"In the early 19th century, the only way to transmit information was to send letters across the oceans by sailing ships or across land by horse and coach. Growing world trade created a need and technological development introduced options to improve general information transmission. Starting in the 1830s, a network of steamships, railways, canals and telegraphs was gradually built to connect di…
The Central African Copperbelt, encompassing the mining communities of Katanga (DR Congo) and Zambia, has been central to the study of modernisation and rapid social and political change in urban Africa. This volume expands upon earlier studies of industrial mining, male-dominated formal labour organisation and political change by examining both sides of the border from pre-colonial history to …
Modern power and energy systems are characterized by the wide integration of distributed generation, storage and electric vehicles, adoption of ICT solutions, and interconnection of different energy carriers and consumer engagement, posing new challenges and creating new opportunities. Advanced testing and validation methods are needed to efficiently validate power equipment and controls in the…
With current infrastructure, meeting the ever-growing demand for electrical energy across the globe is becoming increasingly difficult. The widespread adoption of both commercial and residential non-dispatchable renewable energy facilities, such as solar and wind, further taxes the stability of the electrical grid, often causing traditional fossil fuel power plants to operate at lower efficienc…
Numerous efforts have been devoted to using biomass as a feedstock for the production of bio-based materials, biochemicals, and biofuels that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on conventional fossil resources. Conversion strategies for the production of platform chemicals, building blocks, fine chemicals, and biofuels include a wide range of processes such as chemical and mechanica…
Lignocellulosic biomass has great potentials as an alternative feedstock for fuels and chemicals. For effective utilization of biomass, biomass recalcitrance, which is inherent resistance of plant cell walls to biological deconstruction, needs to be reduced. Among many factors in biomass, lignin is significantly related to biomass recalcitrance. Lignin, a complex aromatic polymer, is the larges…
Pumped storage technology is a large-scale, efficient, flexible and clean energy storage technology. The core of it is the design of pumped storage units, which involves the operation and flow characteristics of vane hydraulic machinery under pump and turbine modes, as well as the complex flow conditions of the upstream and downstream flow channels of the units. With this as the background, thi…
Advanced X-by-wire technologies for vehicular electrified chassis play an essential role in the development of new energy intelligent vehicles, which is the inevitable choice for intelligent vehicles in the future. This technology is involved in mechanical engineering, electronic and electrical engineering, computer technology, control engineering, signal processing, and artificial intelligence…
Welding is widely used by both academia and industry to create similar and dissimilar joints aiming to create a complex shape structure and to couple the mechanical properties of different materials into a single monolithic structure. In this book, a collection of peer-reviewed works on the welding of advanced engineering alloys is presented. Both solid-state and fusion-based welding technologi…
In this rich memoir, the first of two volumes, Paul Farmer traces the story of A39, the Cornish political theatre group he co-founded and ran from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. Farmer offers a unique insight into A39’s creation, operation, and artistic practice during a period of convulsive political and social change. The reader is plunged into the national miners’ strike and the colla…