Coordination of Distributed Energy Resources in Microgrids: Optimisation, control, and hardware-in-the-loop validation provides a structured overview of research into techniques for managing microgrids with distributed energy resources (DERs). The DERs including distributed generators, energy storage systems, and flexible loads are posing both challenges and opportunities to microgrids' security, planning, operation, and control. Advanced operation and control techniques are needed to coordinate these components in the microgrids and maintain power quality, as well as keeping the system economically feasible. This book is for researchers and students in the area of smart grids, power engineering, and control engineering, as well as for advanced students, transmission network and grid operators. It focuses on cutting-edge techniques for secure, economic, and robust operation and control of microgrids. Effective coordination of DERs on both temporal and spatial scales are introduced in detail. Topics covered include comprehensive mathematical models of DERs and microgrids, sizing and siting of DERs under uncertainties, stochastic and robust optimisation for active and reactive power dispatch of DERs in microgrids, distributed coordinated control, and hardware-in-the-loop tests for validation of control algorithms.

The Finance module provides a significant underpinning to the Chartered Fintech Professional (CFtP) qualification. While the topics are familiar to professionals who are traditionally trained in Finance, these topics are required to appreciate the financial problems that technology can help solve. Without a clear appreciation of finance concepts and practice, any professional will have difficulties solving such problems the traditional way, let alone incorporating recent technological breakthroughs. In this module, we provide the basic concepts and knowledge that a fintech professional needs.This book covers the main concepts and theories in finance which include economics, financial statement analysis, financial management, and investment management. Finance for Fintech Professionals is a companion volume to the book on technology that covers fundamental concepts on data, artificial intelligence, and network. Together, these two books form the foundation for a good understanding of finance and fintech applications which will be covered in subsequent volumes.Bundle set: Global Fintech Institute-Chartered Fintech Professional Set I

As technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and blockchain have been applied to various areas in finance, there is an increasing demand for finance professionals with the skills and knowledge related to fintech. Knowledge of the technologies involved and finance concepts is crucial for the finance professional to understand the architecture of technologies as well as how they can be applied to solve various aspects of finance.This book covers the main concepts and theories of the technologies in fintech which consist of big data, data science, artificial intelligence, data structure and algorithm, computer network, network security, and Python programming. Fintech for Finance Professionals is a companion volume to the book on finance that covers the fundamental concepts in the field. Together, these two books form the foundation for a good understanding of finance and fintech applications which will be covered in subsequent volumes.Bundle set: Global Fintech Institute-Chartered Fintech Professional Set I

The Finance module provides a significant underpinning to the Chartered Fintech Professional (CFtP) qualification. While the topics are familiar to professionals who are traditionally trained in Finance, these topics are required to appreciate the financial problems that technology can help solve. Without a clear appreciation of finance concepts and practice, any professional will have difficulties solving such problems the traditional way, let alone incorporating recent technological breakthroughs. In this module, we provide the basic concepts and knowledge that a fintech professional needs.This book covers the main concepts and theories in finance which include economics, financial statement analysis, financial management, and investment management. Finance for Fintech Professionals is a companion volume to the book on technology that covers fundamental concepts on data, artificial intelligence, and network. Together, these two books form the foundation for a good understanding of finance and fintech applications which will be covered in subsequent volumes.Bundle set: Global Fintech Institute-Chartered Fintech Professional Set I

In the digital era, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and blockchain have revolutionized various ways of people's daily lives and brought many opportunities and challenges to the industries. With the increasing demand for talents in the fintech realm, this book serves as a good guide for practitioners who are seeking to understand the basics of fintech and applications of different technologies. This book covers important knowledge in statistics, quantitative methods, and financial innovation to lay the foundation for fintech. It is especially useful for people who are relatively new to this area and would like to become professionals in fintech.Bundle set: Global Fintech Institute-Chartered Fintech Professional Set I

In the digital era, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and blockchain have revolutionized various ways of people's daily lives and brought many opportunities and challenges to the industries. With the increasing demand for talents in the fintech realm, this book serves as a good guide for practitioners who are seeking to understand the basics of fintech and applications of different technologies. This book covers important knowledge in statistics, quantitative methods, and financial innovation to lay the foundation for fintech. It is especially useful for people who are relatively new to this area and would like to become professionals in fintech.Bundle set: Global Fintech Institute-Chartered Fintech Professional Set I

As technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and blockchain have been applied to various areas in finance, there is an increasing demand for finance professionals with the skills and knowledge related to fintech. Knowledge of the technologies involved and finance concepts is crucial for the finance professional to understand the architecture of technologies as well as how they can be applied to solve various aspects of finance.This book covers the main concepts and theories of the technologies in fintech which consist of big data, data science, artificial intelligence, data structure and algorithm, computer network, network security, and Python programming. Fintech for Finance Professionals is a companion volume to the book on finance that covers the fundamental concepts in the field. Together, these two books form the foundation for a good understanding of finance and fintech applications which will be covered in subsequent volumes.Bundle set: Global Fintech Institute-Chartered Fintech Professional Set I

This book examines paintings using a computational and quantitative approach. Specifically, it compares paintings to photographs, addressing the strengths and limitations of both. Particular aesthetic practices are examined such as the vista, foreground to background organisation and the depth planes. These are analysed using a range of computational approaches and clear observations are made. New generations of image-capture devices such as Google goggles and the light field camera, promise a future in which the formal attributes of a photograph are made available for editing to a degree that has hitherto been the exclusive territory of painting. In this sense paintings and photographs are converging, and it therefore seems an opportune time to study the comparisons between them. In this context, the book includes cutting-edge work examining how some of the aesthetic attributes of a painting can be transferred to a photograph using the latest computational approaches.

Peter Chan directs this Hong Kong martial arts drama that sees an incredibly scrupulous detective on the trail of a former criminal who has attempted to start a new life. Set in 1917, the film finds Liu Jinxi (Donnie Yen) and his wife Ayu (Wei Tang) living quietly in a small village. Their sense of tranquillity is disrupted when a pair of robbers descend on the local store and Liu's intervention results in their death. Detective Xu Baijiu (Takeshi Kaneshiro), a man so faithfully attached to the law he values it above human life, arrives in the village to investigate and is immediately suspicious of Liu. How could an ordinary villager possess the skills to overcome two hardened criminals? The assiduous detective begins an investigation into Liu's past, threatening to uncover his identity as a retired martial arts expert and lead his many enemies to his door...

This book describes algorithmic methods and parallelization techniques to design a parallel sparse direct solver which is specifically targeted at integrated circuit simulation problems. The authors describe a complete flow and detailed parallel algorithms of the sparse direct solver. They also show how to improve the performance by simple but effective numerical techniques. The sparse direct solver techniques described can be applied to any SPICE-like integrated circuit simulator and have been proven to be high-performance in actual circuit simulation. Readers will benefit from the state-of-the-art parallel integrated circuit simulation techniques described in this book, especially the latest parallel sparse matrix solution techniques.

Forage and turf are the backbone of sustainable agriculture and contribute extensively to the world economy. The fast-paced advancement of cellular and molecular biology provides novel methods to accelerate or complement conventional breeding efforts. This book contains the most comprehensive reviews on the latest development in applications of molecular techniques for the improvement of forage grasses, forage legumes and turf grasses. Detailed accounts and future opportunities in molecular breeding of forage and turf, from gene discovery to development of improved cultivars, are described in the book. Almost all relevant areas are explored in detail, including tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses; flowering control; plant-symbiont relations; breeding for animal, human and environmental welfare; molecular markers; transgenics; bioinformatics; population genetics; genomics of the model legume M. truncatula; field testing and risk assessment as well as intellectual property rights. This book will be of interest to researchers in both academia and industry who are involved in forage and turf improvement. It will be especially important to breeders, molecular biologists, geneticists, physiologists and agronomists.

