Books in the Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation series

This book aims to establish a community with attention to land use to achieve sustainable development and meet the needs of today's society. Urban planning depends on engineering, architectural, social and political pillars. It pursues this by proposing solutions, regulating environmental pollution and non-sustainable use of available resources. It showcases and even triggers further debate about connections between sustainable development, urban planning and technology in hopes of achieving sustainable development models that sustain urban expansion and shape cities that improve the overall quality of life. It views urban planning and development as vital fields that ensure the application of revolutionary approaches with new materials and processes incorporated in the most efficient manner.

This book addresses challenges and opportunities in the Energy-Water-Environment (EWE) nexus, with a particular focus on research and technology development requirements in harsh desert climates. Its chapters include selected contributions presented during the 1st international conference on sustainable Energy-Water-Environment nexus in desert climates (ICSEWEN-19) held at the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI) in Doha, Qatar in December 2019. This volume is comprised of three main chapters, each describing important case studies and progress on water, energy and environmental questions. A fourth chapter on policies and community outreach on these three areas is also included. This compilation aims to bridge the gap between research and industry to address the socioeconomic impacts of the nexus imbalance as perceived by scientists, industrial partners, and policymakers. The content of this book is of particular importance to graduate students, researchers and decision makers interested in understanding water, energy and environmental challenges in arid areas. Re searchers in environmental and civil engineering, chemistry, hydrology and environmental science can also find unique in-situ observations of the current nexus imbalance in deserts climate to validate their investigations. It is also an invaluable guide for industry professionals working in water, energy, environment and food sectors to understand the rapidly evolving landscape of the EWE nexus in arid areas. The analyses, observations and lessons-learned summarized herein are applicable to other arid areas outside North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula as well, such as central Australia, the southwest of the United States and deserts in central Asia.

This book presents an inclusive approach to deal with plant stresses in light of recent technological advances. As we have entered into a new decade, researchers and scientists should review and evaluate the recent findings in the field of plant stress management and visualize what we need to focus upon in the near future to increase crop yield. Above all, global climate changes present the greatest challenges of all time for plant scientists. In this context, the book highlights the recent findings and future perspectives in crop improvement to the faculties, scientists, research scholars, and postgraduate students.  Major features of the book include an inclusive approach in understanding the mechanism of stress tolerance; recent advances and innovations in the field of allied disciplines like microbiology, molecular biology, biotechnology, plant breeding, nanobiotechnology, etc., for improving plant stress tolerance; and illustrative sketches to convey the mechanism and strategies of stress alleviation.

This book examines a range of subjects with a specific focus on architectural and technological advancements. Architecture is the constant innovation in designing for high efficiency in the performance of buildings, in terms of planning, construction and energy, while maintaining creativity in its form. Moreover, the field of architecture goes hand in hand with that of technology. Nowadays, engineering technology has to cope with the rapid industrialization and urbanization seen in most countries. Furthermore, creative design and construction practices are challenging tasks to the architects and engineers to meet the ever-growing demands of society. Therefore, this book on "e;Advances in Engineering Science and Architectural Design"e; is provided to cover a wide range of topics in architecture, engineering, and technology.

This book focuses on the management and conservation of architectural heritage with the aim of increasing awareness about the value of such conservation and of saving what is left of history, which in turn rewards societies by supporting the tourism industry, generating economic return, and preserving communities' identities.Since it has become an essential need to manage and conserve the architectural heritage in order to protect the identity and heritage of a city, there appeared a gap between the theory and its application. Therefore, a considerable amount of attention has been directed by experts in this field toward emphasizing the contribution of heritage conservation in order to inspire the development of imaginative, useful high-quality design.

This book contains the best peer-reviewed papers accepted for presentation at the 2nd Springer Conference of the Arabian Journal of Geosciences (CAJG-2), organized in Sousse, Tunisia, in November 2019. The short papers cover various topics from the fields of (1) geological and geotechnical engineering, (2) geomechanical studies based on numerical and analytical methods, and (3) geo-informatics and remote sensing. The content of these papers provides new scientific knowledge for further understanding on landslides, new stabilization techniques, importance of geophysics for engineering geology investigations as well as new empirical approaches for easily predicting some physical and hydrogeomechanical properties of geomaterials. The book is of interest to all researchers, practitioners, and students in the fields of geological and mining engineering, geotechnical engineering, hydrogeomechanics, engineering geology, geotechnologies, and natural hazards.

This edited book is based on the papers accepted for presentation during the 2nd Springer Conference of the Arabian Journal of Geosciences (CAJG-2), Tunisia, in 2019. Major subjects treated in the book include geomorphology, sedimentology, and geochemistry. The book presents an updated unique view in conjugating field studies and modeling to better quantify the process-product binomial unusual in geosciences. In the geomorphology section, 24 papers deal with topics related to fault slip and incision rates, soil science, landslides and debris flows, coastal processes, and geoarcheology, and geoheritage. Under the sedimentology section, 34 papers including stratigraphy, and environmental, tectonic, and diagenetic processes, together with evolutionary, biostratigraphic, and paleo-environmental significance of paleontology are presented. Additionally, this section also contains papers on marine geosciences, from molecular proxies related to climate to geophysical surveys. Last but not least, the third section on geochemistry is composed of 26 papers that are focused on sedimentary geochemistry and mineralogical characterization, magmatic and metamorphic processes and products, and the origin and exploration of mineral deposits. This book resumes the current situation related to the abovementioned topics mainly in the Mediterranean realm. The volume book is of interest to all researchers, practitioners, and students in the fields of geomorphology, sedimentology, and geochemistry, as well as those engaged in environmental geosciences, soil science, stratigraphy and paleontology, geoarcheology and geoheritage, marine geosciences, petrology, metallogenesis, and mineral deposits.

