Engineering

This book discusses the trust models for next-generation Blockchain ecosystems. The book provides a comprehensive discussion on various trust factors involving security, anonymization, reputation, governance, economic models, and other relevant determinants. The book covers various topics in breadth and depth. In addition, it sets the foundation to involve the readers in understanding the core theories supplemented with technical and experimental discussion. The book starts by laying out the foundations of trust models in Blockchain ecosystems. The authors then provide a study of existing trust models Blockchain networks. They then provide identification of trust factors and discuss each trust factor. The book concludes with a future outlook of trust-enabling Blockchain ecosystems.

• Outlines the trust models for next-generation Blockchain ecosystems;
• Covers the trust issues in various Blockchain ecosystems running in public, private, consortium, and cloud environments;
• Features issues such has privacy, security, scalability, and requirements in Blockchain.

This book highlights research on secure communication of 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT) Networks, along with related areas to ensure secure and Internet-compatible IoT systems. The authors not only discuss 5G and IoT security and privacy challenges, but also energy efficient approaches to improving the ecosystems through communication. The book addresses the secure communication and privacy of the 5G and IoT technologies, while also revealing the impact of IoT technologies on several scenarios in smart city design. Intended as a comprehensive introduction, the book offers in-depth analysis and provides scientists, engineers and professionals the latest techniques, frameworks and strategies used in 5G and IoT technologies.  

• Provides the latest techniques used for the design of antenna in terms of its structure, defected ground, MIMO and fractal design;
• Outlines steps to resolve issues with designing antenna, including the latest design and design parameters for microstrip antenna;
• Presents the design of conformal and miniaturized antenna structures for various applications.

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.

The digitization of factories promises great potential benefits. The implementation of the various technologies for the smart factory is extremely complex, requires new competencies and necessitates significant investments. The question is: How can an industrial company successfully manage this transformation? For this purpose, more than 500 published use cases were screened. These could be categorized into 44 relevant use cases, which we describe in detail in the book. Our research has also shown that strategy and goal orientation must be at the core of the change. Furthermore, the combination of employee knowledge and use of technology is central to success. This led to the creation of our smart factory implementation approach. In various research and consulting projects we were able to apply this process and realize successful implementations in different companies. This 7-step process starts with the selection of promising use cases, followed by a prioritization step, adaptationto the company-specific context and a detailing of the information needs for the different management levels. Stringent project management helps the user achieve positive results that can then be rolled out on a global scale. This process is not only applicable to the "actual factory" but can also be used to design smart services for the factory of tomorrow.

 Content

Smart factory definition and characterization · The smart factory navigator · The smart factory framework · Description of the 44 use cases for the smart factory · Technology mapping in relation to the 44 use cases · Smart factory implementation process · Smart services for the smart factory

• Provides an overview of the latest R&D advancements in the field of ICT technologies inherent to a New Space vision;
• Considers visions and perspectives of space technology, including a through overview of satellite communications;
• Presents a system-level overview of future space networking and communications.

This book explores and motivates the need for building homogeneous and heterogeneous multi-core systems for machine learning to enable flexibility and energy-efficiency. Coverage focuses on a key aspect of the challenges of (extreme-)edge-computing, i.e., design of energy-efficient and flexible hardware architectures, and hardware-software co-optimization strategies to enable early design space exploration of hardware architectures. The authors investigate possible design solutions for building single-core specialized hardware accelerators for machine learning and motivates the need for building homogeneous and heterogeneous multi-core systems to enable flexibility and energy-efficiency. The advantages of scaling to heterogeneous multi-core systems are shown through the implementation of multiple test chips and architectural optimizations.

This book constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the 6th EAI International Conference Computer on Science and Engineering in Health Services (COMPSE 2022), which took place in Mexico City and online, June 28th, 2022. The papers are grouped on thematic topics: application of tools delivered by the COVID-19 pandemic; health services; computer and data science; and industry 4.0 in logistics and supply chain. The content is relevant to researchers, academics, students and professionals.

