Composite Materials: Properties, Characterisation, and Applications provides an in-depth description of the synthesis, properties, and various characterisation techniques used for the study of composite materials. Covers applications and simulation tests of these advanced materials Presents real-world examples for demonstration Discusses surface, thermal, and electrical characterisation techniques Covers composites for use as sensors Aimed at industry professionals and researchers, this book offers readers thorough knowledge of the fundamentals as well as advanced level techniques involved in composite material characterisation, development, and applications.

This book presents the latest insights and developments in the field of socio-cultural inspired algorithms. Akin to evolutionary and swarm-based optimization algorithms, socio-cultural algorithms belong to the category of metaheuristics (problem-independent computational methods) and are inspired by natural and social tendencies observed in humans by which they learn from one another through social interactions. This book is an interesting read for engineers, scientists, and students studying/working in the optimization, evolutionary computation, artificial intelligence (AI) and computational intelligence fields.

This book includes state-of-the-art discussions on various issues and aspects of the implementation, testing, validation, and application of big data in the context of healthcare. The concept of big data is revolutionary, both from a technological and societal well-being standpoint. This book provides a comprehensive reference guide for engineers, scientists, and students studying/involved in the development of big data tools in the areas of healthcare and medicine. It also features a multifaceted and state-of-the-art literature review on healthcare data, its modalities, complexities, and methodologies, along with mathematical formulations. The book is divided into two main sections, the first of which discusses the challenges and opportunities associated with the implementation of big data in the healthcare sector. In turn, the second addresses the mathematical modeling of healthcare problems, as well as current and potential future big data applications and platforms.

This book is a delight for academics, researchers and professionals working in evolutionary and swarm computing, computational intelligence, machine learning and engineering design, as well as search and optimization in general. It provides an introduction to the design and development of a number of popular and recent swarm and evolutionary algorithms with a focus on their applications in engineering problems in diverse domains. The topics discussed include particle swarm optimization, the artificial bee colony algorithm, Spider Monkey optimization algorithm, genetic algorithms, constrained multi-objective evolutionary algorithms, genetic programming, and evolutionary fuzzy systems. A friendly and informative treatment of the topics makes this book an ideal reference for beginners and those with experience alike.

The book is a collection of high quality peer reviewed research papers presented in Seventh International Conference on Bio-Inspired Computing (BIC-TA 2012) held at ABV-IIITM Gwalior, India. These research papers provide the latest developments in the broad area of "Computational Intelligence." The book discusses wide variety of industrial, engineering and scientific applications of nature/bio-inspired computing and presents invited papers from the inventors/originators of novel computational techniques.

This book is a delight for academics, researchers and professionals working in evolutionary and swarm computing, computational intelligence, machine learning and engineering design, as well as search and optimization in general. It provides an introduction to the design and development of a number of popular and recent swarm and evolutionary algorithms with a focus on their applications in engineering problems in diverse domains. The topics discussed include particle swarm optimization, the artificial bee colony algorithm, Spider Monkey optimization algorithm, genetic algorithms, constrained multi-objective evolutionary algorithms, genetic programming, and evolutionary fuzzy systems. A friendly and informative treatment of the topics makes this book an ideal reference for beginners and those with experience alike.

This book includes state-of-the-art discussions on various issues and aspects of the implementation, testing, validation, and application of big data in the context of healthcare. The concept of big data is revolutionary, both from a technological and societal well-being standpoint. This book provides a comprehensive reference guide for engineers, scientists, and students studying/involved in the development of big data tools in the areas of healthcare and medicine. It also features a multifaceted and state-of-the-art literature review on healthcare data, its modalities, complexities, and methodologies, along with mathematical formulations. The book is divided into two main sections, the first of which discusses the challenges and opportunities associated with the implementation of big data in the healthcare sector. In turn, the second addresses the mathematical modeling of healthcare problems, as well as current and potential future big data applications and platforms.

This book presents the latest insights and developments in the field of socio-cultural inspired algorithms. Akin to evolutionary and swarm-based optimization algorithms, socio-cultural algorithms belong to the category of metaheuristics (problem-independent computational methods) and are inspired by natural and social tendencies observed in humans by which they learn from one another through social interactions. This book is an interesting read for engineers, scientists, and students studying/working in the optimization, evolutionary computation, artificial intelligence (AI) and computational intelligence fields.

