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Consumed: Food for a Finite Planet
by Sarah EltonBy 2050, the world population is expected to reach nine billion. And the challenge of feeding this rapidly growing population is being made greater by climate change, which will increasingly wreak havoc on the way we produce our food. At the same time, we have lost touch with the soil--few of us know where our food comes from, let alone how to grow it--and we are at the mercy of multinational corporations who control the crops and give little thought to the damage their methods are inflicting on the planet. Our very future is at risk. In Consumed, Sarah Elton walks fields and farms on three continents, not only investigating the very real threats to our food, but also telling the little-known stories of the people who are working against time to create a new and hopeful future. From the mountains of southern France to the highlands of China, from the crowded streets of Nairobi to the banks of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, we meet people from all walks of life who are putting together an alternative to the omnipresent industrial food system. In the arid fields of rural India we meet a farmer who has transformed her community by selling organic food directly to her neighbors. We visit a laboratory in Toronto where scientists are breeding a new kind of rice seed that they claim will feed the world. We learn about Italy's underground food movement; how university grads are returning to the fields in China, Greece, and France; and how in Detroit, plots of vacant land planted with kale and carrots can help us see what's possible. Food might be the problem, but as Elton shows, it is also the solution. The food system as we know it was assembled in a few decades--and if it can be built that quickly, it can be reassembled and improved in the same amount of time. Elton here lays out the targets we need to meet by the year 2050. The stories she tells give us hope for avoiding a daunting fate and instead help us to believe in a not-too-distant future when we can all sit at the table.
Consumer and Sensory Evaluation Techniques: How to Sense Successful Products
by Cecilia Y. Saint-DenisPractical reference on the latest sensory and consumer evaluation techniques available to professionals and academics working in food and consumer goods product development and marketing This unique manual describes how to implement specific sensory and consumer methods based on context and objective. Presented in a direct and straightforward language that will speak to the industry professionals and academics who are on the ground attempting to solve technical questions, it reviews, step by step, the various stages of a product evaluation. Included are practical examples from many industries that practitioners can relate to. The book also shows how to build a sustainable short-, medium-, and long-term product evaluation strategy, and guides readers on how to create customized methods, or even completely new approaches. Consumer and Sensory Evaluation Techniques speaks to management and decision-makers within organizations and addresses the main questions (eg: "How much will it cost?" and "How quickly can it be achieved?") that are faced when developing and testing new products before a launch. Chapters cover: the pillars of good consumer and sensory studies; sensory profile of a product: mapping internal sensory properties; the foundations of consumer evaluation; study plans and strategy—sustainable short, mid and long-term vision; real-life anticipation with market factors: concept, price, brand, market channel; and internal studies versus sub-contracting. Uses examples from multiple sectors to show how to build a sustainable product evaluation strategy Analyses the critical milestones to follow and the pitfalls to avoid Supports the decision-making process while developing fast yet robust test strategies that will increase the likelihood of a product's success Consumer and Sensory Evaluation Techniques is the perfect resource for students, faculty and professionals working in product development, including formulators and marketers.
Consumer Awareness and Textile Sustainability (Sustainable Textiles: Production, Processing, Manufacturing & Chemistry)
by Subramanian Senthilkannan MuthuThis contributed volume discusses how consumer awareness of textile sustainability can lead to a more sustainable textile supply chain. From the initial purchase of a textile to its care and longevity, consumer behaviors are at the core of consumption associated with the textile industry. Making consumers aware of the environmental impacts of the clothing products they buy help them to choose the best alternative which has the lowers footprints and also enable them to help the entire textile sector to become sustainable. In addition, making them aware of environmental footprints of textile products from cradle to grave, make them aware of how best they can take care of their products during use and disposal phases and how they can help to preserve the planet with their earnest efforts to reduce the environmental impacts in their boundary, i.e. the use and disposal phases.
