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Nature-Inspired Optimization Algorithms
by Vasuki ANature-Inspired Optimization Algorithms, a comprehensive work on the most popular optimization algorithms based on nature, starts with an overview of optimization going from the classical to the latest swarm intelligence algorithm. Nature has a rich abundance of flora and fauna that inspired the development of optimization techniques, providing us with simple solutions to complex problems in an effective and adaptive manner. The study of the intelligent survival strategies of animals, birds, and insects in a hostile and ever-changing environment has led to the development of techniques emulating their behavior. This book is a lucid description of fifteen important existing optimization algorithms based on swarm intelligence and superior in performance. It is a valuable resource for engineers, researchers, faculty, and students who are devising optimum solutions to any type of problem ranging from computer science to economics and covering diverse areas that require maximizing output and minimizing resources. This is the crux of all optimization algorithms. Features: Detailed description of the algorithms along with pseudocode and flowchart Easy translation to program code that is also readily available in Mathworks website for some of the algorithms Simple examples demonstrating the optimization strategies are provided to enhance understanding Standard applications and benchmark datasets for testing and validating the algorithms are included This book is a reference for undergraduate and post-graduate students. It will be useful to faculty members teaching optimization. It is also a comprehensive guide for researchers who are looking for optimizing resources in attaining the best solution to a problem. The nature-inspired optimization algorithms are unconventional, and this makes them more efficient than their traditional counterparts.
Nature Inspired Optimization for Electrical Power System (Algorithms for Intelligent Systems)
by Jagdish Chand Bansal Manjaree Pandit Hari Mohan DubeyThis book presents a wide range of optimization methods and their applications to various electrical power system problems such as economical load dispatch, demand supply management in microgrids, levelized energy pricing, load frequency control and congestion management, and reactive power management in radial distribution systems. Problems related to electrical power systems are often highly complex due to the massive dimensions, nonlinearity, non-convexity and discontinuity associated with objective functions. These systems also have a large number of equality and inequality constraints, which give rise to optimization problems that are difficult to solve using classical numerical methods. In this regard, nature inspired optimization algorithms offer an effective alternative, due to their ease of use, population-based parallel search mechanism, non-dependence on the nature of the problem, and ability to accommodate non-differentiable, non-convex problems. The analytical model of nature inspired techniques mimics the natural behaviors and intelligence of life forms. These techniques are mainly based on evolution, swarm intelligence, ecology, human intelligence and physical science.
Nature-Inspired Optimization in Advanced Manufacturing Processes and Systems (Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Engineering)
by Ganesh M. Kakandikar Dinesh G. ThakurThe manufacturing system is going through substantial changes and developments in light of Industry 4.0. Newer manufacturing technologies are being developed and applied. There is a need to optimize these techniques when applied in different circumstances with respect to materials, tools, product configurations, and process parameters. This book covers computational intelligence applied to manufacturing. It discusses nature-inspired optimization of processes and their design and development in manufacturing systems. It explores all manufacturing processes, at both macro and micro levels, and offers manufacturing philosophies. Nonconventional manufacturing, real industry problems and case studies, research on generative processes, and relevance of all this to Industry 4.0 is also included. Researchers, students, academicians, and industry professionals will find this reference title very useful.
Nature-Inspired Optimization Methodologies in Biomedical and Healthcare (Intelligent Systems Reference Library #233)
by Janmenjoy Nayak Asit Kumar Das Bighnaraj Naik Saroj K. Meher Sheryl BrahnamThis book introduces a variety of well-proven and newly developed nature-inspired optimization algorithms solving a wide range of real-life biomedical and healthcare problems. Few solo and hybrid approaches are demonstrated in a lucid manner for the effective integration and finding solution for a large-scale complex healthcare problem. In the present bigdata-based computing scenario, nature-inspired optimization techniques present adaptive mechanisms that permit the understanding of complex data and altering environments. This book is a voluminous collection for the confront faced by the healthcare institutions and hospitals for practical analysis, storage, and data analysis. It explores the distinct nature-inspired optimization-based approaches that are able to handle more accurate outcomes for the current biomedical and healthcare problems. In addition to providing a state-of-the-art and advanced intelligent methods, it also enlightens an insight for solving diversified healthcare problems such as cancer and diabetes.
