Search

This book aims to introduce recent advances in IoT and its applications for smart environments. The state of the art is reviewed with a focus on the technologies, applications, challenges, and opportunities. At this stage, a comprehensive understanding of the formal and practical applications of IoT in the different scenarios of smart environments is necessary to support future research. Therefore, the main contribution of this book is a comprehensive study of the most recent proposals for smart environments. In addition, this book synthesizes existing information and highlights common threads and gaps that lead to new and complex areas of future research. The book covers a range of major research subjects which will foster future implementations. The topics include smart learning environments, crowdsensing applications, participatory citizen sensing, multimodal perception systems and security challenges. This book seeks to provide a valuable framework for future research projects by expounding the topic to academics, engineers, and industry professionals, which is necessary for the design of future IoT architectures for smart environments.

This new edition of our 2016 book provides insight into designing intelligent materials and structures for special application in engineering. Literature is updated throughout and a new chapter on optics fibers has been added. The book discusses simulation and experimental determination of physical material properties, such as piezoelectric effects, shape memory, electro-rheology, and distributed control for vibrations minimization.

Deep learning includes a subset of machine learning for processing the unsupervised data with artificial neural network functions. The major advantage of deep learning is to process big data analytics for better analysis and self-adaptive algorithms to handle more data. When applied to engineering, deep learning can have a great impact on the decision-making process. Deep Learning Applications and Intelligent Decision Making in Engineering is a pivotal reference source that provides practical applications of deep learning to improve decision-making methods and construct smart environments. Highlighting topics such as smart transportation, e-commerce, and cyber physical systems, this book is ideally designed for engineers, computer scientists, programmers, software engineers, research scholars, IT professionals, academicians, and postgraduate students seeking current research on the implementation of automation and deep learning in various engineering disciplines.

Cold hibernated elastic memory (CHEM) is an innovative, smart material technology that uses shape memory polymers in open cellular structures. This book extensively describes CHEM self-deployable structures, provides basic property data and characteristics, discusses advantages, and identifies numerous space, commercial, and medical applications. Some of these applications have been experimentally and analytically investigated with inspiring results and are revealed here.CHEM technology has a potential to provide groundbreaking self-deployable space structures. Some cutting-edge space CHEM concepts described in this book represent the introduction of a new generation of space deployable structures.CHEM materials have unique characteristics that enable the manufacture of self-deployable stents and other medical devices not possible currently. One of the medical applications, the CHEM endovascular treatment of aneurysm, is being experimentally explored with promising results that would save lives.This book provides a long list of interesting potential commercial CHEM applications that could simplify and make life easier at low cost. One of these products, the self-reconfiguring armchair, is already being set up for mass production.This book will be of interest to all engineering researchers, scientists, engineers, students, designers, and technologists across their relevant fields of interest. The exceptional characteristics of CHEM technology are presently enabling technologists to develop many applications ranging from outer space to inside the human body. As a result, CHEM structures are in the process of reshaping our thinking, approaches, and design methods in many ways that conventional materials and approaches do not allow.

Smart Materials for Smart Living has a wide range of materials that are involved in the things that govern our day to day lives. Applications of SMNFs are used in different areas such as filtration media, gas sensing and a great deal of biomedical applications too. The treatment of heart blockage and brain hemorrhage has been significantly affected by these materials. Due to their extremely small pore size, large surface volume ratio and being light in weight, they prove to be better materials in solar cells, batteries and many other transducer applications. In today's modern world where everyone is moving towards advancement, humanity forgets to keep up with sustainable development. Hence, the responsibility rests on the shoulders of researchers to make materials that not only keep us updated with the modern world, but also help us keep the environment clean. Keeping this point of view in mind, this book consists of chapters that deal with lead free and non-toxic materials. Population, industrialization and agricultural development are a few factors that led to the degradation of environment. This book helps us to know how different species are connected with each other. There are different technologies used for the conservation of biodiversity and life. All chapters will help readers understand what the role of materials for different applications are and how to sustain biodiversity; the different sustainable approaches; and the various steps adopted by global bodies for conservation. “A healthy life can only be achieved by a proper balance of materials in the body as well as surroundings.”