This book is the second part of Applications and Trends in Fintech, which serves as a comprehensive guide to the advanced topics in fintech, including the deep learning and natural language processing algorithms, blockchain design thinking, token economics, cybersecurity, cloud computing and quantum computing, compliance and risk management, and global fintech trends. Readers will gain knowledge about the applications of fintech in finance and its latest developments as well as trends.This fifth volume covers global fintech trends and emerging technologies such as cloud computing and quantum computing, as well as the compliance and risk management frameworks for fintech companies. Together with the first part in applications and trends (fourth volume), these two books will deepen readers' understanding of the fintech fundamentals covered in previous volumes through various applications and analysis of impacts and trends.Bundle set: Global Fintech Institute-Chartered Fintech Professional Set I

This book is the first part of Applications and Trends in Fintech, which serves as a comprehensive guide to the advanced topics in fintech, including the deep learning and natural language processing algorithms, blockchain design thinking, token economics, cybersecurity, cloud computing and quantum computing, compliance and risk management, and global fintech trends. Readers will gain knowledge about the applications of fintech in finance and its latest developments as well as trends.This fourth volume covers the foundation of fintech, which is ethics and governance, and advanced topics in two of the most important technologies, artificial intelligence and blockchain. Together with the second part in applications and trends (fifth volume), these two books will deepen readers' understanding of the fintech fundamentals covered in previous volumes through various applications and analysis of impacts and trends.Bundle set: Global Fintech Institute-Chartered Fintech Professional Set I

Innovative as it is, the blockchain technology is getting more and more attention and an increasing number of applications have emerged. This book elaborates on both the design thinking ideas and technical details in blockchain and smart contracts to help readers delve into the conceptual framework and understand why blockchain is designed as such and how it makes the current system decentralised yet effective. Having this understanding lays the ground for further analysis of blockchain-based solutions and innovative fintech applications.Topics covered in this book include blockchain structure, blockchain ecosystem, design thinking for blockchain, smart contract, fintech and financial services, solution-based problem solving, fintech valuation, and current issues faced such as privacy protection and solution selection, with the aid of real-life examples and hands-on exercises.Blockchain and Smart Contracts serves as a valuable guide for researchers and practitioners who have interests in the blockchain, smart contract, fintech innovation and applications, design thinking, and technical details. This book is particularly written for anyone who has no technical background and is searching for an initiation into the deep end of blockchain. Those with business, finance and economic interests will find this interesting and easy to digest.

Innovative as it is, the blockchain technology is getting more and more attention and an increasing number of applications have emerged. This book elaborates on both the design thinking ideas and technical details in blockchain and smart contracts to help readers delve into the conceptual framework and understand why blockchain is designed as such and how it makes the current system decentralised yet effective. Having this understanding lays the ground for further analysis of blockchain-based solutions and innovative fintech applications.Topics covered in this book include blockchain structure, blockchain ecosystem, design thinking for blockchain, smart contract, fintech and financial services, solution-based problem solving, fintech valuation, and current issues faced such as privacy protection and solution selection, with the aid of real-life examples and hands-on exercises.Blockchain and Smart Contracts serves as a valuable guide for researchers and practitioners who have interests in the blockchain, smart contract, fintech innovation and applications, design thinking, and technical details. This book is particularly written for anyone who has no technical background and is searching for an initiation into the deep end of blockchain. Those with business, finance and economic interests will find this interesting and easy to digest.

This book aims to establish a wind energy evaluation system, to provide scientific reference for site selection, daily operation and long-term planning of wind power generation, thus to make contribution to breaking the shackles of power shortage. Firstly, it presents the advantages and disadvantages of offshore wind power, then further discusses about the status quo and challenges for wind power programs along the Maritime Silk Road and offer suggestions. A wind energy evaluation system was proposed with the Maritime Silk Road as a case study, including climatic features of wind power (temporal-spatial distribution), long-term climatic trend and mechanism, short-term forecast of wind energy, mid- and long-term projection of wind energy, technology of wind energy evaluation on key point or vital region and offshore wind energy dataset construction, to provide systematic and scientific reference for wind power evaluation and utilization. This book is one of the series of publications on 21st century Maritime Silk Road (shortened as "Maritime Silk Road"). It covers the characteristics of the marine environment and marine renewable energy, remote islands and reefs construction, climate change, early warning of wave disasters, legal escort, marine environment and energy big data construction, etc., contributing to the safe and efficient construction of the Maritime Silk Road. It aims to improve our knowledge of the ocean, thus, to improve the capacity for marine construction, enhance the viability of remote islands and reefs, ease the energy crisis and protect the ecological environment, improve the quality of life of residents along the Maritime Silk Road, and protect the rights, interests of the countries and regions participating in the construction of the Maritime Silk Road. It is a valuable reference for decision-makers, researchers, and marine engineers working in the related fields.