The book provides a comprehensive analysis of Engineering Education in industrialising countries, with Southern Africa as the case study, benchmarked on institutions from the industrialised world, with UK institutions as the reference. This was motivated by the perennial shortage of engineers and engineering skills to drive industry in Southern Africa, compounded by the mismatch of skills between those produced by tertiary institutions and those required by industry. This book focuses on the insufficiencies in training, through addressing the gap where the majority of engineering academics’ qualifications at MSc/MEng level fall short of the internationally acceptable PhD/DEng/DTech. In order to address such insufficiencies, the book proposes and advocates for reskilling and doctoral training of engineering academics through the proposed and established DTCs within the region. The book is targeted at graduate students, engineering academics, researchers, university administrators, foreign aid agencies, captains of industry and policy-makers in governments. To all these readers, the book offers:

This book evaluates a new potential game-change technology where burning a compound known as “thermite” is used to melt the casing, cement and rock forming an impermeable plug within the wellbore. A review on current and emerging technologies is presented.

The development of analytical, numerical and experimental tools is documented in separate sections of the book, showing results and discussing the potential for this new technology and its role on the ongoing energy transition process worldwide.

This book integrates of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Decision Support Systems (DSS) in the field of building design, construction, and maintenance. The book explores how BIM and DSS technologies can be synergistically utilized to enhance performance, comfort, and maintenance efficiency in buildings.

With an emphasis on practical applications, the book provides a comprehensive overview of the latest advancements in BIM and DSS, including real-world case studies and implementation guidelines. The book features illustrations, tables, and examples that aid in understanding complex concepts and demonstrate the practical application of BIM and DSS in building projects.  

Readers will gain a deep understanding of how BIM and DSS can be integrated to optimize building design, streamline construction processes, and improve facility management and maintenance. The main benefit of reading this book is that it provides a valuable resource for professionals in the architecture, engineering, and construction industries who want to leverage the power of BIM and DSS to enhance their building projects. Additionally, the book explores how BIM and DSS can contribute to energy efficiency.

This book presents the proceedings of the 8th EAI International Conference on Robotics and Networks 2024 (EAI ROSENET 2024). The conference explores the integration of networks, communications, and robotic technologies, which has become a topic of increasing interest for both researchers and developers from academic fields and industries worldwide. The authors posit that big networks will be the main approach to the next generation of robotic research, with the explosive number of communications and networks models and increasing computational power of computers significantly extending the number of potential applications for robotic technologies while also bringing new challenges to the communications and networking community. The conference provided a platform for researchers to share up-to-date scientific achievements in this field. 

This book presents selected, peer-reviewed proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Material, Machines and Methods for Sustainable Development (MMMS2024), held in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, from September 18 to 21, 2024. The conference establishes a comprehensive understanding of the key elements that drive sustainable development, with a particular focus on materials, machinery, and methodologies. Building on this foundation, the conference seeks to provide a holistic approach that guides policymakers, industries, and researchers in aligning local technological advancements with global sustainable development objectives. This alignment is intended to support informed decision-making that prioritizes greener solutions, particularly in relation to materials, machinery, and methods.

The papers presented in Volume 3 of this proceedings book highlight innovative research in sustainable machine design, energy management, and life cycle engineering for manufacturing. Key topics include MFL inspection optimization, digital twin-enabled robotic arms, 3D printing with recycled plastics, and fluxgate sensor enhancements. Robotic advancements such as differential drive systems and delta parallel trajectory control are paired with studies on AI-driven fall detection and smart electronic noses. Contributions on STATCOM-FESS control systems and energy-efficient magnetizer designs emphasize green solutions for industrial processes.

The authors extend their sincere appreciation to the International Organizing and Academic Committees of the Conference for their dedication and invaluable insights, which were instrumental in upholding the high standards of this event. The authors hope that this proceedings book will serve as a rich resource for academics, researchers, engineers, and students, fostering further scientific inquiry and innovation in the pursuit of sustainable development.

This book compiles the proceedings of the 2nd EAI International Conference on Renewable Energy and Sustainable Manufacturing (ICRESM 2024), held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on November 2–3, 2024. The conference provided a collaborative forum for researchers, industry experts, policymakers, and stakeholders to exchange insights, innovations, and best practices in sustainable technologies aimed at reducing dependence on non-renewable resources and advancing Industry 4.0 initiatives.