Nature-inspired Optimization of Type-2 Fuzzy Neural Hybrid Models for Classification in Medical Diagnosis (SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology)
by Patricia Melin Ivette Miramontes German Prado ArechigaThis book describes the utilization of different soft computing techniques and their optimization for providing an accurate and efficient medical diagnosis. The proposed method provides a precise and timely diagnosis of the risk that a person has to develop a particular disease, but it can be adaptable to provide the diagnosis of different diseases. This book reflects the experimentation that was carried out, based on the different optimizations using bio-inspired algorithms (such as bird swarm algorithm, flower pollination algorithms, and others). In particular, the optimizations were carried out to design the fuzzy classifiers of the nocturnal blood pressure profile and heart rate level. In addition, to obtain the architecture that provides the best result, the neurons and the number of neurons per layers of the artificial neural networks used in the model are optimized. Furthermore, different tests were carried out with the complete optimized model. Another work that is presented in this book is the dynamic parameter adaptation of the bird swarm algorithm using fuzzy inference systems, with the aim of improving its performance. For this, different experiments are carried out, where mathematical functions and a monolithic neural network are optimized to compare the results obtained with the original algorithm. The book will be of interest for graduate students of engineering and medicine, as well as researchers and professors aiming at proposing and developing new intelligent models for medical diagnosis. In addition, it also will be of interest for people working on metaheuristic algorithms and their applications on medicine.
Nature Inspired Optimization Techniques for Image Processing Applications (Intelligent Systems Reference Library #150)
by Jude Hemanth Valentina Emilia BalasThis book provides a platform for exploring nature-inspired optimization techniques in the context of imaging applications. Optimization has become part and parcel of all computational vision applications, and since the amount of data used in these applications is vast, the need for optimization techniques has increased exponentially. These accuracy and complexity are a major area of concern when it comes to practical applications. However, these optimization techniques have not yet been fully explored in the context of imaging applications. By presenting interdisciplinary concepts, ranging from optimization to image processing, the book appeals to a broad readership, while also encouraging budding engineers to pursue and employ innovative nature-inspired techniques for image processing applications.
Nature-Inspired Optimizers: Theories, Literature Reviews and Applications (Studies in Computational Intelligence #811)
by Andrew Lewis Jin Song Dong Seyedali MirjaliliThis book covers the conventional and most recent theories and applications in the area of evolutionary algorithms, swarm intelligence, and meta-heuristics. Each chapter offers a comprehensive description of a specific algorithm, from the mathematical model to its practical application. Different kind of optimization problems are solved in this book, including those related to path planning, image processing, hand gesture detection, among others. All in all, the book offers a tutorial on how to design, adapt, and evaluate evolutionary algorithms. Source codes for most of the proposed techniques have been included as supplementary materials on a dedicated webpage.
Nature Inspired Robotics
by Jagjit Singh Dhatterwal Kuldeep Singh Kaswan Reenu BatraThis book introduces the theories and methods of Nature-Inspired Robotics in artificial intelligence. Software and hardware technologies, alongside theories and methods, illustrate the application of bio-inspired artificial intelligence. It includes discussions on topics such as Robot Control Manipulators, Geometric Transformation, Robotic Drive Systems and Nature Inspired Robotic Neural System. Elaborating upon recent progress made in five distinct configurations of nature-inspired computing, it explores the potential applications of this technology in two specific areas: neuromorphic computing systems and neuromorphic perceptual systems.· Discusses advances in cutting-edge technology in brain-inspired computing, perception technologies and aspects of neuromorphic electronics· Offers a thorough introduction to two-terminal neuromorphic memristors, including memristive devices and resistive switching mechanisms· Provides comprehensive explorations of spintronic neuromorphic devices and multi-terminal neuromorphic devices with cognitive behaviours· Includes cognitive behaviour of Inspired Robotics and cognitive technologies with applications in Artificial Intelligence· Contains practical discussions of neuromorphic devices based on chalcogenide and organic materials. This text acts as a reference book for students, scholars, and industry professionals.
Nature-Made Economy: Cod, Capital, and the Great Economization of the Ocean
by Kristin Asdal Tone HuseAn exploration of the economization of the ocean through the small modifications that enable great transformations of nature.The ocean is the site of an ongoing transformation that is aimed at creating new economic opportunities and prosperity. In Nature-Made Economy, Kristin Asdal and Tone Huse explore how the ocean has been harnessed to become a space of capital investment and innovation, and how living nature is wrested into the economy even as nature, in turn, resists, adapts to, or changes the economy. The authors&’ innovative methodological and conceptual approaches examine the economy by focusing on surprising and numerous &“little tools&”—such as maps and policy documents, quality patrols, and dietary requirements for the enhancement of species&’ biological propensities—that value, direct, reorder, accomplish, and sometimes fail to serve our ends, but also add up to great change.Throughout Nature-Made Economy, Asdal and Huse follow one species, the Atlantic cod, and explore how it is subjected to different versions of economization. Taking this species as a point of departure, they then provide novel analyses of the innovation economy, the architecture of markets, the settling of prices, and more, revealing how the ocean is rendered a space of intense economic exploitation. Through their analysis, the authors develop a distinct theoretical approach and conceptual vocabulary for studying nature–economy relations.Nature-Made Economy is a significant contribution to the broad field of STS and social studies of markets, as well as to studies of the Anthropocene, the environment, and human–animal relations.