The authors begin this book with a systematic overview of superconductivity, superconducting materials, magnetic levitation, and superconducting magnetic levitation - the prerequisites to understand the latter part of the book - that forms a solid foundation for further study in High Temperature Superconducting Magnetic Levitation (HTS Maglev). This book presents our research progress on HTS Maglev at Applied Superconductivity Laboratory (ASCLab) of Southwest Jiaotong University (SWJTU), China, with an emphasis on the findings that led to the world's first manned HTS Maglev test vehicle "Century". The book provides a detailed description on our previous work at ASCLab including the designing of the HTS Maglev test and measurement method as well as the apparatus, building "Century", developing the HTS Maglev numerical simulation system, and making new progress on HTS Maglev. The final parts of this book discuss research and prototyping efforts at ASCLab in several adjacent fi elds including HTS Maglev bearing, Flywheel Energy Storage System (FESS) and HTS maglev launch technology. We hope this book becomes a valuable source for researchers and engineers working in the fascinating field of HTS Maglev science and engineering. Contents Fundamentals of superconductivity Superconducting materials Magnetic levitation Superconducting magnetic levitation HTS Maglev experimental methods and set-up First manned HTS Maglev vehicle in the world Numerical simulations of HTS Maglev New progress of HTS Maglev vehicle HTS Maglev bearing and flywheel energy storage system HTS Maglev launch technology

Extremal Optimization: Fundamentals, Algorithms, and Applications introduces state-of-the-art extremal optimization (EO) and modified EO (MEO) solutions from fundamentals, methodologies, and algorithms to applications based on numerous classic publications and the authors' recent original research results. It promotes the movement of EO from academic study to practical applications. The book covers four aspects, beginning with a general review of real-world optimization problems and popular solutions with a focus on computational complexity, such as "NP-hard" and the "phase transitions" occurring on the search landscape. Next, it introduces computational extremal dynamics and its applications in EO from principles, mechanisms, and algorithms to the experiments on some benchmark problems such as TSP, spin glass, Max-SAT (maximum satisfiability), and graph partition. It then presents studies on the fundamental features of search dynamics and mechanisms in EO with a focus on self-organized optimization, evolutionary probability distribution, and structure features (e.g., backbones), which are based on the authors' recent research results. Finally, it discusses applications of EO and MEO in multiobjective optimization, systems modeling, intelligent control, and production scheduling. The authors present the advanced features of EO in solving NP-hard problems through problem formulation, algorithms, and simulation studies on popular benchmarks and industrial applications. They also focus on the development of MEO and its applications. This book can be used as a reference for graduate students, research developers, and practical engineers who work on developing optimization solutions for those complex systems with hardness that cannot be solved with mathematical optimization or other computational intelligence, such as evolutionary computations.

This is the first book to revisit geotechnical site characterization from a probabilistic point of view and provide rational tools to probabilistically characterize geotechnical properties and underground stratigraphy using limited information obtained from a specific site. This book not only provides new probabilistic approaches for geotechnical site characterization and slope stability analysis, but also tackles the difficulties in practical implementation of these approaches. In addition, this book also develops efficient Monte Carlo simulation approaches for slope stability analysis and implements these approaches in a commonly available spreadsheet environment. These approaches and the software package are readily available to geotechnical practitioners and alleviate them from reliability computational algorithms. The readers will find useful information for a non-specialist to determine project-specific statistics of geotechnical properties and to perform probabilistic analysis of slope stability.

This book presents the comprehensive results of experimental and numerical investigations of glass facade breakage behavior under fire conditions. First of all, full-scale frame and point-supported glass facades, incorporating single, double and coated glazing, were tested under pool fire conductions. The results determined the effects of different glass frames, types of glass, and thermal shocks on breakage behavior. Small-scale tests, using the Material Testing System (MTS) 810, Netzsch Dilatometer and FE-SEM, were also performed at different temperatures to determine the basic mechanical properties of glazing. In addition, a three-dimensional dynamic model was developed to predict stress distribution, crack initiation and propagation, and has since been employed to identify the breakage mechanisms of different types of glass facade. The numerical results showed very good agreement with the experimental results and verified the model's ability to accurately predict breakage. Lastly, a theoretical model based on incident heat flux was developed to predict the breakage time and heat transfer in glazing, which served to reveal the nature of interactions between fire and glass.