This book explains how learning from past mistakes in urban design can help to enhance sustainable cities and how the principles of Green Urbanism can yield more resilient urban settlements. Environmental design is a fundamental principle in shaping cities. However, environmental challenges like increased resource consumption, water degradation and waste-related issues are among the greatest problems now facing humanity - which is why these issues need to be considered with regard to "e;smart cities,"e; either for the development of new urban centers or for the transformation of existing cities. The book not only discusses the importance of integrating sustainability principles in the urban design process, but also demonstrates their application to the development of sustainable cities. As such, the book offers essential information and a source of inspiration for all those who want to build more sustainable cities.

This book explores cutting-edge methods combining geospatial technologies and artificial intelligence related to several fields such as smart farming, urban planning, geology, transportation, and 3D city models. It introduces techniques which range from machine and deep learning to remote sensing for geospatial data analysis.The book consists of two main parts that include 13 chapters contributed by promising authors. The first part deals with the use of artificial intelligence techniques to improve spatial data analysis, whereas the second part focuses on the use of artificial intelligence with remote sensing in various fields. Throughout the chapters, the interest for the use of artificial intelligence is demonstrated for different geospatial technologies such as aerial imagery, drones, Lidar, satellite remote sensing, and more. The work in this book is dedicated to the scientific community interested in the coupling of geospatial technologies and artificial intelligence and exploring the synergetic effects of both fields. It offers practitioners and researchers from academia, the industry and government information, experiences and research results about all aspects of specialized and interdisciplinary fields on geospatial intelligence.

This book focuses on sustainability concepts in architecture and urban design, environmental issues, and natural resources. Today it has become essential to reduce carbon emissions, protect habitats, and preserve the delicate ecosystems of our planet. Accordingly, sustainable development has to be improved by decreasing the consumption of non-renewable resources, in order to help nature replenish itself.Further, it highlights the efforts that have been made by architects, environmentalists, engineers, students, planners and everyone in between in order to improve sustainability in various developing communities and countries.

This edited book explores the most promising and reliable technological developments expected to impact on the next generation of desalination systems. The book includes research studies which takes the reader on a fascinating walk through the multidisciplinary world of membrane science applied to water treatment. Concerning the ultimate technological advancement, the book seeks to investigate how to bridge the gap between the laboratory scale and the applicability to industry.

This edited book compiles all category viewpoints in waterborne polyurethanes (WPUs) dispersions, composites, characterizing techniques, and allied applications such as coatings, adhesives, sealants, anticorrosive, flame-retardant, and biomedical applications. The book brings together panels of highly accomplished experts in the field of advanced polymers for versatile applications. It encompasses basic studies and addresses topics of novel issues which cover all the aspects in one place. The book is an invaluable guide to newcomers, research scholars, professors, and R&D industrial experts working in the field of polyurethane chemistry. Polyurethanes are excellent materials in coating technology owing to their chemical resistance, toughness, abrasion resistance, and mechanical stability. However, polyurethane dispersion contains volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) which are harmful to the environment. Hence, green chemistry research focuses on discovery of waterborne polyurethanes (WPUs) and pay attention. WPUs have fascinated growing interest in wide range of industrial and commercial applications.

This book presents the most recent research and applications in Biomedical Engineering, electronic health and TeleMedicine. Top-scholars and research leaders in the field contributed to the book. It covers a broad range of applications including smart platforms like DietHub which connects patients with doctors online. The book highlights the advantages of Telemedicine to improve the healthcare services and how it can contribute to the homogenization of medicine without any geographical barriers. Telemedicine transforms local hospitals, with limited services, into a node of an integrated network. In this manner, these nodes start to play an important role in preventive medicine and in high-level management of chronic diseases. The authors also discuss the challenges related to ¿health informatics¿ and in ¿e-health management¿. The topics of the book include: synchronous and asynchronous telemedicine with deep discussions on e-health applications, virtual medicalassistance, real-time virtual visits, digital telepathology, home health monitoring, and medication adherence, wearable sensors, tele-monitoring hubs and sensors, Internet of Things, augmented and virtual reality as well as e-learning technologies. The scope of the book is quite unique particularly in terms of the application domains that it targets. It is a unique hub for the dissemination of state of the art research in the telemedicine field and healthcare ecosystems. The book is a reference for graduate students, doctors, and researchers to discover the most recent findings, and hence, it achieves breakthroughs and pushes the boundaries in the related fields.

The book presents numerous examples of smart construction technologies, discusses the applications of new construction materials and technologies, and includes studies on recent trends in automation as applied to the construction sector.

This edited book gathers research studies presented at the 5th International Symposium on Formal Methods in Architecture (5FMA), Lisbon 2020.

This book presents a detailed discussion of the fundamentals and practical applications of membrane technology enhancement in a range of industrial processes, energy recovery, and resource recycling.

Bringing together a diverse group of government agencies, academics, professionals, and students, the book addresses issues related to construction safety, innovative technologies, lean and sustainable construction, international construction, improving quality and productivity, and innovative materials in the construction industry.

This book addresses a question of importance for both theory and practice: Why are joint venture agreements preferred over other types of agreements such as concession agreements, service contracts, and production sharing agreements in the Qatari gas industry?