Yu Wang

This book provides a thorough overview of the state-of-the-art field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based robotic computing accelerator designs and summarizes their adopted optimized techniques. This book consists of ten chapters, delving into the details of how FPGAs have been utilized in robotic perception, localization, planning, and multi-robot collaboration tasks. In addition to individual robotic tasks, this book provides detailed descriptions of how FPGAs have been used in robotic products, including commercial autonomous vehicles and space exploration robots.

Development and Application of Classical Capillary Curve Theory shows readers how to improve chemical flooding recovery procedures in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) using sophisticated numerical modeling techniques for oil displacement that build on, and enhance, the accepted capillary curve in a novel way. The title presents research and technical data that amends the classical capillary curve, giving new impetus to chemical flooding research. By analyzing the capillary number experiment QL, the book models oil and water distribution in the micro-space of the reservoir core. Finally, the book discusses chemical flooding software, reservoir geological modeling, field tests, and a new technique of digital oil displacement testing being developed.

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 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.

Site characterization is indispensable to good geotechnical or rock engineering practice as every site is unique, but technical, budget, time, or access constraints typically result in only a tiny fraction of the underground soil and rock in a site being visually inspected, sampled, or tested. This leads to a long- lasting challenge of sparse measurements in geo- sciences and engineering. This book introduces Bayesian compressive sensing or sampling (BCS) as a highly efficient spatial data analytic and simulation method for the efficient modelling of spatial geo- data from sparse measurements, with quantified reliability and uncertainty to further optimize site characterization. It provides the necessary theory and computational tools for setting up and solving a sparse spatial data modeling problem using BCS. This book suits graduate students, academics, researchers, and engineers interested in site characterization from sparse measurements in geotechnical and rock engineering, and also those modeling other spatially varying phenomena such as air quality data, soil or water pollution data, and meteorological data. This is supplemented with a software called Analytics of Sparse Spatial Data using Bayesian compressive sampling/ sensing and illustrative examples, and enables hands- on experience of spatial data analytics and simulation using sparse measurements.

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.

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 presents the comprehensive results of experimental and numerical investigations of glass façade breakage behavior under fire conditions. First of all, full-scale frame and point-supported glass façades, 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 façade. 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 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.

This book analyzes the reception French poets have given to classical Chinese poetry. It offers a succinct presentation of the period from 1735-1860 (Chenier), considers the reaction of modern poets (1862-1949) such as Claudel, Segalen, and Saint-John Perse, and examines how contemporary poets (1953-2008) have interpreted the Chinese works.

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.

Presenting an optimal energy distribution strategy for microgrids in a smart grid environment, and featuring a detailed analysis of the mathematical techniques of convex optimization and online algorithms, this book provides readers with essential content on how to achieve multi-objective optimization that takes into consideration power subscribers, energy providers and grid smoothing in microgrids. Featuring detailed theoretical proofs and simulation results that demonstrate and evaluate the correctness and effectiveness of the algorithm, this text explains step-by-step how the problem can be reformulated and solved, and how to achieve the distributed online algorithm on the basis of a centralized offline algorithm. Special attention is paid to how to apply this algorithm in practical cases and the possible future trends of the microgrid and smart grid research and applications. Offering a valuable guide to help researchers and students better understand the new smart grid, this book will also familiarize readers with the concept of the microgrid and its relationship with renewable energy.

This book starts with the basic ideas in uncertainty propagation using Monte Carlo methods and the generation of random variables and stochastic processes for some common distributions encountered in engineering applications. It then introduces a class of powerful simulation techniques called Markov Chain Monte Carlo method (MCMC), an important machinery behind Subset Simulation that allows one to generate samples for investigating rare scenarios in a probabilistically consistent manner. The theory of Subset Simulation is then presented, addressing related practical issues encountered in the actual implementation. The book also introduces the reader to probabilistic failure analysis and reliability-based sensitivity analysis, which are laid out in a context that can be efficiently tackled with Subset Simulation or Monte Carlo simulation in general. The book is supplemented with an Excel VBA code that provides a user-friendly tool for the reader to gain hands-on experience with Monte Carlo simulation. Presents a powerful simulation method called Subset Simulation for efficient engineering risk assessment and failure and sensitivity analysisIllustrates examples with MS Excel spreadsheets, allowing readers to gain hands-on experience with Monte Carlo simulationCovers theoretical fundamentals as well as advanced implementation issuesA companion website is available to include the developments of the software ideas This book is essential reading for graduate students, researchers and engineers interested in applying Monte Carlo methods for risk assessment and reliability based design in various fields such as civil engineering, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering and nuclear engineering. Project managers, risk managers and financial engineers dealing with uncertainty effects may also find it useful.

This pioneering book of CJVs (Contractual Joint Ventures) in China reveals the nature of CJVs as a type of non-equity based alliance arrangement, possessing both quasi-market and quasi-hierachy features. It is one of the three major forms of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) prescribed by Chinese government. There is now a substantial research on EJVs (Equity Joint Ventures) and WFOEs (Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprises). Based on the author's rich and extensive field research, the book shows that transaction cost considerations explained the choice of CJVs over quasi-market processing and (P&A) assembling contracts on the one hand and EVJs on the other. The author also shows why and how CJVs remained an efficient governance structure over time in a changing institutional environment.