Consumer Behaviour and Social Network Sites: The Impact of Negative Word of Mouth (Routledge Focus on Business and Management)
by Sarah ZaraketThis book provides a solid understanding of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) by taking the reader through the process of information diffusion from rumour generation in times of traditional word of mouth (WOM) to negative social eWOM and examining how consumers process it. Consumer Behaviour and Social Network Sites tackles different themes relating to negative eWOM. Drawing on both intensive scientific research and professional examples, it bridges the gap between the academic and professional worlds. The book contrasts negative social eWOM to traditional WOM while discussing the specificities of different social networking sites in diffusing such information. It looks at why and how consumers decide to create, share and react to negative social eWOM, suggesting that there are more reasons than are commonly presumed for consumers to articulate themselves on these platforms. It also provides an appreciation of web users' behaviours with regards to negative social eWOM and how it can alter their decision-making journey. The book concludes with several strategies and key takeaways to deal with and prevent negative social eWOM. Most books on WOM are purely professional and lack the theoretical contextualization of the issue. Moreover, they often provide insights on brand-to-consumer conversation but not consumer-to-consumer (C2C) communication. This short book provides marketing academics, students and practitioners with an important insight into these C2C communications that can potentially be harmful to brands.
Consumer Behaviour and Sustainable Fashion Consumption (Textile Science and Clothing Technology)
by Subramanian Senthilkannan MuthuThis book analyses the importance of consumer behaviour in sustainable fashion and consumption. Consumer behaviour plays a major role in sustainability, and when it comes to textile products, a number of studies have shown that for certain product categories, consumer behaviour during use and disposal stages influences the entire life cycle impacts of the product more than the raw material and manufacturing stages. However green the production, the overall sustainability of a product depends on the consumers who use and dispose of it.
Consumer Energy Conservation Behavior After Fukushima: Evidence from Field Experiments (SpringerBriefs in Economics)
by Isamu MatsukawaThis book presents an in-depthempirical analysis of consumer response to alternative policies for energyconservation. Its main focus is on innovative policy instruments that haveattracted increasing attention from academics and energy conservation practitionersalike: critical peak pricing, conservation requests, in-home displays, and homeenergy reports. The book investigates the effects of these policy instrumentson residential demand for electricity. The data is drawn from a series ofrandomized field experiments for the years 2012-2013 in Japan, where seriousconcerns about power shortages have emerged in the wake of the nuclear disasterin Fukushima. By applying econometric techniques to the quantitative analysisof residential power consumption, the book demonstrates how consumers respondto innovative instruments for energy conservation. It also offers newperspectives on how these instruments can be used more effectively and exploresthe potential for their practical implementation. This highly informative bookis essential reading for energy specialists in both academic and professionalcontexts.
Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings
by Katie Ackerly Alex Wilson Jennifer Thorne AmannIncreasing the energy efficiency of your home can save you money, help the environment, and enhance your comfort, but how do you decide which improvements are the most beneficial and cost-effective? Completely revised to incorporate the latest developments in green technology, The Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings is the definitive resource for consumers who want to better their home's performance while reducing their energy bills. Well-organized and highly readable, The Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings begins with an overview of the relationships between energy use, economics, and the environment. Updated and expanded chapters focus on specific aspects of any home, such as heating and cooling, ventilation, electronics, lighting, cooking, and laundry, and provide helpful explanations for each, including: Energy use characteristics Comparisons between available technologies Cost-effective repair and replacement options Step-by-step guidance for finding the right equipment This comprehensive resource is packed with tips on improving existing equipment and guidance for when and why to invest in new purchases, as well as a reminder to check local government and utilities for purchase or retrofit grants or incentives. It is a must-read for anyone concerned about reducing both their energy bills and their environmental impact. Jennifer Thorne Amann is the buildings program director at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). Alex Wilson is the founder of BuildingGreen, Inc, executive editor of Environmental Building News, and author of Green Building Products and Your Green Home Katie Ackerly is a researcher at the Center for the Built Environment and a graduate student in architecture ate the University of California, Berkeley.
