Sustainability of Methylic and Ethylic Biodiesel Production Routes: Social and Environmental Impacts via Multi-criteria and Principal Component Analyses using Brazilian Case Studies presents an innovative, quantitative methodology for the assessment of the social and environmental sustainability of methylic and ethylic production routes. Sections explain the key steps in assessing the social and environmental impacts of biofuel production chains, including an overview of biodiesel properties and its production chains, common metrics for environmental, social and economic impacts, explain sustainability indicator variabilities and detect similarities among different classes of sustainability indicators, and cover techno-economic considerations. Finally, several appendices provide readers with MATLAB codes for solving Principal Component Analysis and Multi-Criterial Sustainability Analysis problems in the context of biodiesel chains or in the context of agronomy and agronomics. This book is an invaluable reference for anyone working on biofuels and bioenergy, including scientific, technical, management, social, environmental and policy professionals.

"3D Surface Reconstruction: Multi-Scale Hierarchical Approaches "presents methods to model 3D objects in an incremental way so as to capture more finer details at each step. The configuration of the model parameters, the rationale and solutions are described and discussed in detail so the reader has a strong understanding of the methodology. Modeling starts from data captured by 3D digitizers and makes the process even more clear and engaging.

Innovative approaches, based on two popular machine learning paradigms, namely Radial Basis Functions and the Support Vector Machines, are also introduced. These paradigms are innovatively extended to a multi-scale incremental structure, based on a hierarchical scheme. The resulting approaches allow readers to achieve high accuracy with limited computational complexity, and makes the approaches appropriate for online, real-time operation. Applications can be found in any domain in which regression is required.

"3D Surface Reconstruction: Multi-Scale Hierarchical Approaches" is designed as a secondary text book or reference for advanced-level students and researchers in computer science. This book also targets practitioners working in computer vision or machine learning related fields.

3D Surface Reconstruction: Multi-Scale Hierarchical Approaches presents methods to model 3D objects in an incremental way so as to capture more finer details at each step. The configuration of the model parameters, the rationale and solutions are described and discussed in detail so the reader has a strong understanding of the methodology. Modeling starts from data captured by 3D digitizers and makes the process even more clear and engaging. Innovative approaches, based on two popular machine learning paradigms, namely Radial Basis Functions and the Support Vector Machines, are also introduced. These paradigms are innovatively extended to a multi-scale incremental structure, based on a hierarchical scheme. The resulting approaches allow readers to achieve high accuracy with limited computational complexity, and makes the approaches appropriate for online, real-time operation. Applications can be found in any domain in which regression is required. 3D Surface Reconstruction: Multi-Scale Hierarchical Approaches is designed as a secondary text book or reference for advanced-level students and researchers in computer science. This book also targets practitioners working in computer vision or machine learning related fields.

Il volume, offerto alla germanista dell'Universita di Bologna Giulia Cantarutti per i suoi settant'anni, raccoglie contributi di studiosi di fama internazionale attivi nell'ambito delle lingue e letterature di lingua tedesca, della romanistica, della filosofia, della storia dell'arte. I temi toccati nei saggi sono in piena consonanza con gli studi condotti dalla studiosa nell'ambito del cosmopolitismo illuminista, dell'aforistica, del Kulturtransfer. Die Festschrift zu Ehren der Bologneser Germanistin Giulia Cantarutti zu ihrem 70. Geburtstag versammelt Beitrage international renommierter Wissenschaftler aus den Bereichen der Germanistik, Romanistik, Philosophie und Kunstgeschichte zu den wichtigsten Themen der Arbeiten Cantaruttis, vor allem zum Kosmopolitismus der Aufklarung, zur Aphoristik und zum Kulturtransfer.

Until a few years ago, eye banks were only considered as centres for collecting and processing units of human donor eyes. However, eye banks in recent years have changed the process of current corneal transplantation. Although the very first corneal transplantation was conceptualised in the late 18th century, it has taken a century to develop methods and understand the role of human corneas in general. This book gives an insight of worldwide associations and their standard regulations in terms of corneal donations, processes and transplantations. The associations mainly include: Eye Bank Association of America, European Eye Bank Association and Eye Bank Association of Australia and New Zealand. This book also refers to some of the early stages of eye banking and current methods of preservation, including cold and organ culture storage. The current eye banking scenario is changing dramatically in terms of tissue processing. Once, tissues were only collected, stored and shipped for transplantation to the surgeons. Now eye banks have advanced in developing techniques in collaboration with surgeons to introduce more reliable methods of transplantation. This includes standardisation of methods such as DSAEK, UT-DSAEK, pre-loaded grafts and DMEK. Furthermore, this compilation describes different techniques of lamellar keratoplasty, such as anterior and posterior lamellar keratoplasties. Retrieving, storing, processing and transplantation of such lenticules are also discussed in this book. Posterior lamellar graft preparation for selective surgeries like DSAEK and Ultra-Thin DSAEK has been included with relevant clinical approaches. DMEK, which is currently taking corneal transplantation to a different level, has been reported with various graft preparation techniques. The role of eye banks in general for such preparation method is also examined. Additionally, the importance of microbiology in day to day care in the field of corneal transplantation and eye banks exists as a topic within these pages. Eye banks are playing a major role and changing the face of corneal transplantation in terms of new research; whether it be graft preparation for surgeries, preservation, surgical tools, ready-to-use tissues or studying cornea in details using available research tissues, these methods are advancing the field. Eye banks play a major role in tissue selection and correct processing methods. Surgeons are provided with a validated tissue so it makes easier for them to follow the transplantation. Therefore, this book highlights the new concepts in the eye banking field with regards to the standards, regulations, retrieval, preservation and transplantation methods. All of these continue to help aid in the research and development of surgical processes and devices.