This volume contains the proceedings of the RAAD 2018 conference, covering major areas of research and development in robotics. It provides an overview on the advances in robotics, more specifically in novel design and applications of robotic systems; dexterous grasping, handling and intelligent manipulation; intelligent cooperating and service robots; advanced robot control; human-robot interf…
This textbook employs a technical and quantitative approach to explain subsurface hydrology and hydrogeology, and to offer a comprehensive overview of groundwater-related topics such as flow in porous media, aquifer characterization, contaminant description and transport, risk assessment, and groundwater remediation. It describes the characterization of subsurface flow of pristine and polluted …
This book gathers the best papers presented at the Fourth Italian National Conference on Sensors, held in Catania, Italy, from 21 to 23 February 2018. The book represents an invaluable and up-to-the-minute tool, providing an essential overview of recent findings, strategies and new directions in the area of sensor research. Further, it addresses various aspects based on the development of new c…
This book shows how, through certain geometric transformations, some of the standard joints used in parallel robots can be replaced with lockable or non-holonomic joints. These substitutions allow for reducing the number of legs, and hence the number of actuators needed to control the robot, without losing the robot's ability to bring its mobile platform to the desired configuration. The kinema…
Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) has gained tremendous popularity in recent years as a treatment option for specialties including Orthopedics, Dentistry, Sports Medicine, Otorhinolaryngology, Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, Urology, Vascular, Cardiothoracic and Maxillofacial Surgery, and Veterinarian Medicine. Nowadays, PRP and Stem Cell Science have added an exciting dimension to tissue repair. This…
This book presents fascinating, state-of-the-art research findings in the field of signal and image processing. It includes conference papers covering a wide range of signal processing applications involving filtering, encoding, classification, segmentation, clustering, feature extraction, denoising, watermarking, object recognition, reconstruction and fractal analysis. It addresses various typ…
This book presents selected contributions to the Pan-American Congress of Naval Engineering, Maritime Transport and Port Engineering (COPINAVAL), which is in its twenty-fifth edition and has become a reference event for the global maritime and port sector, attracting more and more participants from different countries. The 2017 congress was held in Panama City, Panama, bringing together a se…
The book covers a variety of topics in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and their impact on innovation and business. The authors discuss various innovations, business and industrial motivations, and impact on humans and the interplay between those factors in terms of finance, demand, and competition. Topics discussed include the convergence of Machine to Machine (M2M), Internet o…
This book explains integrated circuit design for manufacturability (DfM) at the product level (packaging, applications) and applies engineering DfM principles to the latest standards of product development at 22 nm technology nodes. It is a valuable guide for layout designers, packaging engineers and quality engineers, covering DfM development from 1D to 4D, involving IC design flow setup, bes…
An autonomous sailboat robot is a boat that only uses the wind on its sail as propelling force, without remote control or human assistance to achieve its mission. This involves autonomy in energy (using batteries, solar panels, turbines...), sensor data processing (compass, GPS, wind sensor...), actuators control (rudder and sail angle control...) and decision making (embedded computer with ade…
This textbook provides a thorough and accessible treatment of semiconductor lasers from a design and engineering perspective. It includes both the physics of devices as well as the engineering, designing and testing of practical lasers. The material is presented clearly with many examples provided. Readers of the book will come to understand the finer aspects of the theory, design, fabrication …
In this book, leading authors in the field discuss development of Ambient Assisted Living. The contributions have been chosen and invited at the 6th AAL congress, Berlin. It presents new technological developments which support the autonomy and independence of individuals with special needs. As the technological innovation raises also social issues, the book addresses micro and macro economical…
Inland Waterway (IW), or river vessels are in every respect different from the seagoing ships. The professional literature is mostly focused on conventional seagoing fleets, leaving a gap in the documentation of design practices for IW vessels. The principal attribute that differentiates river vessels from the seagoing ships is the low, or shallow, draught due to water depth restrictions. Th…
This book presents a novel methodology for the computation of RCS of metallic structures using a parallelized version of NEC in conjunction with a finite element preprocessor which has been strategically incorporated for simplifying geometry modelling catering to NEC guidelines. It includes a thorough overview of the theoretical background of NEC including all relevant aspects of formulation an…
This book focuses on nonlinear finite element analysis of thin-walled smart structures integrated with piezoelectric materials. Two types of nonlinear phenomena are presented in the book, namely geometrical nonlinearity and material nonlinearity. Geometrical nonlinearity mainly results from large deformations and large rotations of structures. The book discusses various geometrically nonlinear …
The automobile is going through the biggest transformation in its history. Automation and electrification of vehicles are expected to enable safer and cleaner mobility. The prospects and requirements of the future automobile affect innovations in major technology fields like driver assistance systems, vehicle networking and drivetrain development. Smart systems such as adaptive ICT components a…
This book summarizes research being pursued within the Research Unit FOR 2089, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the goal of which is to develop the scientific base for a paradigm shift towards dimensioning, structural realization and maintenance of pavements, and prepare road infrastructure for future requirements. It provides a coupled thermo-mechanical model for a holistic phys…
This volume gathers the proceedings of the Joint International Conference of the XIII International Conference on Mechanisms and Mechanical Transmissions (MTM) and the XXIV International Conference on Robotics (Robotics), held in Timişoara, Romania. It addresses the applications of mechanisms and transmissions in several modern technical fields such as mechatronics, biomechanics, machines, mic…