Consumer Happiness: Multiple Perspectives (Studies in Rhythm Engineering)
by Tanusree Dutta Manas Kumar MandalThis book helps quench the quest of knowledge of academicians, researchers, and others interested in developing a complete and critical understanding of consumer happiness. The relentless search of happiness by humans is sought in different ways. Scientific discussion on happiness for long was considered a forte of Philosophers. Other disciplines seldom delved into this. But today not only science but neuroscience, marketing, and other varied fields have started delving into it and have developed a keen interest. The book has been conceptualized on this line of thinking and thus divided into two parts. The first part is customized towards understanding various perspectives of happiness and the relative importance of knowing the same. The first chapter of this section is on the biological perspective of happiness. The second is titled ‘Behavioural perspective’. The third chapter is an attempt to elucidate the cultural perspective of the concept of happiness. The fourth is on the role of technology in inducing happiness. Fifth and sixth are on theories of happiness and measuring happiness, respectively. Knowledge about the different perspective and theories has a wide range of benefits. It informs us about how the brain works, interprets, and reacts. This theoretical understanding helps us to move beyond the trial and error methods towards a more scientific underpinning of adoption of measures that would generate long-lasting happiness in consumers.The second part of the book is dedicated toward understanding consumer happiness from a neuroscience perspective, i.e. keeping consumer happy. This segment has ten chapters. The first is on differentiating the concept of happiness from satisfaction. The second is on sensory marketing and happiness. The third deals with the store design and shelving of products to generate happiness. Fourth and fifth chapters relate to persuading the consumers. While the fourth chapter is on developing persuasive messages and the fifth is on subliminal messaging sixth chapter is on pricing and seventh on advertising. The eighth chapter highlights the role of emotions and the ninth is on the different factors that induce happiness in consumers. The last chapter is about raising some unanswered questions and food for thought for readers. Together the contents of the book make for a complete understanding of the concept of happiness and how it is shaping the world of marketing. Addressing the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of consumer happiness in the same book makes the book comprehensive.
Consumer Informatics and Digital Health: Solutions For Health And Health Care
by Margo Edmunds Christopher Hass Erin HolveThis unique collection synthesizes insights and evidence from innovators in consumer informatics and highlights the technical, behavioral, social, and policy issues driving digital health today and in the foreseeable future. Consumer Informatics and Digital Health presents the fundamentals of mobile health, reviews the evidence for consumer technology as a driver of health behavior change, and examines user experience and real-world technology design challenges and successes. Additionally, it identifies key considerations for successfully engaging consumers in their own care, considers the ethics of using personal health information in research, and outlines implications for health system redesign. The editors’ integrative systems approach heralds a future of technological advances tempered by best practices drawn from today’s critical policy goals of patient engagement, community health promotion, and health equity. Here’s the inside view of consumer health informatics and key digital fields that students and professionals will find inspiring, informative, and thought-provoking.
Consumer Packaging Strategy: Localisation in Asian Markets (Routledge Advances in Management and Business Studies)
by Huda Khan Richard Lee Polymeros ChrysochouThe consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry is dominated by major Western brands. The dominance of such major brands extends to Asian burgeoning markets. These conglomerates often rely on packaging as a strategic tool to entice Asian consumers. This book illustrates how packaging as a marketing tool is more than simply changing the label or translating the brand into vernacular language. It examines how different packaging elements (e.g. information, imagery, packaging type) can help to communicate product values to Asian consumers. Drawing upon rich knowledge of the Asian CPG markets with extensive findings from fieldworks in the key Asian markets, this book explains how Western brands are localising their packaging design in Asian markets. It provides invaluable insight into how major Western CPG brands have relied heavily on their packaging strategies to compete not only against domestic brands but also against other foreign brands. The book includes in-depth interviews with brand managers of several major Western CPG brands and retailers, and sheds light on emerging trends of CPG packaging in Asia.
