This is a comprehensive book that documents the fundamentals of atmospheric icing and surveys the state of the art in eight chapters, each written by a team of experienced and internationally renowned experts. The treatment is detailed and richly illustrated.

Atmospheric ice takes a wide range of fascinating forms, all beautiful in their own ways but many posing severe risk to the security of overhead networks for electric power, communications and other systems. This comprehensive book documents the fundamentals of atmospheric icing and surveys the state of the art in eight chapters, each written by a team of experienced and internationally renowned experts. The treatment is detailed and richly illustrated. The presentation follows a logical sequence, starting with the icing climate and meteorological conditions, proceeding through development of observations and models of accretion and release of ice and heavy snow, then considering static and dynamic mechanical loads, the effects of ice and snow on electrical insulation, de-icing, ice prevention and mitigation methods. The statistical analysis of icing data and the mathematical and numerical modelling support appropriate mechanical and electrical design processes for icing conditions on overhead lines. Technical specialists, researchers and students in engineering and environmental science will all find value throughout the text.

This book offers a comprehensive review of the various options for improving the performance of overhead power lines in winter conditions, taking into account both mechanical and electrical aspects. Experience within the CIGRE community reveals many strategies to protect overhead power lines from damage caused by heavy build-up of ice and snow or electrical issues such as insulator icing flashovers. The initial approach is to consider the predicted ice loads from the available databases. This is supplemented with some fundamental aspects of icing physics that affect accretion rate as well as factors in ice shedding on traditional (metal, ceramic) and novel treated surfaces. These ice physics concepts structure the ways to categorize and evaluate methods to reduce or prevent icing on conductors and ground wires or to prevent flashover of insulators. Many utilities in cold climate regions have developed and used methods and strategies to reduce ice loads using anti-icing (AI) and / or de-icing (DI) methods. In general, AI methods are used before or early during ice build-up, while DI methods are activated during and sometimes after ice build-up. The book describes and discusses some historical, operational, or potential AI / DI systems in the ice physics context. This supports a comprehensive review of AI coatings including concepts, relevant material properties, application methods, and finally test methods for characterizing the long-term performance.

Testing and Measurement: Techniques and Applications is divided into 6 sections: Microwave, Ultrasonic and Acoustic Measurement and Application; Material Performance and Measuring and Testing Technique; Laser, Optics Fiber and Sensor; Industrial Autoimmunization and Measurement; Artificial Intelligence and Application; and Image, Signal and In

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rapidly developing field of computer science which integrates multiple disciplines such as computer science, psychology, and philosophy. It is a technology that develops theories, methods, technologies, and application systems to simulate, extend, and expand human intelligence by attempting to understand its essence, producing a new, intelligent machine that can respond in a way similar to human intelligence. Artificial intelligence now plays an increasingly important role in the development of global industries and economies, and as such is currently changing our world significantly, making AI research a hot topic worldwide. This book presents the proceedings of ICICTA 2023, the 16th International Conference on Intelligent Computing Technology and Automation, held on 24-25 October 2023 in Xi’an, China. The conference is an annual forum dedicated to emerging and challenging topics in AI and its applications, and its aim is to bring together an international community of researchers and practitioners in the field of AI to share the latest research achievements, discuss recent advances influence future direction, and promote the diffusion of the discipline throughout the scientific community at large. A total of 322 submissions were received for ICICTA 2023, and each paper received at least 2 review reports in a rigorous peer-review procedure. Based on these reports, 141 papers were ultimately accepted and are included in this book. The book offers a current overview of developments in AI technology, and will be of interest to all those working in the field.

It is the purpose of this book to provide the meteorological knowledge and tools to improve the risk management of energy industry decisions, ranging from the long term finance and engineering planning assessments to the short term operational measures for scheduling and maintenance. Most of the chapters in this book are based on presentations given at the inaugural International Conference Energy & Meteorology (ICEM), held in the Gold Coast, Australia, 8-11 November 2011. The main aim of the conference was to strengthen the link between Energy and Meteorology, so as to make meteorological information more relevant to the planning and operations of the energy sector. The ultimate goal would be to make the best use of weather and climate data in order to achieve a more efficient use of energy sources. This book seeks to realise the same objective.

This book contains selected contributions on surface modification to improve the properties of solid materials. The surface properties are tailored either by functionalization, etching, or deposition of a thin coating. Functionalization is achieved by a brief treatment with non-equilibrium gaseous plasma containing suitable radicals that interact chemically with the material surface and thus enable the formation of rather stable functional groups. Etching is performed in order to modify the surface morphology. The etching parameters are selected in such a way that a rich morphology of the surfaces is achieved spontaneously on the sub-micrometer scale, without using masks. The combination of adequate surface morphology and functionalization of materials leads to superior surface properties which are particularly beneficial for the desired response upon incubation with biological matter. Alternatively, the materials are coated with a suitable thin film that is useful in various applications from food to aerospace industries.

A comprehensive and systematic treatment that focuses on surfaces and interfaces phenomena inhabited in biomimetic superhydrophobic materials, offering new fundamentals and novel insights. As such, this new book covers the natural surfaces, fundamentals, fabrication methods and exciting applications of superhydrophobic materials, with particular attention paid to the smart surfaces that can show switchable and reversible water wettability under external stimuli, such as pH, temperature, light, solvents, and electric fields. It also includes recent theoretical advances of superhydrophobic surfaces with regard to the wetting process, and some promising breakthroughs to promote this theory. As a result, materials scientists, physicists, physical chemists, chemical engineers, and biochemists will benefit greatly from a deeper understanding of this topic.

This volume chronicles the proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Contact Angle, Wettability and Adhesion, Toronto, Canada, June 2006. Wettability is of pivotal importance in many and varied arenas, ranging from mundane to micro-and nanofluidics to lithography to biomedical. It should be underscored that in the last years there has been