Static electricity is the most ancient form of electricity known to humans. More
than 2000 years ago, the Greeks recognized the attraction between certain mate-
rials when they were rubbed together; indeed, the word electricity comes from
the Greek elektron, which means amber. During the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, several key experiments were conducted to understand and measure
static electricity. But the discovery of electromagnetism and its formidable break-
through has rapidly outgrown interest in static electricity. Even today, where
the industrial applications of static electricity are not insignificant, they cannot
compare with those of electromagnetism and electrodynamics.
The goal of this book is to introduce the simulation methods necessary to describe
the behaviour of semiconductor devices During an electrostatic discharge (ESD).
The challenge of this task is the correct description of semiconductor devices under
very high current density and high temperature transients. As it stands, the book
can be no more than a snapshot and a summary of the research in this field
During the past few years. The authors hope that the book will provide the basis
for further development of simulation methods at this current frontier of device
physics.
This book deals with a very important problem in power system planning
for countries in which hydrogeneration accounts for the greatest part of the
system power production. During the past thirty years many techniques
have been developed to cope with the long-term operation of hydro reser-
voirs. These techniques have been discussed in a number of publications,
but they have not until now been documented in book form.
Modern day large power systems are essentially dynamic systems with stringent
requirements of high reliability for the continuous availability of electricity.
Reliability is contingent on the power system retaining stable operation During
steady-state operation and also following disturbances. The subject of power sys-
tem stability has been studied for many decades. With new developments, and there
have been many over the past couple of decades, new concerns and problems arise
that need to be studied and analysed. The objective of this book is a step in that
direction though not ignoring the conventional and well-established approaches.
n present power system, the engineers face variety of challenges in
planning, construction and operation. In some of the problems, the engineers need
to use managerial talents. In system design or upgrading the entire system into
automatic control instead of slow response of human operator, the engineers need
to exercise more technical knowledge and experience. It is principally the engi-
neer’s ability to achieve the success in all respect and provide the reliable and
uninterrupted service to the customers. This chapter covers some important areas
of the traditional power system that helps engineers to overcome the challenges. It
emphasizes the characteristics of the various components of a power system such
as generation, transmission, distribution, protection and SCADA system. During
normal operating conditions and disturbances, the acquired knowledge will pro-
vide the engineers the ability to analyse the performance of the complex system
and execute future improvement
With the continued growth in the world's population, there is a need to ensure availability of
enough food to feed everyone. Advances in science and technology have helped not only to
increase food production, but also to reduce food wastage. However, the latter has the
potential to be improved to a significant extent through appropriate matching of supply and
demand, and with proper handling During storage and transit. Given the amount of food
wastage that occurs after a food item leaves the “farm” on its way to the “fork,” and the
availability of means to reduce such wastage, there really is no excuse for feigned ignorance.
Since OpenStreetMap (OSM) appeared more than ten years ago, new
collaborative mapping approaches have emerged in different areas and have become
important components of localised information and services based on localisation.
There is now increased awareness of the importance of the space-time attributes of
almost every event and phenomenon. Citizens now have endless possibilities to
quickly geographically locate themselves with an accuracy previously thought
impossible. Based on these societal drivers, we proposed a number of collaborative
mapping experiments (“mapping parties”) to delegates of a large open-source
geospatial conference and to citizens of the conference’s host city During July 2015.
My association with the theory of controls in continuous time started During my studies at
the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India, in 1974 as an undergraduate student
in the Controls and Power program. The initial introduction by Professors Kesavamurthy,
Y. P. Singh, and Rajagopalan laid the foundation for a good basic understanding of the
subject matter. This pursuit and further advanced study in the field of digital controls
continued During my days as a graduate student in the Electrical and Systems Engineering
Department at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, from 1983 to 1988.
n recent years, there have been many books published on power system optimization.
Most of these books do not cover applications of artifi cial intelligence based methods.
Moreover, with the recent increase of artifi cial intelligence applications in various fi elds,
it is becoming a new trend in solving optimization problems in engineering in general
due to its advantages of being simple and effi cient in tackling complex problems. For this
reason, the application of artifi cial intelligence in power systems has attracted the interest
of many researchers around the world During the last two decades. This book is a result
of our effort to provide information on the latest applications of artifi cial intelligence
to optimization problems in power systems before and after deregulation.
The 9th International Conference on Large-Scale Scientific Computations
(LSSC 2013) was held in Sozopol, Bulgaria, During June 3–7, 2013. The conference
was organized and sponsored by the Institute of Information and Communication
Technologies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
