Entropy and Energy Dissipation in Water Resources

Entropy and Energy Dissipation in Water Resources
Author: V.P. Singh
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 583
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9401124302

Since the landmark contributions of C. E. Shannon in 1948, and those of E. T. Jaynes about a decade later, applications of the concept of entropy and the principle of maximum entropy have proliterated in science and engineering. Recent years have witnessed a broad range of new and exciting developments in hydrology and water resources using the entropy concept. These have encompassed innovative methods for hydrologic network design, transfer of information, flow forecasting, reliability assessment for water distribution systems, parameter estimation, derivation of probability distributions, drainage-network analysis, sediment yield modeling and pollutant loading, bridge-scour analysis, construction of velocity profiles, comparative evaluation of hydrologic models, and so on. Some of these methods hold great promise for advancement of engineering practice, permitting rational alternatives to conventional approaches. On the other hand, the concepts of energy and energy dissipation are being increasingly applied to a wide spectrum of problems in environmental and water resources. Both entropy and energy dissipation have their origin in thermodynamics, and are related concepts. Yet, many of the developments using entropy seem to be based entirely on statistical interpretation and have seemingly little physical content. For example, most of the entropy-related developments and applications in water resources have been based on the information-theoretic interpretation of entropy. We believe if the power of the entropy concept is to be fully realized, then its physical basis has to be established.

Remote Sensing of Water Resources, Disasters, and Urban Studies

Remote Sensing of Water Resources, Disasters, and Urban Studies
Author: Ph.D., Prasad S. Thenkabail
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 695
Release: 2015-10-02
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1482217929

This book is the most comprehensive documentation of the scientific and methodological advances that have taken place in understanding remote sensing data, methods, and applications over last 50 years. In a very practical way it demonstrates the experience, utility, methods and models used in studying a wide array of water applications. There are more than 100 leading global experts in the field contributing to this work.

Coping with Regional Vulnerability

Coping with Regional Vulnerability
Author: Kiyoko Hagihara
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 375
Release: 2015-10-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 4431551697

Whether a natural event turns into a disaster depends on the severity of the hazard as well as the condition of the social sphere of its potential victims, i.e., vulnerability. We focus on regional vulnerability considering the fact that regional socioeconomic conditions determine the aspects of the damage and thus the risk management policy. This book provides the theory and methodology to understand and cope with regional vulnerability through an interdisciplinary approach. The fields mainly included in this work are welfare and environmental economics, the planning and management area of civil engineering, and risk management. In particular, we focus on hazard and vulnerability surrounding water issues and provide readers with knowledge of how the regional analysis is incorporated into the vulnerability analysis. Also considered is what risk management should be when the diversified regional background of the vulnerability is taken into account. A feature of this book is that it provides contrastive regional coverage: the vulnerability of a developed country—urban and regional areas of Japan—and that of a developing country, Bangladesh. The contents consist of three parts: (1) Socioeconomic Vulnerability in a Regional Perspective, (2) Evaluation of Regional Vulnerability, and (3) Coping with Regional Vulnerability. This book is highly recommended to researchers who need an up-to-date and interdisciplinary approach to deal with risk management where regional vulnerability plays an important role.

Salt Water Intrusion

Salt Water Intrusion
Author: Samuel F. Atkinson
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2018-01-18
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1351093436

This book provides a summary of the status and potential for salt water intrusion into ground water in the contiguous united states. While the focus is on resultant limitation in the agricultural usage of ground water, the book is not limited to this singular limitation in resource usage.

Metaheuristic Applications in Structures and Infrastructures

Metaheuristic Applications in Structures and Infrastructures
Author: Xin-She Yang
Publisher: Newnes
Total Pages: 577
Release: 2013-01-31
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0123983797

Due to an ever-decreasing supply in raw materials and stringent constraints on conventional energy sources, demand for lightweight, efficient and low-cost structures has become crucially important in modern engineering design. This requires engineers to search for optimal and robust design options to address design problems that are commonly large in scale and highly nonlinear, making finding solutions challenging. In the past two decades, metaheuristic algorithms have shown promising power, efficiency and versatility in solving these difficult optimization problems. This book examines the latest developments of metaheuristics and their applications in structural engineering, construction engineering and earthquake engineering, offering practical case studies as examples to demonstrate real-world applications. Topics cover a range of areas within engineering, including big bang-big crunch approach, genetic algorithms, genetic programming, harmony search, swarm intelligence and some other metaheuristic methods. Case studies include structural identification, vibration analysis and control, topology optimization, transport infrastructure design, design of reinforced concrete, performance-based design of structures and smart pavement management. With its wide range of everyday problems and solutions, Metaheursitic Applications in Structures and Infrastructures can serve as a supplementary text for design courses and computation in engineering as well as a reference for researchers and engineers in metaheuristics, optimization in civil engineering and computational intelligence. - Review of the latest development of metaheuristics in engineering. - Detailed algorithm descriptions with focus on practical implementation. - Uses practical case studies as examples and applications.