The included papers explore global challenges in sustainable manufacturing, energy security, and green technologies, highlighting applications that contribute to carbon emission reduction, environmental protection, and economic growth through renewable energy and eco-friendly production methods. This collection offers valuable perspectives on the latest technological developments, methodologies, and strategies driving progress in these fields.

• Features the proceedings of the 2nd EAI International Conference on Renewable Energy and Sustainable Manufacturing;
• Showcases advancements in renewable energy and sustainable manufacturing technologies;
• Provides valuable insights for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers interested in cutting-edge innovations and best practices.

This book presents selected, peer-reviewed proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Material, Machines and Methods for Sustainable Development (MMMS2024), held in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, from September 18 to 21, 2024. The conference establishes a comprehensive understanding of the key elements that drive sustainable development, with a particular focus on materials, machinery, and methodologies. Building on this foundation, the conference seeks to provide a holistic approach that guides policymakers, industries, and researchers in aligning local technological advancements with global sustainable development objectives. This alignment is intended to support informed decision-making that prioritizes greener solutions, particularly in relation to materials, machinery, and methods.

The papers presented in Volume 2 of this proceedings book highlight cutting-edge advancements in materials science, machining, and renewable energy technologies. Key topics include butt fusion welding parameters, TiAl6V4 TIG welding properties, and CBN grinding wheel surface ability for precision applications. Studies explore single-point incremental forming, high-entropy alloy performance, and orthopedic trauma brace manufacturing using PETG material.

Sustainability features prominently, with research on ACC parameters for electric vehicles, proton exchange membrane fuel cells, and Simulink energy simulations. Advances in biogas-enriched syngas combustion and high-pressure die casting optimization further emphasize energy efficiency.

The authors extend their sincere appreciation to the International Organizing and Academic Committees of the Conference for their dedication and invaluable insights, which were instrumental in upholding the high standards of this event. The authors hope that this proceedings book will serve as a rich resource for academics, researchers, engineers, and students, fostering further scientific inquiry and innovation in the pursuit of sustainable development.

This book is a comprehensive exploration of the fundamental principles and contemporary applications of cyber-physical systems (CPS) in various engineering disciplines. This book is structured into five thematic sections, each addressing unique facets of CPS integration and digital transformation in engineering practices. This book opens the discussion by examining the creation and utilization of digital twins and computational models in diverse engineering contexts. Chapter 1 focuses on the digital twin of a functional food product, while subsequent chapters address the modeling of gas well operations under flooding conditions, productivity assessment of horizontal wells with multistage hydraulic fracturing, carbonate reservoir acid treatments, and thermal power plant optimization with combined cycle gas turbines. This book transitions to the specific challenges and opportunities presented by CPS in chemical engineering. Chapters cover the analysis of rarefied flow formation in chemical technology apparatuses, parameter estimation for optimizing polymer compositions, and decision support systems for automating ore phosphate charge production. This book delves into the broader landscape of heterogeneous environments within CPS. Topics include structural-parametric synthesis of global optimization algorithms, the application of pass-through structures for ultra-wideband information processing, and numerical modeling of acoustic instability in supersonic flows. Discussions encompass molecular fingerprint-based analyses of chemical formulas in patents, flexible word linking concepts for verifying recognized administrative documents and quality control mechanisms for administrative document recognition. Chapters highlight integrated computer systems for coke oven battery design training, software for studying key distribution schemes, and formalizations of mental models in human operators. This book is intended for researchers, practitioners, and students interested in the intersection of cyber-physical systems and engineering in the digital era. It provides a holistic view of current trends and best practices, offering valuable insights into the transformative potential of CPS across various engineering domains.

P2P, Grid, Cloud and Internet computing technologies have been very fast established as breakthrough paradigms for solving complex problems by enabling aggregation and sharing of an increasing variety of distributed computational resources on a large scale. 