This landmark work lauds the benefits of decreased energy consumption, investigating its relationship to public policy and analyzing its potential billion-dollar benefits to the U.S. economy. U.S. consumers tend to use energy indiscriminately-something they may no longer be able to do with impunity. This game-changing book asserts that reducing energy consumption should be a frontline strategy to address global climate change, threats to energy security, and the challenge of grid reliability. The book supports two bold arguments: that policies motivating greater investment in high energy efficiency should be a priority, and that energy efficiency can help the nation in times of crisis. To make their case for the necessity of prioritizing demand reduction, the authors examine the policies and markets operating in a number of leading cities, states, and nations across the globe to uncover the keys to their success. These examples show how demand-side strategies can significantly reduce pollution, cut costs, and make the electric grid more resilient. The authors explain why these technologies are not widely adopted and assess the potential savings they can produce. The book will be an eye-opener for policymakers, energy professionals, and the public as it demonstrates how cost-effective demand reduction policies can improve air quality, strengthen electricity markets, and generate jobs. Addresses broad questions concerning electricity systems and the economy Documents innovative, energy-efficiency technologies, practices, and policies Estimates the achievable cost-effectiveness and economic impact of energy efficiency in the United States Illustrates a range of promising strategies for expanding green savings Argues for more market intelligence, monitoring, and evaluation so that energy, economic, and climate goals are met Showcases the policy environments that have enabled energy efficiency to thrive in leading cities, states, and countries around the world

Geotechnical Safety and Risk IV contains the contributions presented at the 4th International Symposium on Geotechnical Safety and Risk (4th ISGSR, Hong Kong, 4-6 December 2013), which was organised under the auspices of the Geotechnical Safety Network (GEOSNet), TC304 on Engineering Practice of Risk Assessment and Management and TC205 on Safety and Serviceability in Geotechnical Design of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). Geotechnical Safety and Risk IV covers six themes: (1) Geotechnical uncertainty and variability (2) Geohazards such as landslides, earthquakes and climate changes (3) Reliability and risk analysis (4) Reliability-based design and limit-state design in geotechnical engineering (5) Risk assessment and management in geotechnical engineering and infrastructural projects, and (6) Practical applications. Geotechnical Safety and Risk IV is an excellent source of reference on the latest developments and practices of geotechnical risk and safety, and will proof to be invaluable for civil engineers (particularly geotechnical engineers), geologists, and natural hazards reduction agencies. ISGSR IV is a continuation of a series of symposiums and workshops on geotechnical risk and reliability, starting with LSD2000 (Melbourne, Australia), IWS2002 (Tokyo and Kamakura, Japan), LSD2003 (Cambridge, USA), Georisk2004 (Bangalore, India), Taipei2006 (Taipei, Taiwan), 1st ISGSR (Shanghai, China, 2007), 2nd ISGSR (Gifu, Japan, 2009) and 3rd ISGSR (Munich, Germany, 2011).

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 18th International Symposium on Applied Reconfigurable Computing, ARC 2022, held as a virtual event, in September 2022. The 13 full papers presented in this volume were reviewed and selected from 16 submissions. The papers cover a broad spectrum of applications of reconfigurable computing, from driving assistance, data and graph processing acceleration, computer security to the societal relevant topic of supporting early diagnosis of Covid infectious conditions.

This book is the second part of Applications and Trends in Fintech, which serves as a comprehensive guide to the advanced topics in fintech, including the deep learning and natural language processing algorithms, blockchain design thinking, token economics, cybersecurity, cloud computing and quantum computing, compliance and risk management, and global fintech trends. Readers will gain knowledge about the applications of fintech in finance and its latest developments as well as trends.This fifth volume covers global fintech trends and emerging technologies such as cloud computing and quantum computing, as well as the compliance and risk management frameworks for fintech companies. Together with the first part in applications and trends (fourth volume), these two books will deepen readers' understanding of the fintech fundamentals covered in previous volumes through various applications and analysis of impacts and trends.Bundle set: Global Fintech Institute-Chartered Fintech Professional Set I