The Nature of Crops
by Professor John WarrenHave you ever wondered why we eat wheat, rice, potatoes and cassava? Why we routinely domesticate foodstuffs with the power to kill us, or why we chose almonds over acorns? Answering all these questions and more in a readable and friendly style, this book takes you on a journey through our history with crop plants. Arranged into recurrent themes in plant domestication, this book documents the history and biology of over 50 crops, including cereals, spices, legumes, fruits and cash crops such as chocolate, tobacco and rubber. In The Nature of Crops John Warren reveals: -Why the Egyptians worshipped onions; -Why red-flowering runner beans provide fewer beans than white-flowering; -The inherent dangers of being a pineapple worker; and -Why a bird will always beat you in a chilli pepper eating competition!
Nature of Crops, The: How we came to eat the plants we do
by Professor John WarrenHave you ever wondered why we eat wheat, rice, potatoes and cassava? Why we routinely domesticate foodstuffs with the power to kill us, or why we chose almonds over acorns? Answering all these questions and more in a readable and friendly style, this book takes you on a journey through our history with crop plants. Arranged into recurrent themes in plant domestication, this book documents the history and biology of over 50 crops, including cereals, spices, legumes, fruits and cash crops such as chocolate, tobacco and rubber. In The Nature of Crops John Warren reveals: -Why the Egyptians worshipped onions; -Why red-flowering runner beans provide fewer beans than white-flowering; -The inherent dangers of being a pineapple worker; and -Why a bird will always beat you in a chilli pepper eating competition!
The Nature of Data: Infrastructures, Environments, Politics
by Jenny Goldstein Eric NostWhen we look at some of the most pressing issues in environmental politics today, it is hard to avoid data technologies. Big data, artificial intelligence, and data dashboards all promise &“revolutionary&” advances in the speed and scale at which governments, corporations, conservationists, and even individuals can respond to environmental challenges. By bringing together scholars from geography, anthropology, science and technology studies, and ecology, The Nature of Data explores how the digital realm is a significant site in which environmental politics are waged. This collection as a whole makes the argument that we cannot fully understand the current conjuncture in critical, global environmental politics without understanding the role of data platforms, devices, standards, and institutions. In particular, The Nature of Data addresses the contested practices of making and maintaining data infrastructure, the imaginaries produced by data infrastructures, the relations between state and civil society that data infrastructure reworks, and the conditions under which technology can further socio-ecological justice instead of re-entrenching state and capitalist power. This innovative volume presents some of the first research in this new but rapidly growing subfield that addresses the role of data infrastructures in critical environmental politics.
The Nature of Light: What is a Photon? (Optical Science and Engineering)
by AntonioFocusing on the unresolved debate between Newton and Huygens from 300 years ago, The Nature of Light: What is a Photon? discusses the reality behind enigmatic photons. It explores the fundamental issues pertaining to light that still exist today. Gathering contributions from globally recognized specialists in electrodynamics and quantum optics, the book begins by clearly presenting the mainstream view of the nature of light and photons. It then provides a new and challenging scientific epistemology that explains how to overcome the prevailing paradoxes and confusions arising from the accepted definition of a photon as a monochromatic Fourier mode of the vacuum. The book concludes with an array of experiments that demonstrate the innovative thinking needed to examine the wave-particle duality of photons. Looking at photons from both mainstream and out-of-box viewpoints, this volume is sure to inspire the next generation of quantum optics scientists and engineers to go beyond the Copenhagen interpretation and formulate new conceptual ideas about light–matter interactions and substantiate them through inventive applications.
