This book is intended to help researchers overcome the entrance barrier to Proper Generalized Decomposition (PGD), by providing a valuable tool to begin the programming task. Detailed Matlab Codes are included for every chapter in the book, in which the theory previously described is translated into practice. Examples include parametric problems, non-linear model order reduction and real-time simulation, among others.
Proper Generalized Decomposition (PGD) is a method for numerical simulation in many fields of applied science and engineering. As a generalization of Proper Orthogonal Decomposition or Principal Component Analysis to an arbitrary number of dimensions, PGD is able to provide the analyst with very accurate solutions for problems defined in high dimensional spaces, parametric problems and even real-time simulation.
This book provides an overview of model-based environmental visual perception for humanoid robots. The visual perception of a humanoid robot creates a bidirectional bridge connecting sensor signals with internal representations of environmental objects. The objective of such perception systems is to answer two fundamental questions: What & where is it? To answer these questions using a sensor-to-representation bridge, coordinated processes are conducted to extract and exploit cues matching robot's mental representations to physical entities. These include sensor & actuator modeling, calibration, filtering, and feature extraction for state estimation. This book discusses the following topics in depth: o Active Sensing: Robust probabilistic methods for optimal, high dynamic range image acquisition are suitable for use with inexpensive cameras. This enables ideal sensing in arbitrary environmental conditions encountered in human-centric spaces. The book quantitatively shows the importance of equipping robots with dependable visual sensing.
o Feature Extraction & Recognition: Parameter-free, edge extraction methods based on structural graphs enable the representation of geometric primitives effectively and efficiently. This is done by eccentricity segmentation providing excellent recognition even on noisy & low-resolution images. Stereoscopic vision, Euclidean metric and graph-shape descriptors are shown to be powerful mechanisms for difficult recognition tasks. o Global Self-Localization & Depth Uncertainty Learning: Simultaneous feature matching for global localization and 6D self-pose estimation are addressed by a novel geometric and probabilistic concept using intersection of Gaussian spheres. The path from intuition to the closed-form optimal solution determining the robot location is described, including a supervised learning method for uncertainty depth modeling based on extensive ground-truth training data from a motion capture system.The methods and experiments are presented in self-contained chapters with comparisons and the state of the art. The algorithms were implemented and empirically evaluated on two humanoid robots: ARMAR III-A & B. The excellent robustness, performance and derived results received an award at the IEEE conference on humanoid robots and the contributions have been utilized for numerous visual manipulation tasks with demonstration at distinguished venues such as ICRA, CeBIT, IAS, and Automatica.
The past, present, and future of green chemistry and green engineering From college campuses to corporations, the past decade witnessed a rapidly growing interest in understanding sustainable chemistry and engineering. Green Chemistry and Engineering: A Practical Design Approach integrates the two disciplines into a single study tool for students and a practical guide for working chemists and engineers. In Green Chemistry and Engineering, the authors-each highly experienced in implementing green chemistry and engineering programs in industrial settings-provide the bottom-line thinking required to not only bring sustainable chemistry and engineering closer together, but to also move business towards more sustainable practices and products. Detailing an integrated, systems-oriented approach that bridges both chemical syntheses and manufacturing processes, this invaluable reference covers: Green chemistry and green engineering in the movement towards sustainability Designing greener, safer chemical synthesis Designing greener, safer chemical manufacturing processes Looking beyond current processes to a lifecycle thinking perspective Trends in chemical processing that may lead to more sustainable practices The authors also provide real-world examples and exercises to promote further thought and discussion. The EPA defines green chemistry as the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances. Green engineering is described as the design, commercialization, and use of products and processes that are feasible and economical while minimizing both the generation of pollution at the source and the risk to human health and the environment. While there is no shortage of books on either discipline, Green Chemistry and Engineering is the first to truly integrate the two.
?There are several techniques to study noncooperative dynamic games, such as dynamic programming and the maximum principle (also called the Lagrange method). It turns out, however, that one way to characterize dynamic potential games requires to analyze inverse optimal control problems, and it is here where the Euler equation approach comes in because it is particularly well-suited to solve inverse problems. Despite the importance of dynamic potential games, there is no systematic study about them. This monograph is the first attempt to provide a systematic, self-contained presentation of stochastic dynamic potential games.
Chile and the South American Games of Santiago 2014 offers an interesting case to examine an event of sizeable magnitude in a country with little history of hosting sport mega-events (SMEs). This case study will expand the readers understanding of third-order SMEs like the South American Games and highlight the circumstances under which they occur. It also contributes to advance and challenge our knowledge as to what extent previous findings made on impact, legacies, justifications, and challenges identified on larger scale SMEs hosted in the developed world, inform the process and outcomes of second or third-order SMEs organized in less developed countries. This monograph is suitable for scholars and practitioners who want to expand their knowledge on sport event planning outside the rim of the global north. It is an essential read for scholars and graduate students in policy studies, sociology, international business, sport and event management, and tourism and hospitality. Likewise,it is an important resource for event planners, government officials, event rights holders, and sport destination marketers involved with the planning of sport mega-events across the world.