Consumer Perception of Food Attributes: Consumer Perception of Food Attributes
by Shigeru Matsumoto Tsunehiro OtsukiFood credence attributes are food features that are difficult to verify even after consumption. Consumers, today, are concerned about many food credence attributes, including animal rights, contamination risk, fair trade practice, genetic modification, geographical origin, and organic farming. For the past several decades, many scholars have analyzed the value consumers place on credence attributes and have reported that consumers will pay a premium for foods with these desirable properties. In addition, their studies reveal that individual consumers place greater importance on some credence attributes than others. For example, some are seriously concerned about animal welfare, while others are solely concerned about food safety. One of the objectives of this book is to summarize recent empirical findings from scholarly works on how consumers value food credence attributes. Such knowledge would benefit producers, processors, retailers, and policy makers. Another objective of this book is to discuss the effectiveness of the programs that have been introduced to strengthen the relationship between producers and consumers. Many programs have been developed to more effectively inform consumers regarding food production processes.
Consumer Perceptions and Food
by Diana BoguevaThis book is a timely overview of the various aspects of consumer perception related to food. This book explores consumer perceptions that are vital to marketers and often underlie the success or failure of products in the marketplace. Perception is the process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting sensations into a meaningful whole, and this book highlights how human perceptions are unique, highly subjective, and easily distorted. These perceptions are influenced by our senses—sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch—as well as our beliefs, emotions, opinions, and experiences. This book states that this is related to food, and perceptions are also guided by beliefs, thoughts, emotions, feelings, and opinions about, or preferences, expectations, and knowledge of, and the sensory experience, the fear, and the relationships built between the consumers and the food over time. This book aims to further the understanding of the fundamental mechanisms which determine individual responses to existing and emerging food issues. This book provides insights into consumer behaviour (e.g. consumer decision making, promoting behaviour change), factors influencing consumers’ food and meal choices, confidence in the safety of food, perception of health-related messages and food laws and regulations, sustainable and responsible consumer behaviour (e.g. food waste), acceptability of new food alternatives, innovations and technologies, integrating consumer insight and communication challenges in cross-functional communications in innovation processes. "Consumer Perceptions and Food" delves into how these perceptions shape consumer behavior, from decision-making and behavior change to meal choices and confidence in food safety. It explores the impact of health-related messages, food laws, and regulations, and examines the acceptability of new food alternatives and technologies. The book also addresses the importance of sustainable and responsible consumer behavior, including food waste and ethical consumption. Through a rich array of insights, this book provides a deep understanding of the fundamental mechanisms that drive individual responses to food issues. It emphasizes the importance of mindful eating—making conscious food choices that benefit our health, the environment, and the planet. This involves considering the origins of our food, its production methods, and the broader impacts of our choices on public health and ecosystems. This book is a call to action for consumers to rethink their relationship with food, fostering deeper connections and appreciation for sustainable practices and ethical consumption. It is a crucial step in the ongoing journey of shaping the future of food, guided by informed and mindful consumers.
Consumer Research Methods in Food Science (Methods and Protocols in Food Science)
by Carlos Gómez-Corona Heber RodriguesThis volume details a wide range of consumer research methods from different disciplines with an application to food and beverages. Each chapter is written by well-known researchers in the field that guides the reader on a specific method in applied consumer research. Chapters are separated by disciplines, detail brief theoretical background, provide a clear examples of the methodology, anthropology, history, linguistics, and visual arts, culinary arts, design, and user experience are also approached. The separation of methods through disciplines gives a better structure to the reader when trying to apply each method. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Consumer Research Methods in Food Science detail clear steps and a framework to reproduce consumer research methods in different applications.
A Consumer's Guide to Archaeological Science: Analytical Techniques (Manuals in Archaeological Method, Theory and Technique)
by Mary E. MalaineyMany archaeologists, as primarily social scientists, do not have a background in the natural sciences. This can pose a problem because they need to obtain chemical and physical analyses on samples to perform their research. This manual is an essential source of information for those students without a background in science, but also a comprehensive overview that those with some understanding of archaeological science will find useful. The manual provides readers with the knowledge to use archaeological science methods to the best advantage. It describes and explains the analytical techniques in a manner that the average archaeologist can understand, and outlines clearly the requirements, benefits, and limitations of each possible method of analysis, so that the researcher can make informed choices. The work includes specific information about a variety of dating techniques, provenance studies, isotope analysis as well as the analysis of organic (lipid and protein) residues and ancient DNA. Case studies illustrating applications of these approaches to most types of archaeological materials are presented and the instruments used to perform the analyses are described. Available destructive and non-destructive approaches are presented to help archaeologists select the most effective technique for gaining the target information from the sample. Readers will reach for this manual whenever they need to decide how to best analyze a sample, and how the analysis is performed.