Grid Computing originated as a paradigm for high performance computing, as an alternative to expensive supercomputers through different forms of large-scale distributed computing. P2P Computing emerged as a new paradigm after client-server and web-based computing and has shown useful to the development of social networking, B2B (Business to Business), B2C (Business to Consumer), B2G (Business to Government), B2E (Business to Employee), and so on. Parallel Computing is an essential computational paradigm for solving complicated problems quickly. It divides a scientific computing problem into several small computing tasks and concurrently runs these tasks by utilizing parallel hardware and overcoming the memory constraint. Parallel computing is an important part of Cloud environment. However, there are significant differences between cloud computing and parallel computing. Cloud Computing has been defined as a “computing paradigm where the boundaries of computing are determined by economic rationale rather than technical limits”. Cloud computing has fast become the computing paradigm with applicability and adoption in all application domains and providing utility computing at large scale. Finally, Internet Computing is the basis of any large-scale distributed computing paradigms; it has very fast developed into a vast area of flourishing field with enormous impact on today’s information societies serving thus as a universal platform comprising a large variety of computing forms such as Grid, P2P, Cloud and Mobile computing.

The aim of the volume “Advances on P2P, Parallel, Grid, Cloud and Internet Computing” is to provide latest research findings, innovative research results, methods and development techniques from both theoretical and practical perspectives related to P2P, Grid, Cloud and Internet computing as well as to reveal synergies among such large-scale computing paradigms.

This book provides a practical end-to-end approach to open source technology in biomedical engineering, covering topics that range from hardware and software design to data acquisition, processing tools, and cloud-based storage. Biomedical device conceptualization, design of experimental evaluation studies, and moving from early-stage prototypes to shelve-worthy products benefiting from open source technologies are also covered. The technical chapters are complemented by working examples and address problems that new entrants and professionals encounter when developing work in biomedical engineering, human-computer interaction, physiological computing, psychophysiology, physiotherapy, and related areas. The book is enriched by case studies where open source technologies have been successfully used to accelerate new developments in biomedical engineering. Contributions are rooted in the state-of-the-art and latest advances in hardware platforms, Python for the signal processing and analysis components, and web-based technologies for the user interface components.

• Provides hardware, software, and product design guidelines;
• Includes source code, case studies, and application examples;
• Accessible to a broad audience interested in moving quickly from a biomedical idea to a solution.

This book provides a tutorial on quantum communication networks. The authors discuss current paradigm shifts in communication networks that are needed to add computing and storage to the simple transport ideas of prevailing networks. They show how these ‘softwarized’ solutions break new grounds to reduce latency and increase resilience. The authors discuss how even though these solutions have inherent problems due to introduced computing latency and energy consumption, the problems can be solved by hybrid classical-quantum communication networks. The book brings together quantum networking, quantum information theory, quantum computing, and quantum simulation.

This volume highlights the latest advances, innovations, and applications in biomaterials for road pavements, as presented by leading international researchers and engineers at the 2nd International Workshop on the Use of Biomaterials in Pavements, held in São Paulo, Brazil on September 23-24, 2024. It covers a diverse range of topics concerning the roadmap for biomaterial integration in road materials, including: bio-based binders and additives, recycled biomass and waste materials, environmental impact and sustainability assessment, recyclability and circular economy, testing methods and performance evaluation. The contributions, which were selected by means of a rigorous international peer-review process, present a wealth of exciting ideas that will open novel research directions and foster new multidisciplinary collaborations.

This book gathers the proceedings of the 11th International Conference on E-Health and Bioengineering, EHB 2023, held in hybrid form on November 9–10, 2023, in/from Bucharest, Romania. This third volume of a 3-volume set reports on systems, sensors and solutions for providing e-health, artificial intelligence and IoT applications in medicine, new biomaterials and nanoparticles, including solutions for their sustainable, green, and safe use and production, and advances in biomedical imaging and signal processing. All in all, this book provides a large audience of researchers and professionals with extensive and timely information on the state of the art in e-health, bioengineering, and other related fields.

This book showcases the discussion about megaprojects carried out at the MeRIT (Megaproject Research Interdisciplinary Team) workshop 2022: the crisis, discontinuity, rising prices, and supply chains disruption force radical reflection for those involved in megaprojects. It raises a modern-day challenge, the creation of value for stakeholders. Indeed, the aim of the volume is to encourage readers to think more broadly, articulately and less stringently than the mainstream claims. There is a need to design, implement, and manage megaprojects by abandoning the old paradigm that leveraged solely on time and cost.  We need to move beyond that by going to explore the value generated, the positive impact on people, communities and territories. Economic, social and environmental sustainability takes on a new and broader articulation: issues of the circular economy applied to megaprojects are addressed and ample space is ensured for the inclusion of social needs in current practices.