The Nature of Technology: What It Is and How It Evolves
by W. Brian Arthur“More than anything else technology creates our world. It creates our wealth, our economy, our very way of being,” says W. Brian Arthur. Yet despite technology’s irrefutable importance in our daily lives, until now its major questions have gone unanswered. Where do new technologies come from? What constitutes innovation, and how is it achieved? Does technology, like biological life, evolve? In this groundbreaking work, pioneering technology thinker and economist W. Brian Arthur answers these questions and more, setting forth a boldly original way of thinking about technology. The Nature of Technology is an elegant and powerful theory of technology’s origins and evolution. Achieving for the development of technology what Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions did for scientific progress, Arthur explains how transformative new technologies arise and how innovation really works. Drawing on a wealth of examples, from historical inventions to the high-tech wonders of today, Arthur takes us on a mind-opening journey that will change the way we think about technology and how it structures our lives. The Nature of Technology is a classic for our times.
The Nature of the Firm in the Oil Industry: International Oil Companies in Global Business (Routledge Studies in International Business and the World Economy)
by Basak BeyazayFirm-to-firm relationships, along with the overall structure of industry, have changed markedly over the past decades. Replacing the model of vertical integration with one of global business, firms have started to outsource more by using a wider global network. At the same time, they have begun to increase their control and coordination along the value chain to remain competitive, blurring the boundaries between companies. Understanding the nature of the firm and its role in coordinating the supply chain will help firms to better define global competitive strategies.. The challenges that lie ahead for global business render obsolete the traditional model of procuring each service without long-term supply chain management. Current trends suggest that in the future there will be even deeper supply chain integration in most industries. The Nature of the Firm in the Oil Industry aims to facilitate the understanding of ‘the firm’ via the analysis of the specific relationship between international oil companies, which are among the world’s biggest firms and which act as ‘core system integrators’, and the oil services companies, which help to find, extract, produce and distribute oil along the petroleum industry supply chain. This relationship serves as an example of deep integration by core system integrators and provides insights into the change in the nature of the firm in the era of modern globalization. Aimed at researchers and academics, The Nature of the Firm in the Oil Industry offers a thorough examination of this relationship in an effort to shed light on the nature of the firm, both in the oil industry and in global business today. It is a humble attempt to better understand the firm in a crucial industry.
The Nature of Ultralong C–C Bonds (Springer Theses)
by Takuya ShimajiriThis book focuses on the creation and demonstration of a carbon–carbon (C–C) single bond beyond 1.8 Å and on elucidation of its unique nature. C–C single bond is one of the most fundamental concepts in organic chemistry. The elucidation of its nature is important for further understanding chemical phenomena. The nature in the extreme state of C–C single bond is still unexplored because of the instability of compounds. In terms of its bond length, the limit had been predicted around 1.8 Å based on the experimental and theoretical studies. This book describes a first example of a C–C single bond beyond 1.8 Å by employing the original intramolecular core-shell strategy to make a weak and elongated bond stable enough. The presence of such an elongated bond was demonstrated by experimental and theoretical studies. The bond length changes could affect physical properties such as optical absorption and redox potential. Furthermore, its unique "flexibility" was discovered. This book benefits the chemists with deeper understanding of the covalent bonding.
Nature Play Workshop for Families: A Guide to 40+ Outdoor Learning Experiences in All Seasons (Workshop For Kids Ser.)
by Monica Wiedel-Lubinski Karen MadiganNational Outdoor Book Award Winner: A fun, practical guide to outdoor play that sparks a connection to nature vital to children’s healthy development.Today children and families are often plugged into electronics and disconnected from direct experiences in nature. This beautifully photographed resource offers tangible approaches to nature-based learning and play for children. Parents and teachers can discover the benefits of outdoor learning and simple ways to facilitate unplugged nature connection in every season.Inspired by nature preschools, forest kindergartens, and forest school models the world over, this guide also includes “Voices from the Field” with advice from experienced nature-based educators. Balancing nature play experiences with hands-on projects using natural materials, it’s an ideal jumping off point for immersive nature play. Examples include: Wildlife observation and trackingNature sounds, songs, and poetryGardening and cooking with wild ediblesPrintmaking, charcoal drawing, dyeing, and shadow playJournaling inspired by nature“Voices from the Field” includes more ideas and tips contributed by leading educators, including:Sally Anderson, Sol Forest School, Tijeras, New Mexico * Yash Bhagwanji, Florida Atlantic University * Lauren Brown, Asheville Farmstead School * Peter Dargatz, Woodside Elementary School, Sussex, Wisconsin * Monica French, Wild Haven Forest Preschool and Childcare, Baltimore, Maryland * Patricia Leon, Miami Nature Playschool * Sheila William Ridge, Shirley G. Moore Lab School, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota * Beth Savitz, Irvine Nature Center, Owings Mills, Maryland * Maria Soboleski, New Mexico School for the Deaf * Paige Vonder Haar, Bunnell House Early Childhood Lab School, Fairbanks, Alaska * Susie Wirth, Arbor Day Foundation and Dimensions Foundation
