World Scientific Series On Emerging Technologies: Avram Bar-cohen Memorial Series – Serie

This compendium provides a comprehensive collection of the emergent applications of big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence technologies to present day physical sciences ranging from materials theory and imaging to predictive synthesis and automated research. This area of research is among the most rapidly developing in the last several years in areas spanning materials science, chemistry, and condensed matter physics.Written by world renowned researchers, the compilation of two authoritative volumes provides a distinct summary of the modern advances in instrument — driven data generation and analytics, establishing the links between the big data and predictive theories, and outlining the emerging field of data and physics-driven predictive and autonomous systems.

Power beaming is the ability to move energy without moving or employing mass between an energy input and energy output. It is an emerging technology that could reshape how we generate and distribute energy and how our devices and autonomous systems are powered.This comprehensive compendium provides the foundation needed for researchers, technology developers, and end users to understand the promise and challenges for power beaming. By establishing a common nomenclature and conceptual approach to the analysis and assessment of power beaming systems, this unique reference text provides a true status of advancements in the field, and lays the groundwork for fruitful future research and applications.

The three-volume handbook showcases the state of the art in the use of concentrated sunlight to produce electricity, industrial process heat, renewable fuels, including hydrogen and low-carbon synthesis gas, and valuable chemical commodities. The handbook illustrates the value and diversity of applications for concentrating solar power to contribute to the expanding decarbonization of multiple cross-cutting energy sectors.Volume 1: Concentrating Solar Thermal Power, provides an overview of key technologies, principles, and challenges of concentrating solar power (CSP) as well as the use of concentrating solar thermal for process heating and district markets. The ten chapters of this volume provide the reader with the technical background on the solar resource for concentrating solar thermal, the principles and design of concentrating optics, and descriptions of state-of-the-art and emerging solar collector and receiver technologies, thermal storage and thermal-to-electric conversion and power cycles for CSP. It also contains a comprehensive summary of operations and maintenance requirements for CSP plants, and commercial CSP plants and markets around the world.Volume 2, Solar Thermochemical Processes and Products, covers the use of concentrated solar radiation as the heat source to drive endothermic chemical reactions to produce renewable fuels and valuable chemical commodities, equivalently storing solar energy in chemical bonds. The thermodynamic underpinnings of a number of approaches to produce fuel and results of demonstrations of solar thermochemical reactors for these processes at prototype scale are presented. Processes presented include thermochemical metal oxide reduction/oxidation cycles to split water and carbon dioxide solar chemical looping reformation of methane to produce synthesis gas, high temperature electrochemistry, and gasification of biomass. Research on the thermochemical storage for CSP and high temperature production of cement and ammonia to illustrate the use concentrated solar energy to produce valuable chemical products are also included.Volume 3 contains reprinted archival papers to support and supplement the material in Volumes 1 and 2. These papers provide background information on the economics and alternative use cases of CSP not covered in Volume 1, and expand on the material related to the chapter topics presented in Volume 2. Potential commercialization, such as prototype and demonstration projects, are highlighted. The papers are intended as a starting point for a more in-depth study of the topics.

In this book Professor Lubin lays out the fundamental physics and mathematics required to radically alter our capabilities in propulsion to enable extreme high-speed space flight both in our solar system and beyond. The case is made that the only currently viable solution to enable this transformation, including relativistic flight for the first interstellar robotic missions, is using large-scale directed energy. Traditional methods of propulsion are not capable of achieving the speed required for these missions, including fast crewed missions to Mars as well as the many robotic missions desired both in our solar system and to the nearest stars. Humanity has now reached a technological tipping point with the ability to project power over vast distances with transformational implications in a wide variety of areas, from propulsion to beaming power throughout our solar system to planetary defence. In a series of over 60 technical papers, the fundamentals of this transformation are outlined and synthesized in this book, allowing a detailed understanding of the many challenges ahead and a roadmap for human exploration far beyond our solar system. While the road ahead is long and challenging, it provides the path to radically alter humanity's future.Related Link(s)

