XaaS: Everything-as-a-Service: The Lean and Agile Approach to Business Growth takes the reader into the bold new world of pay-per-use for a product or service. From the perspective of the customer, the servitization model yields multiple benefits: the consumer can try out the product/service at a relatively low cost, the risk is mitigated, capital expenses can be converted into operating expenses, it is not needed to forecast how often the product/service is used, and only parts of the product/service needed can be used. Similarly, a provider can benefit by having a larger market coverage, steadier stream of revenues, upgrades as and when needed, sharing of fixed assets across consumers, practicing of value-based pricing, and unbundling or bundling utility for consumers using appropriate pricing techniques. However, this "nanoization" of products/services is tricky, and has to be designed carefully. This book provides a set of recipes to providers to adopt the XaaS model by changing the provider's mindset: dividing the product/service forces the provider to take a value-driven approach to his product/service, and consequently, eliminate all non-value added activities. The requirements of the XaaS model serve both as an objective to the innovation and internal processes of the provider, and as guide to understanding the customer's needs. The book also covers data acquisition, data analysis and synthesis, and data application needs of the XaaS model, with simple examples and case studies from the business world of firms that achieve these objectives successfully.

This book presents the state-of-the-art in the area of water remediation. It covers topics such as decentralized ecological wastewater treatment, applications of remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) in water quality monitoring and remediation, water remediation through nanotechnology, and processes used in water purification. The contents of this volume will prove useful to researchers, students, and policy makers alike.

This book includes basics of impedance spectroscopy technology, substrate compatibility issues, integration capabilities, and several applications in detection of different analytes. It helps explore the importance of this technique in biological detection, related micro/nano-fabricated platforms and respective integration, biological synthesis schemes to carry out the detection, associated challenges, and related future directions. The various qualitative/quantitative findings of several modules are summarized in the form of the detailed descriptions, schematics, and tables. Features: Serves as a single source for exploring underlying fundamental principles and the various biological applications through impedance spectroscopy. Includes chapters based on non-biological applications of impedance spectroscopy and IoT enabled impedance spectroscopy-based methods for detection. Discusses derivations, substrates, applications, and several integrations. Describes micro/nanofabrication of impedance-based biological sensors. Reviews updated integrations like digital manufacturing and IoT. This book is aimed at researchers and graduate students in material science, impedance spectroscopy and biosensing.

Covers detailed state-of-the-art of specific chemiresistive sensing materials Presents novel nano-material platforms and concepts for resistive gas sensing Reviews pertinent aspects of smart sensors and IoT sensing Explains nanotechnology enabled experimental findings, and future directions of smart gas sensing technology Explores implication of latest advancements such as IoT in Gas sensors, and nanogenerators

This book presents a comprehensive study of all important aspects of tribology. It covers issues and their remedies adopted by researchers working on automobile systems. The book is broadly divided in to three sections, viz. (i) new materials for automotive applications, (ii) new lubricants for automotive applications, and (iii) impact of surface morphologies for automotive applications. The rationale for this division is to provide a comprehensive and categorical review of the developments in automotive tribology. The book covers tribological aspects of engines, and also discusses influence of new materials, such as natural fibers, metal foam materials, natural fiber reinforced polymer composites, carbon fiber/silicon nitride polymer composites and aluminium matrix composites. The book also looks at grease lubrication, effectiveness and sustainability of solid/liquid additives in lubrication, and usage of biolubricants. In the last section the book focuses on brake pad materials, shot peening method, surface texturing, magnetic rheological fluid for smart automobile brake and clutch systems, and application of tribology in automobile systems. This book will be of interest to students, researchers, and professionals from the automotive industry.

Portal: The Curious Account of Achintya Bose, conceptualized, compiled and reproduced by Shan Bhattacharya, recipient of the Umrao Singh Sher-Gil Grant for Photography, 2015 (instituted by the Sher-Gil Sundaram Arts Foundation), presents the personal diary of the owner of a small photography studio in Calcutta, India, maintained sporadically from 1994 to 1996, before his sudden unexplained disappearance. The diary is a fictional 'found archive' that contains his collection of photographic prints, letters, torn pages from books, newspaper and magazine cuttings, declassified police records, polaroids and print advertisements obtained from different sources. Through these documents spanning the twentieth century, he attempts to trace photographic 'evidence' and information about an elusive woman who seemingly does not age through a century. Mr Bose's search is also a journey through the local history of vernacular photography and regional publications that reflect popular culture, politics, fashion, design, advertising and other iconography, and their transformations over time. In this book, images serve both as the primary objects of interest and a narrative device. The cover plot interrogates the veracity of photographs - the way they are used as indices and evidence of a person's existence in spatio-temporal reality. These images are staged in variously contrived scenarios, often taking cues from the several utilitarian subsets of twentieth-century photography-the wedding portrait, the convocation photo, the vacation/holiday photo, candid snapshots, product advertisements-as though taken by different fictional photographers using different image-making aesthetics, techniques and formats appropriate to the time/place/visual cultures that those prototypes historically belong to. Referring to the genre of historiographic metafiction, fictional text and visual elements based on real events and characters are introduced to enable this 'found archive' assume certain characteristics of a hoax.

This volume provides an overview of the recent advances in the field of paper microfluidics, whose innumerable research domains have stimulated considerable efforts to the development of rapid, cost-effective and simplified point-of-care diagnostic systems. The book is divided into three parts viz. theoretical background of paper microfluidics, fabrication techniques for paper-based devices, and broad applications. Each chapter of the book is self-explanatory and focuses on a specific topic and its relation to paper microfluidics and starts with a brief description of the topic's physical background, essential definitions, and a short story of the recent progress in the relevant field. The book also covers the future outlook, remaining challenges, and emerging opportunities. This book shall be a tremendous up-to-date resource for researchers working in the area globally.

This book presents the state-of-the-art in the area of water remediation. It covers topics such as decentralized ecological wastewater treatment, applications of remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) in water quality monitoring and remediation, water remediation through nanotechnology, and processes used in water purification. The contents of this volume will prove useful to researchers, students, and policy makers alike.

This volume provides an overview of the recent advances in the field of paper microfluidics, whose innumerable research domains have stimulated considerable efforts to the development of rapid, cost-effective and simplified point-of-care diagnostic systems. The book is divided into three parts viz. theoretical background of paper microfluidics, fabrication techniques for paper-based devices, and broad applications. Each chapter of the book is self-explanatory and focuses on a specific topic and its relation to paper microfluidics and starts with a brief description of the topic's physical background, essential definitions, and a short story of the recent progress in the relevant field. The book also covers the future outlook, remaining challenges, and emerging opportunities. This book shall be a tremendous up-to-date resource for researchers working in the area globally.

This book presents a comprehensive study of all important aspects of tribology. It covers issues and their remedies adopted by researchers working on automobile systems. The book is broadly divided in to three sections, viz. (i) new materials for automotive applications, (ii) new lubricants for automotive applications, and (iii) impact of surface morphologies for automotive applications. The rationale for this division is to provide a comprehensive and categorical review of the developments in automotive tribology. The book covers tribological aspects of engines, and also discusses influence of new materials, such as natural fibers, metal foam materials, natural fiber reinforced polymer composites, carbon fiber/silicon nitride polymer composites and aluminium matrix composites. The book also looks at grease lubrication, effectiveness and sustainability of solid/liquid additives in lubrication, and usage of biolubricants. In the last section the book focuses on brake pad materials, shot peening method, surface texturing, magnetic rheological fluid for smart automobile brake and clutch systems, and application of tribology in automobile systems. This book will be of interest to students, researchers, and professionals from the automotive industry.