, facility power engineers, distribution engineers, and transmission engineers should benefit from the book.

High-voltage transmission lines link power plants to cities or population centers. Its analysis and design control howelectricity can be delivered reliably and efficiently.

This book provides the basic tools for analyzing high-voltage transmission lines. They include power fl ow analysis, power factor improvement, calculating inductance and capacitance, and the iterative approach in solving any transmission line problems. Chapter 10 of the book is about financing a power system. From financial point of view, it is the most important chapter in the book. The last chapter, or Chapter 11, is a design project that put together all the fine points of analysis and design.

The intent of this book is to emphasize the basics of control system. Thes basics include transfer function, block diagram, signal flow graph, and the matrix approach in solving simultaneous differential equations. Additionally, the they also include Bode plot, realization diagram, and stability analysis. The book also shows digital control system as an extension of analog control system. To illustrate these basics, the author used extensive figures and tables. Each figure consists of sketches and mathematical equations shown on its text. Such an approach minimizes backward referencing from a figure to its text and vice versa. After a careful study of the book, an engineer should be able to design, analyze, or test a control system.

Starting from the basics of a power distribution system, the author explained the mechanism of how grounding noise currents arise in a facility transformer. This is followed by computer simulation of short circuit or fault currents required in sizing the interrupting capacity of a circuit breaker.
Chapter 3 closely examines propagation constant and characteristic impedance of a transmission line. The model of a transmission line can explain most of the electrical or electronics problems. Some of these problems include redundancy in power systems, and grounding noise voltage.
Often, an engineer needs to find the cause of a failure in a system. He must have, at his disposal, a systematic method of testing to find the most probable cause of failure. This book recommends the boundary approach in finding such a cause. Testing may involve characterizing a device or a signal. An example of how an unknown device may be characterized is shown in this book.
In this book, a grounding noise voltage is treated as a signal. It is, perhaps, the most common cause of failures in electronic systems. To illustrate an example of how a signal may be characterized and address grounding itself, Chapter 7 shows experiments on how a grounding noise voltage may be minimized. Finally, Chapter 8 is a recommended approach in designing a grounding system.

A new business faces numerous problems. They include marketing and sales, capital, forming business units, accounting, inflation, interest rate, taxes, and tons of files. In this book, marketing is compared to imaging, consisting of film, aperture, and subject. The film is analogous to the product. A camera's aperture is the organization of the business. The subject represents customers. How a business captures a customer depends on its value and support systems and the apathy of customers. An entrepreneur will have to fund the initial start-up. To this end, the book provides recommendations on how to raise funds. Equally important is to continue working on the idea despite the lack of funds. Each work is an intellectual property and has monetary value. The more intellectual property, the higher will be the valuation of the business during its initial public offering (IPO). Accounting is another area which an entrepreneur must have a working knowledge. It is important not only for taxes but also in monitoring the financial health of the business. Inflation, interest rate, and taxes are variables beyond an entrepreneur's control. However, they have to be understood to correctly position a business. E-mails, Web sites, data security, and tons of files could divert an entrepreneur's attention from the real issues of the business. Somehow they have to be controlled, and this book provides recommendations on managing them.

This book is about computer simulation, experiments, and theoretical approaches to unify various strategies in black jack. The computer simulation uses the simple strategy that a player must stay when the number of low cards is two or more. Otherwise, when the number is exactly one then the player must hit. Contrary to the author's expectations, the simple strategy did give consistent positive results for the player.

Experimenting further, the author found other observations that are important in winning such as when to start playing, busting condition of the dealer, and the shifting property of the cards. The author unified all the observations using the TM*L model. In the model, T represents the tens 10, J, Q, and K. The M* represents the medium cards 7, 8, and 9, and the ace. L represents the low cards from 2 to 6.

He also represented the game using a partial differential equation. The solution of the equation showed the sensitivity of winning with the tens, the medium cards, and the low cards. In addition, the solution verified the shifting property of the cards. The property shows that good cards move from the player to the dealer. Conversely, they can move from the dealer to the player.