In this book, changes in the collection of funds and attendance of libraries under the influence of the growing popularity of electronic resources in comparison with paper libraries are considered. Methods of increasing the efficiency of using licensed databases, improving electronic catalogs and websites of libraries are discussed. A brief review of metadata formats describing electronic resources and collections, logical structures of electronic publications, as well as standards for data collection and exchange was made. A range of new responsibilities for librarians responsible for electronic resources is described. Changes in the field of library education are considered. Problems of preservation of electronic resources, their influence on schoolchildren, students and in general on libraries are discussed. Over the last ten to fifteen years, a new generation of readers has grown up in Western and northeastern European countries (especially in the US and Russia), who prefer electronic editions to paper. Accordingly, libraries increasingly redistribute funds in favor of electronic publications to the detriment of paper publications. The American Association of Scientific Libraries, having conducted a study among more than 100 of its members, found that over the last decade, the annual average library spending on electronic resources increased by 400% to approximately $ 1.5 million in 2002. At the same time, the total budget for the acquisition of library funds in the same period grew by only 61%. Libraries, as a rule, primarily cancel paper subscriptions to publications in the field of humanities and social and political sciences, and subscriptions to scientific and technical publications are canceled to a lesser extent. The advantages of using electronic publications are well known to librarians, and they are actively replenishing their collections. A large university library today can offer students, faculty and researchers up to 25,000 electronic periodicals in licensed databases and up to 200,000 e-books and more. In addition to paid electronic resources, the easy-to-use Internet search engines (Google, for example) and websites provide serious competition to traditional library collections. Recognizing the fact that more and more readers use the Internet to access information, libraries themselves have actively engaged in the creation of electronic collections by digitizing their own funds and building electronic libraries. Collections of materials for digitization, digitization technologies and methods of building electronic libraries contribute to the birth of new information resources. It significantly increases the effectiveness of education and research allows creating unique collections of previously disparate documents. However, it can also be found in different libraries and archives, including foreign ones can detect unknown collections by combining electronic descriptions of materials on a specific subject from different storages that simply did not know about the existence of the respective collections from each other. The growing popularity of electronic resources and the use of the Internet as an information source has led to a decrease in library attendance and a reduction in the number of references and bibliographic services. For example, at the University of Idaho, the number of library visitors has decreased by more than 20% since 1997, while the use of articles in electronic form has grown by 350% since 1999. In these conditions, public and university libraries try to attract readers back to their premises, creating comfortable conditions for reading and working with computers, allocating rooms for recreation and meetings, and provide on-site cafeterias. Competing with free search engines and sites on the Internet, many of which contain information of questionable quality, libraries have improved their own electronic catalogs and websites, and provide readers with access to better-paid electronic resources. The same licensed databases allow readers to use remotely the Internet using the personal passwords and proxy server of the library.

The library is one of the oldest cultural institutions. Over the long period of human history, its social functions have undergone significant changes. The purpose of the first libraries was the storage of documents. Since its inception until today, the library has passed the first stage of the evolution of the public mission: from serving the needs of the ruling elite to meeting public needs. The library has become a social institution, which includes information and cultural components and ensures the stability of ties and relations within the society. There is an evolution of the social role of the library; their functions are developing and becoming more diverse. Along with information, cultural, educational and educational activities, they are increasingly playing a role in the democratization of library work and society, in the formation of social harmony and stability, in socialization, in the development of people's intellectual potential. The nature of the interaction of libraries with various institutions, with authorities, with users is changing. It is also natural that in comparison with other cultural institutions in the developed world it is in libraries that reforms are reflected most strongly and dramatically, qualitatively changing their role in society, expanding their demands. Libraries are mostly dependent on changes in their environment-the state of book publishing, book distribution, the development of the information sphere and telecommunications, the work of mail and transport, and customs. Most importantly, changes in the structure of society, a decline in the living standards of a large part of it, the emergence of new spheres employment and new social groups with information needs.This book presents research studies about different libraries, library systems and information on library science, benefits and role of libraries, and the importance of libraries. This book traces the transformation of social functions of scientific libraries in the conditions of the informatization of society, in particular, the development of the cultural and information function as an important component of the socio-cultural function. The activity of library institutions should be subordinated to the optimal cultural and information support of life and society, and every reader. Transformation of the social functions of scientific libraries, under the circumstances of the informatization of society and the development of the cultural and informational function is an important component of socio-cultural function. The activity of library institutions must be in context to the optimal cultural and informational support for vital activity of a society and its separate members as well.