Consumers, Meat and Animal Products: Policies, Regulations and Marketing (Earthscan Food and Agriculture)
by Terence J. CentnerThis book addresses the production practices employed in the production of food animals and animal products that enable marketers to sell a variety of products to meet consumer demand. Food animal production practices have come under increased scrutiny by consumers who object to inputs and practices. The industry has been a proponent of using technologies to reduce production costs, resulting in lower-priced meat and animal food products, and now consumers are starting to look at other objectives. This book considers the key issues of concern to consumers, including the treatment of animals, the use of antibiotics, feed additives and hormones, and how these are monitored, regulated, and communicated to consumers. It also reviews labeling and information provided to consumers, including organic, genetic engineering, welfare standards, and place of origin. While the main focus is on the United States, there are descriptions of European practices and legislation. Overall, it aims to provide an objective and balanced appraisal, which will be of interest to advanced students and researchers in agricultural, food and environmental economics, law and policy, and animal production and welfare. It will also be very useful for early career professionals in the food and agricultural sectors.
Consuming Landscapes: What We See When We Drive and Why It Matters
by Thomas ZellerWhat we see through our windshields reflects ideas about our national identity, consumerism, and infrastructure.For better or worse, windshields have become a major frame for viewing the nonhuman world. The view from the road is one of the main ways in which we experience our environments. These vistas are the result of deliberate historical forces, and humans have shaped them as they simultaneously sought to be transformed by them. In Consuming Landscapes, Thomas Zeller explores how what we see while driving reflects how we view our societies and ourselves, the role that consumerism plays in our infrastructure, and ideas about reshaping the environment in the twentieth century.Zeller breaks new ground by comparing the driving experience and the history of landscaped roads in the United States and Germany, two major automotive countries. He focuses specifically on the Blue Ridge Parkway in the United States and the German Alpine Road as case studies. When the automobile was still young, an early twentieth-century group of designers—landscape architects, civil engineers, and planners—sought to build scenic infrastructures, or roads that would immerse drivers in the landscapes that they were traversing. As more Americans and Europeans owned cars and drove them, however, they became less interested in enchanted views; safety became more important than beauty. Clashes between designers and drivers resulted in different visions of landscapes made for automobiles. As strange as it may seem to twenty-first-century readers, many professionals in the early twentieth century envisioned cars and roads, if properly managed, as saviors of the environment. Consuming Landscapes illustrates how the meaning of infrastructures changed as a result of use and consumption. Such changes indicate a deep ambivalence toward the automobile and roads, prompting the question: can cars and roads bring us closer to nature while deeply altering it at the same time?
Consuming Power: A Social History of American Energies (The\mit Press Ser.)
by David E. NyeNye uses energy as a touchstone to examine the lives of ordinary people engaged in normal activities.How did the United States become the world's largest consumer of energy? David Nye shows that this is less a question about the development of technology than it is a question about the development of culture. In Consuming Power, Nye uses energy as a touchstone to examine the lives of ordinary people engaged in normal activities. He looks at how these activities changed as new energy systems were constructed, from colonial times to recent years. He also shows how, as Americans incorporated new machines and processes into their lives, they became ensnared in power systems that were not easily changed: they made choices about the conduct of their lives, and those choices accumulated to produce a consuming culture. Nye examines a sequence of large systems that acquired and then lost technological momentum over the course of American history, including water power, steam power, electricity, the internal-combustion engine, atomic power, and computerization. He shows how each system became part of a larger set of social constructions through its links to the home, the factory, and the city. The result is a social history of America as seen through the lens of energy consumption.