Intelligent Materials and Structures provides exceptional insights into designing intelligent materials and structures for special applications in engineering. The author introduces the fundamental materials science involved in research endeavors and simultaneously reviews the current state-of-the-art of intelligent materials and structures.Separate chapters are devoted to the thorough examination of theory and application of laminated composite materials, Piezoelectricity, Shape Memory Alloys, Electro- and Magnetorheological fluids as well as Magneto- and Electrostrictive materials. Each chapter contains numerous equations and figures describing theories, models and behavior of the intelligent material discussed.Special attention is paid to applications of intelligent materials to various structures in the aerospace and medical sector, piezoelectric motors as well as piezoelectric and electromagnetic energy harvesting. Contents:Introduction to Intelligent Materials and StructuresLaminated Composite MaterialsPiezoelectricityShape Memory AlloysElectrorheological and Magnetorheological FluidsMagnetostrictive and Electrostrictive MaterialsApplications of Intelligent Materials in StructuresEnergy Harvesting using Intelligent MaterialsIndex

Recently, considerable attention has been focused on vibration control technology using “smart” or “intelligent” materials, which have inherently actuating and sensing capabilities. Typically these materials are employed to the vibration control of lumped parameter systems or distributed parameter structures by controlling the mass-distribution, stiffness change and the dissipation change. This may be accomplished by semi-active control or active control methods associated with the smart material actuators. Among many candidates of smart materials, magneto-rheological materials and piezoelectric materials are frequently adopted for vibration control. Magneto-rheological fluid and elastomer are especially utilized for vibration control of lumped parameter systems such as automotive damper, while the piezoelectric materials are used for vibration control of flexible distributed parameter structures with salient characteristics, such as fast response time. This book can be used as a textbook for graduate students or as a reference book for potential researchers who are interested in vibration control utilizing new methods associated with smart materials actuators. This book will provide some novel insights for advanced vibration control technology to many readers.

Nachgiebige Mechanismen sind im Stande, Bewegungen und Kräfte zu übertragen dank der Fähigkeit zur Deformation von Systemteilen bzw. des ganzen Systems. Diese Eigenschaft ruft mehrere Vorteile nachgiebiger Mechanismen hervor. Sie können monolithisch hergestellt werden und sind dadurch miniaturisierbar. Sie sind reibungsfrei und wartungsarm sowie im Stande, komplexe Bahnen zu realisieren. Zu einem der Nachteile nachgiebiger Mechanismen gehört deren komplizierte theoretische Beschreibung, daher widmet sich das Buch in erster Linie unterschiedlichen Modellierungsmethoden nachgiebiger Mechanismen und fluidmechanischer Aktuatoren. Das vorliegende Werk bietet außerdem erstmals eine breite Klassifikation zur Thematik mit Anwendungsbeispielen aus verschiedenen technischen Bereichen. Ein Greifer mit verformbaren Fingern, ein Greifer mit einem elastischen Körper, eine gekrümmte verformbare Sonde, nachgiebige Sensorelemente, ein Bohrer unter Belastung und ein Schlauch mit Innenströmung – das sind nur einige von den Beispielen, an welchen die Wege der Modellbildung nachgiebiger Systeme demonstriert werden.

Shape-memory polymers (SMP) are a unique branch of the smart materials family which are capable of changing shape on-demand upon exposure to external stimulus. The discovery of SMP made a significant breakthrough in the developments of novel smart materials for a variety of engineering applications, superseded the traditional materials, and also influenced the current methods of product designing. This book provides the latest advanced information of on-going research domains of SMP. This will certainly enlighten the reader to the achievements and tremendous potentials of SMP. The basic fundamentals of SMP, including shape-memory mechanisms and mechanics are described. This will aid reader to become more familiar with SMP and the basic concepts, thus guiding them in undergoing independent research in the SMP field. The book also provides the reader with associated challenges and existing application problems of SMP. This could assist the reader to focus more on these issues and further exploit their knowledge to look for innovative solutions. Future outlooks of SMP research are discussed as well. This book should prove to be extremely useful for academics, R&D managers, researcher scientists, engineers, and all others related to the SMP research.