Nature Preschools and Forest Kindergartens
by David Sobel Patti Bailie Ann Stires Ken Finch Erin KennyEnvironmental education expert David Sobel joins with a variety of colleagues to share their experiences and steps for creating a successful forest kindergarten program. Nature Preschools and Forest Kindergartens walks you through the European roots of the concept to the recent resurgence of these kinds of programs in North America.Going well beyond a history lesson, these experts provide the framework to understand the concepts and build a learning community that stimulates curiosity and inquisitiveness in a natural environment. This helpful guide provides the curriculum, ideas, and guidance needed to foster special gifts in children. It also gives you the nuts and bolts of running a successful nature preschool business, such as potential obstacles, staff and curriculum design, best practices for success, site and facility management, and business planning.Nature Preschools and Forest Kindergartens provides the mentorship and guidance to become a leader in nature-based education.David Sobel has spent the last twenty-five years working in the field of child development, place-based education, and parenting with nature. He currently serves as senior faculty in the education department at Antioch University New England in Keene, New Hampshire. His expertise and passion have led him to authoring seven books and being identified as one of the "gurus and rock stars of environmental education" by Teacher magazine.
Nature Swapped and Nature Lost: Biodiversity Offsetting, Urbanization and Social Justice
by Elia ApostolopoulouThis book unravels the profound implications of biodiversity offsetting for nature-society relationships and its links to environmental and social inequality. Drawing on people’s resistance against its implementation in several urban and rural places across England, it explores how the production of equivalent natures, the core promise of offsetting, reframes socionatures both discursively and materially transforming places and livelihoods.The book draws on theories and concepts from human geography, political ecology, and Marxist political economy, and aims to shift the trajectory of the current literature on the interplay between offsetting, urbanization and the neoliberal reconstruction of conservation and planning policies in the era following the 2008 financial crash. By shedding light on offsetting’s contested geographies, it offers a fundamental retheorization of offsetting capable of demonstrating how offsetting, and more broadly revanchist neoliberal policies, are increasingly used to support capitalist urban growth producing socially, environmentally and geographically uneven outcomes. Nature Swapped and Nature Lost brings forward an understanding of environmental politics as class politics and sees environmental justice as inextricably linked to social justice. It effectively challenges the dystopia of offsetting’s ahistorical and asocial non-places and proposes a radically different pathway for gaining social control over the production of nature by linking struggles for the right to the city with struggles for the right to nature for all.
Nature Technology
by Emile H. Ishida Ryuzo FurukawaThe Great East Japan Earthquake, which occurred on March 11, 2011, reminded us that we were just one species within the great cycle of life on earth, that we were allowed to survive only because of nature, and that the idea that we were somehow able to conquer nature was simply an illusion. Now more than ever it is time that we confront head-on the change from the "underground resources" type of civilization to one with a new way of life and technology that embraces a sense of nature. To do so, we must learn from nature, the only sustainable society on earth, and create technology that embraces such a view of nature. We call such technology, which cleverly revives nature's greatness, Nature Technology. Taking a casual glance at nature, a nest of termites in the savanna region can be observed to maintain a steady temperature of 30°C despite the fact that the outside air temperature ranges from 50°C during the day to nearly 0°C at night. There are countless numbers of open pores just several billionths of a meter (nanometer) wide in the "earth" of the nest, which serve to regulate the temperature and humidity. In fact, all kinds of "earth" have these pores (clay mineral with aggregated structures) and air conditioners that require no electricity have been created by hardening this earth while preserving its structure; a cooling floor or wall becomes the alternative to a conventional air conditioner. This book provides many such examples of how Nature Technology can support a new lifestyle that is both environmentally sound and spiritually uplifting.
Naturebot: Unconventional Visions of Nature (Routledge Environmental Humanities)
by James BarillaNaturebot: Unconventional Visions of Nature presents a humanities-oriented addition to the literature on biomimetics and bioinspiration, an interdisciplinary field which investigates what it means to mimic nature with technology. This technology mirrors the biodiversity of nature and it is precisely this creation of technological metaphors for the intricate workings of the natural world that is the real subject of Naturebot. Over the course of the book, Barilla applies the narrative conventions of the nature writing genre to this unconventional vision of nature, contrasting the traditional tropes and questions of natural history with an expanding menagerie of creatures that defy conventional categories of natural and artificial. In keeping with its nature writing approach, the book takes us to where we can encounter these creatures, examining the technological models and the biotic specimens that inspired them. In doing so, it contemplates the future of the human relationship to the environment, and the future of nature writing in the 21st century. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of biomimetics, environmental literary studies/ecocriticism, and the environmental humanities.