"Sustainment" (as commonly defined by industry and government), is comprised of maintenance, support, and upgrade practices that sustain or improve the performance of a system and maximize the availability of goods and services while minimizing their cost and footprint or, more simply, the capacity of a system to endure. Sustainment is a multi-trillion-dollar enterprise for critical systems, in both government (infrastructure and defense) and industry (transportation, industrial controls, data centers, and energy generation).This book is a mix of engineering, operations research, and policy sciences intended to provide students with a thorough understanding of the concept of sustainability and sustainable product life-cycles, and an appreciation of the importance of sustaining critical systems. It starts from the key attributes for system sustainment that includes data analytics, engineering analysis and the public policy needed to support the development of technologies, processes, and frameworks required for the management of sustainable processes and practices. The specific topics covered include: acquisition of critical systems, reliability, maintenance, availability, readiness, inventory management, supply-chain management and risks, contracting for sustainment, and various analysis methodologies (discounted cash flow analysis, discrete-event simulation and Monte Carlo methods). Practice problems are included at the end of each chapter.

This unique compendium revises the most recent thermodynamic theories of supercritical fluids, focusing on the dynamic crossover and the role of thermodynamic properties in controlling this crossover.The volume also critically discusses different transition criteria to predict the onset of single-phase (diffusive) mixing and applies them to transcritical droplets and jets. The book overviews the different types of disintegration regimes and the conditions under which phase separation made be observed, even for supercritical injection conditions.This useful reference text benefits professionals, researchers, academics and graduate students in the fields of aerospace engineering, applied physics, chemical engineering and energy studies.

Cities are our future and increasingly determine global resource use. Growing urbanization presents some of the most significant opportunities and challenges of our time. Today, cities suffer from severe congestion, public space is lost to car traffic and parking, and biocapacity is overspent by consumption levels and urban growth. The climate crisis highlights the need for urban policies that provide a holistic framework for sustainability, including renewable energies, highly efficient buildings, sustainable industrial and urban infrastructure and transportation.To provide affordable, accessible and inclusive housing for everybody, we need to put society's benefit before short-term profit thinking. The question is: Will we succeed in transforming cities defined by cars and reliant on high energy and resource consumption into genuinely environmentally friendly, livable, and participative urban spaces?Next-Generation Cities: An Encyclopedia is a curated collection of expert papers and represents the backbone of the work of the Next-Generation Cities Institute at Concordia University in Montréal, Canada. In an interdisciplinary framework, it reflects the collaborative approach necessary to solve complex urban issues. A new model of city building brings together the best practices of many professions and interest groups. The Encyclopedia compiles public and private sector experts, professors, and graduate student contributions in four volumes. It considers the different perspectives, objectives, methodologies, and guidelines for transforming today's cities into inclusive, human-centred, livable, culturally vibrant, resilient and sustainable human settlements.

This comprehensive textbook is designed for a one-semester elective course tailored for aerospace and mechanical engineering students. It offers an in-depth examination of propeller-driven propulsion systems for small and micro unmanned aerial vehicles. The material presented is based on fundamental principles of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer.The book introduces essential concepts of propulsion systems and assesses their performance across different altitudes. Comprising 12 chapters, it explores a broad spectrum of topics, including different propulsion methods, propeller characteristics, ideal and real four-stroke engines, gas exchange processes, supercharging and turbocharging, combustion dynamics in internal combustion engines (ICEs), two-stroke engines, testing and operational performance, lubrication and wear mechanisms, critical challenges in miniaturizing ICEs, electric motors, non-electric energy storage systems, and atmospheric properties as they relate to altitude.Enriched with original, well-crafted diagrams and detailed derivations of equations, the book aims to simplify complex topics. Each chapter features comprehension questions, practical exercises, and carefully selected references for further study.

Advanced Polymer Life Science targets recent progress in the exploration of functional polymeric structures of living matter, the design and fabrication of a broad range of biology-inspired polymer materials as well as their dedicated applications in the life sciences and beyond.The book covers both fundamental and applied research, showcasing the intricate and interconnected bioanalytical and preparative approaches that characterize contemporary biomaterials science. It features contributions from world-leading experts and emerging talents in the field, addressing enduring challenges with innovative methodologies and exploring newly emerging topics.Collectively, the chapters of the book underscore the scope and the power of macromolecular chemistry, physics and engineering in the advent of bio-interactive materials that blur the boundaries of naturally evolved and man-made systems. Deepening the reader's understanding of the captivating interdisciplinary field of polymer biomaterials science, the book is to encourage further scientific research to understand living nature and solve urgent societal needs.