This book provides coverage of several actual topics in nanocomposite research: one-dimensional objects, nanotubes, coordinated metallic compounds, encapsulated nano and micro objects, and nanoobjects with sensor properties. It is oriented to both professionals and beginners in the field. This book provides awareness of the most recent developments in the scientific and practical areas of nanotechnology.

This book covers a variety of topics related to the synthesis of smart nanoobjects. Among them are surface nanostructured metals with improved corrosion and wear resistance (Syrkov); the synthesis of organo-micro cycles, with emphasis on the characterization of obtained materials by infrared spectroscopy, HPLC, and NMR analysis (El-Saied); Schiff bases metal complexes and their investigation for antibacterial and antifungal activity (El-Seidy); and transition metal complexes (Al-Sawaf). Nanotubes have always been positioned in the study of nanocomposites as interesting materials for application in electronics (transistors, resistors, varistors, sensors, display devices to mention just a few). This volume includes research on thin film deposition by acoustic wave atomizers (Balachova), and exfoliation of graphene from the liquid phase (Moshkalev). Continued interest in conducting polymer hydrogels have stimulated research for their application as pH sensors with sensing principles based on electroactivity (Elyashevich). Investigation of mass transfer kinetics in bifunctional matrixes is carried out with a new type of material: metal-ion exchangers (Kalinitchev). The world of nanotechnology described in this book will excite any reader, from interested students to industrial or academic professionals.

Augmented Materials and Smart Objects investigates the issues required to ensure technology platforms capable of being seamlessly integrated into everyday objects, particularly the requirements for integrated computation and MEMs sensors, System-in-a-package solutions, multi-chip modules, the impact of the trend towards embedded microelectronic electronics sub-systems, novel assembly techniques for autonomous MEMs sensors, as well as practical performance issues that are key to the AmI concept. Also discussed are current requirements for realizing applications-oriented examples of smart objects (e.g. smart textiles, gadgets, integration of smart systems for utility and environmental monitoring, etc); these are based upon heterogeneous systems linking networks of sensors attached to (or physically embedded in) objects with information management systems enabling collections of smart objects to collaborate to provide proactive services to the user. Finally, Augmented Materials and Smart Objects describes and discusses a number of vision statements strongly relevant to the future development of distributed embedded sensor and actuator platforms for smart objects, and ultimately Ambient Intelligence. The framework for this is the concept of Augmented Materials; these are materials with fully embedded distributed information systems, designed to measure all relevant physical properties and provide a full knowledge representation of the material; in effect, the material would'know'itself, and its current status.

'Smart'materials respond to environmental stimuli with particular changes in some variables. For that reason they are often also called responsive materials. Depending on changes in some external conditions,'smart'materials change either their properties (mechanical, electrical, appearance), their structure or composition, or their functions. Mostly,'smart'materials are embedded in systems whose inherent properties can be favorably changed to meet performance needs. Smart materials and structures have widespread applications in : 1. Materials science: composites, ceramics, processing science, interface science, sensor/actuator materials, chiral materials, conducting and chiral polymers, electrochromic materials, liquid crystals, molecular-level smart materials, biomaterials ; 2. Sensing and actuation: electromagnetic, acoustic, chemical and mechanical sensing and actuation, single-measurand sensors, multiplexed multimeasurand distributed sensors and actuators, sensor/actuator signal processing, compatibility of sensors and actuators with conventional and advanced materials, smart sensors for materials and composites processing ; 3. Optics and electromagnetics: optical fibre technology, active and adaptive optical systems and components, tunable high-dielectric phase shifters, tunable surface control ; 4. Structures: smart skins for drag and turbulence control, other applications in aerospace/hydrospace structures, civil infrastructures, transportation vehicles, manufacturing equipment, repairability and maintainability ; 5. Control: structural acoustic control, distributed control, analogue and digital feedback control, real-time implementation, adaptive structure stability, damage implications for structural control ; 6. Information processing: neural networks, data processing, data visualization and reliability. --Publisher.