Gustavo Alonso

Nuclear Energy- Economic Analysis and Environmental Impact guides the reader through all elements required to make an informed decision on new nuclear power plants and provides analysis of the environmental benefits in comparison to other renewable energy sources. The book covers the economic factors, environmental benefits, and policy issues of nuclear power generation to improve public perception and increase the deployment of nuclear in the energy mix. Readers are provided with an essential toolkit to assess nuclear projects which enables them to perform a levelized cost analysis of power generation and compare different renewable generation technologies. Sections cover the historical deployment of nuclear power and its corresponding costs, compare fission technologies to other advanced systems, address the main concepts of economic and financial analyses, power plant structure components, and principles of Monte Carlo methods for uncertainty analysis, and delve into how various elements of the electricity grid interact. In addition, other renewable electricity sources alongside their advantages, disadvantages, and foreseeable capacities are presented.

Desalination in nuclear power plants presents the latest research on a variety of nuclear desalination techniques for different nuclear reactor systems; it includes also several aspects regarding competitiveness, sustainability, safety, and licensing process. Authors Alonso, del Valle, and Ramirez explore the possibilities of the cogeneration of water and electricity using a nuclear reactor. This book consolidates the latest research to provide readers with a clear understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of the thermal, membrane, and hybrid desalination processes, along with a comprehensive methodology to guide the reader on how to perform levelized cost analyses for water and electricity. The conditions for the coupling of nuclear reactors and desalination plants are presented, and techniques to maximize water and energy production and to reduce their corresponding costs are provided. Mathematical modeling techniques for different components of the power plant are also included based on mass and energy state equations, as well as different steam currents alternatives for coupling along with a proposed method for their evaluation.

Energy Efficiency in Air Transportation explores the relationship between air transportation and energy use, starting with an analysis of air transport energy sources and their potential development. The book examines how different elements of the air transport system make use of energy, with an analysis of various methods for optimizing energy consumption. The book covers the consequences of energy use in terms of economics, environmental impact and sustainable development, with a review of the existing and proposed regulatory measures addressing those factors. Aeronautical and air transport engineers interested in aerial vehicle systems design, as well as public administrators and regulators concerned with energy efficiency or environmental issues in air transport, will benefit greatly from this comprehensive reference, which captures necessary background information along with the newest developments in the field.

Like many other incipient technologies, Web services are still surrounded by a tremendous level of noise. This noise results from the always dangerous combination of wishful thinking on the part of research and industry and of a lack of clear understanding of how Web services came to be. On the one hand, multiple contradictory interpretations are created by the many attempts to realign existing technology and strategies with Web services. On the other hand, the emphasis on what could be done with Web services in the future often makes us lose track of what can be really done with Web services today and in the short term. These factors make it extremely difficult to get a coherent picture of what Web services are, what they contribute, and where they will be applied. Alonso and his co-authors deliberately take a step back. Based on their academic and industrial experience with middleware and enterprise application integration systems, they describe the fundamental concepts behind the notion of Web services and present them as the natural evolution of conventional middleware, necessary to meet the challenges of the Web and of B2B application integration. Rather than providing a reference guide or a "how to write your first Web service" kind of book, they discuss the main objectives of Web services, the challenges that must be faced to achieve them, and the opportunities that this novel technology provides. Established, as well as recently proposed, standards and techniques (e.g., WSDL, UDDI, SOAP, WS-Coordination, WS-Transactions, and BPEL), are then examined in the context of this discussion in order to emphasize their scope, benefits, and shortcomings. Thus, the book is ideally suited both for professionals considering the development of application integration solutions and for research and students interesting in understanding and contributing to the evolution of enterprise application technologies.

Like many other incipient technologies, Web services are still surrounded by a tremendous level of noise. This noise results from the always dangerous combination of wishful thinking on the part of research and industry and of a lack of clear understanding of how Web services came to be. On the one hand, multiple contradictory interpretations are created by the many attempts to realign existing technology and strategies with Web services. On the other hand, the emphasis on what could be done with Web services in the future often makes us lose track of what can be really done with Web services today and in the short term. These factors make it extremely difficult to get a coherent picture of what Web services are, what they contribute, and where they will be applied. Alonso and his co-authors deliberately take a step back. Based on their academic and industrial experience with middleware and enterprise application integration systems, they describe the fundamental concepts behind the notion of Web services and present them as the natural evolution of conventional middleware, necessary to meet the challenges of the Web and of B2B application integration. Rather than providing a reference guide or a "how to write your first Web service" kind of book, they discuss the main objectives of Web services, the challenges that must be faced to achieve them, and the opportunities that this novel technology provides. Established, as well as recently proposed, standards and techniques (e.g., WSDL, UDDI, SOAP, WS-Coordination, WS-Transactions, and BPEL), are then examined in the context of this discussion in order to emphasize their scope, benefits, and shortcomings. Thus, the book is ideally suited both for professionals considering the development of application integration solutions and for research and students interesting in understanding and contributing to the evolution of enterprise application technologies.