Nature's Champion
by James R. TroyerThrough the pioneering efforts of ecologist B. W. Wells (1884-1978), thousands of North Carolinians learned to appreciate and protect the state's diverse plant life long before ecology and conservation became popular causes. A keen observer of the natural landscape, Wells provided the first scientific descriptions in modern terms of the forces that shaped coastal communities, bogs and savannahs, the Carolina bays, pine forests, old fields, and mountain grassy balds. But the broader impact of his life lay in his championship and popularization of nature. Outside academic circles, he shared his knowledge through public lectures, articles, and lobbying efforts, and by teaching anyone who would listen. In 1932 he produced for his Tar Heel audience a revolutionary work on the plant ecology of the state, The Natural Gardens of North Carolina. Organized by habitat, this volume is still entertaining and instructive. Wells received his Ph.D. in botany from the University of Chicago in 1917 and served as chair of the North Carolina State College botany department for thirty years. He was a memorable teacher and a significant force in the development of his academic institution.
Nature's Saviours: Celebrity Conservationists in the Television Age
by Graham HugganToday's celebrity conservationists, many of whom made their reputations through television and other visual media, play a major role in drawing public attention to an increasingly threatened world. This book, one of the first to address this contribution, focuses on five key figures: the English naturalist David Attenborough, the French marine adventurer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the American primatologist Dian Fossey, the Canadian scientist-broadcaster-activist David Suzuki, and the Australian 'crocodile hunter' Steve Irwin. Some of the issues the author addresses include: What is the changing relationship between western conservation and celebrity? How has the spread of television helped shape and mediate this relationship? To what extent can celebrity conservation be seen as part of a global system in which conservation, like celebrity, is big business? The book critically examines the heroic status accorded to the five figures mentioned above, taking in the various discourses – around nature, science, nation, gender – through which they and their work have been presented to us. In doing so, it fills in the cultural, historical and ideological background behind contemporary celebrity conservationism as a popular expression of a chronically endangered world.
Natürliche Dämmstoffe als Nachhaltigkeitsfaktor: Eine technische und wirtschaftliche Analyse (Entwicklung neuer Ansätze zum nachhaltigen Planen und Bauen)
by Tina BäuerleinIn diesem Buch wird ein Vergleich zwischen einem natürlichen Dämmstoff und einem synthetischen Dämmstoff durchgeführt. Es wird eine Holzfaserdämmplatte mit einer EPS-Dämmplatte unter anderem anhand des Brandverhaltens, der Wärmeleitfähigkeit und Recyclingfähigkeit sowie der Lebenszykluskosten betrachtet. Zunächst wird dafür der Anwendungsbereich von Dämmstoffen aus nachwachsenden Rohstoffen allgemein abgesteckt, der sich aufgrund von regulatorischen Bestimmungen von dem der synthetischen Dämmstoffe unterscheidet. Im Zuge einer Potentialanalyse wird von verschiedenen, auf dem Markt verfügbaren, natürlichen Dämmstoffen ein Produkt ausgewählt – eine Holzfaserdämmplatte. Die technischen und wirtschaftlichen Parameter werden bewertet, indem das Produkt hypothetisch in einem realen Bauprojekt angewendet wird. In demselben Projekt wird die Analyse mit einem synthetischen Dämmstoff – einer EPS-Dämmplatte – durchgeführt. Die beiden Varianten werden miteinander verglichen und mithilfe einer Nutzwertanalyse bewertet, worin die die zuvor betrachteten Analysekriterien gewichtet werden. Dadurch kann eine Aussage zu den Performanceunterschieden der zwei Dämmstoffplatten getroffen werden. Das Buch richtet sich an Vertreter des Fachbereichs Bauingenieurwesen, die sich mit dem Themenbereich der Dämmstoffe aus nachwachsenden Rohstoffen auseinandersetzen, sowie an interessierte Leser, die für die private oder unternehmerische Nutzung bei der Außenwanddämmung neben den konventionellen Dämmstoffen auch nachhaltige Alternativen in Betracht ziehen möchten.