Consumption and Production in the Textile and Garment Industry: A Comparative Study Among Asian Countries (SDGs and Textiles)
by Sadhna Rajesh Kumar Hafeezullah Memon S. GreeshmaThis book explores the consumption and production aspects of the textile and garment industry, with a focus on the challenges and opportunities being faced by the industry. It offers a thorough exploration of consumption and production dynamics within the textile and garment industry across vital Asian countries. It aims to unravel this vital sector's economic, cultural and technological intricacies of China, India, Vietnam, Bangladesh and South Korea. It further examines the environmental and social impacts of the industry, including issues such as pollution, waste and labor conditions. It will also explore emerging trends and innovations in the industry, such as sustainable materials and production methods and the rise of ethical consumerism. It is a valuable resource for students, researchers, policymakers and industry professionals interested in understanding and addressing this critical sector's challenges.
Contact and Long-Term Behavior of Current-Carrying Connections in Electrical Power Engineering: Theory and Practice on Behavior, Calculation Approaches, as well as Design and Dimensioning Criteria
by Stephan Schlegel Michael Gatzsche Christian Hildmann Toni IsraelThis book summarizes insights into stationary high-current connections across all voltage levels. These are applied in existing facilities and for new constructions in electrical power engineering, e-mobility, and battery storage technology. Current-carrying stationary connections are indispensable in countless applications. Complex systems often fail due to inadequate or heavily loaded connections. A large number of these connections are assembled and must function reliably over their required lifespan. To ensure this under current demands, correct conductor and coating materials must be chosen, robust design and construction ensured, proper installation guaranteed, and a secured temperature limit for the desired lifespan considering environmental conditions must be known. The book covers theories on contact physics, key conductor and coating materials, factors influencing electrical contact behavior, the relationship between mechanical and electrical contact behavior, aging physics, and long-term behavior under various operating and environmental conditions, along with design criteria for construction. Additionally, it presents approaches to numerically model electrical-mechanical-thermal behavior, introduces evaluation criteria, and outlines qualification testing methods. It serves as a comprehensive reference based on scientific research and practical insights from the past 40 years.
Contact in Structural Mechanics: A Weighted Residual Approach
by Anh Le vanContact in Structural Mechanics treats the problem of contact in the context of large deformations and the Coulomb friction law. The proposed formulation is based on a weak form that generalizes the classical principle of virtual powers in the sense that the weak form also encompasses all the contact laws. This formulation is thus a weighted residue method and has the advantage of being amenable to a standard finite element discretization. This book provides the reader with a detailed description of contact kinematics and the variation calculus of kinematic quantities, two essential subjects for any contact study. The numerical resolution is carried out in statics and dynamics. In both cases, the derivation of the contact tangent matrix – an essential ingredient for iterative calculation – is explained in detail. Several numerical examples are presented to illustrate the efficiency of the method.
Contact Lenses: Chemicals, Methods, and Applications
by Johannes Karl FinkCONTACT LENSES The book focuses on the chemistry and properties of contact lenses and their fabrication methods. With research & development continuing in the field, this comprehensive book takes a look at the last 10 years in terms of new materials, chemistry methods, applications, and fabrication techniques. New applications include drug delivery, lenses for augmented reality, electronic contact lenses, and wearable smart contact lenses. In addition, the book discusses simulation methods for contact lenses, such as ocular topography parameters, gas permeable lenses, and computerized videokeratography. On the fabrication front, several common fabrication methods for contact lenses are detailed, including the computer-aided contact lens design, methods for the fabrication of colored contact lenses, and the fabrication of decentered contact lenses. Special processes are reviewed, including, mold processes, reactive ion etching, electrospinning, and others. Also discussed are the properties of contact lenses and methods for the measurement. Many of the standard methods are discussed, but other issues are taken up too including a discussion on the assessment of cytotoxic effects, the Schirmer tear test, and others. The book concludes with a chapter detailing the possible medical problems related to contact lenses and how to avoid them. These include eye diseases, allergic and toxic reactions, as well as methods for medical treatment such as disinfection agents. Audience The book will be used by chemists, polymer scientists, ophthalmologists, engineers in the contact lens industry as well as polymer industries.
Contact Mechanics
by J. R. BarberThis book describes the solution of contact problems with an emphasis on idealized (mainly linear) elastic problems that can be treated with elementary analytical methods. General physical and mathematical features of these solutions are highlighted. Topics covered include the contact of rough surfaces and problems involving adhesive (e.g. van der Waals) forces. The author is a well-known researcher in the subject with hands-on experience of the topics covered and a reputation for lucid explanations. The target readership for the book includes researchers who encounter contact problems but whose primary focus is not contact mechanics. Coverage is also suitable for a graduate course in contact mechanics and end-of-chapter problems are included.
Contact Modeling for Solids and Particles (CISM International Centre for Mechanical Sciences #585)
by Peter Wriggers Alexander PoppThe book conveys modern techniques and the latest state-of-the-art with regard to the most fundamental aspects of computational contact mechanics. However, since contact can readily be interpreted as a special type of interface problem, it seems advisable not to isolate contact mechanics, but rather to address it in the context of a broader class of problems denoted as computational interface mechanics. The book gives a clear understanding of the underlying physics of interfaces, and a comprehensive insight into the current state-of-the-art and selected cutting-edge research directions in the computational treatment of interface effects. It focuses on the modeling of friction, wear, lubrication, cohesive interfaces, grain boundaries, phase boundaries, fracture, thermo-mechanics and particulate contact (e.g. granular media). Also the most important computational aspects are addressed, including discretization techniques for finite deformations, solution algorithms for single- and multi-processor computing environments, multi-scale approaches, discrete element models and multi-physics problems including contact and interface constraints. Among the computational techniques covered in this book are finite element (FEM) and boundary element (BEM) methods, atomistic models, molecular dynamics (MD), discrete element methods (DEM), coupling approaches for multi-scale simulations, and tools for an efficient automated FEM code generation.
Contact Problems for Soft, Biological and Bioinspired Materials (Biologically-Inspired Systems #15)
by Feodor M. Borodich Xiaoqing JinThis book contains contributions from leading researchers in biomechanics, nanomechanics, tribology, contact mechanics, materials science and applications on various experimental techniques including atomic force microscopy (AFM) for studying soft, biomimetic and biological materials and objects. Biologists, physicists, researchers applying methods of contact mechanics and researchers testing materials using indentation techniques along with many other applied scientists will find this book a useful addition to their libraries. Moreover, several reviews in this book are written as introductions to several important and rather sophisticated research areas such as depth-sensing indentation, studying of biological cells by AFM probes, mechanics of adhesive contact and contact between viscoelastic (hereditary elastic) solids. The book containing new theoretical models, results of experimental studies and numerical simulations, along with reviews of above mentioned areas of contact mechanics in application to biological systems, would be beneficial for researchers in many areas of biology, medicine, engineering, mechanics and biomimetics.
Contactless 3D Fingerprint Identification (Advances in Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition)
by Ajay KumarThis important text/reference presents the first dedicated review of techniques for contactless 3D fingerprint identification, including novel and previously unpublished research. The text provides a systematic introduction to 3D fingerprint identification, covering the latest advancements in contactless 2D and 3D sensing technologies, and detailed discussions on each key aspect in the development of an effective 3D fingerprint identification system.Topics and features: introduces the key concepts and trends in the acquisition and identification of fingerprint images, and a range of 3D fingerprint imaging techniques; proposes a low-cost method for online 3D fingerprint image acquisition, and an efficient 3D fingerprint imaging approach using coloured photometric stereo; describes pre-processing operations on point cloud 3D fingerprint data, and explains the specialized operations for reconstructing 3D fingerprints from live finger scans; examines the representation of minutiae in 3D space, providing details on recovering these features from point cloud data, and on matching such 3D minutiae templates; reviews various 3D fingerprint matching methods, including binary surface code-based approaches and a tetrahedron-based matching approach; discusses the uniqueness of 3D fingerprints, evaluating the benefits of employing 3D fingerprint identification over conventional 2D fingerprint techniques.This unique work is a must-read for all researchers seeking to make further advances in this area, towards the exciting opportunities afforded by contactless 3D fingerprint identification for improving the hygiene, user convenience, and matching accuracy of fingerprint biometric technologies.