Guide to Neural Computing Applications

Medical electronics, or more specifically the instrumentation used in physiological measurement, has changed significantly over the last few years. Developments in electronics technology have offered new and enhanced applications, especially in the areas of data recording and analysis and imaging technology. These changes have been accompanied by more stringent legislation on safety and liability. This book is designed to meet the needs of students on the growing number of courses, undergraduate and MSc. It is a concise and accessible introduction offering a broad overview that encompasses the various contributing disciplines.This book defines environmental reaction engineering principles, including reactor design, for the development of processes that provide an environmental benefit. With regard to pollution prevention, the focus is primarily on new reaction and reactor technologies that minimize the production of undesirable side-products (pollutants), but the use of reaction engineering as a means of treating wastes that are produced through other means is also considered. First is a section on environmentally benign combustion. The three papers discuss methods of reducing the formation of PAHs and NOx, as well as other environmentally sensitive combustion products. The next section contains a collection of contributions that involve the use of a catalyst to support the reaction. Following this is a section on the use of supercritical fluid solvents as environmentally friendly media for chemical reactions. Finally, a series of papers is presented in which novel reactor designs are utilized to obtain product yields not possible in conventional reactor systems. These include the use of reactor-absorber systems, reactive distillation, and reactive membranes. The book concludes with a chapter contributed by the editors which discusses the educational aspects of pollution prevention. It is necessary for future generations of engineers to be trained to design processes that are inherently environmentally benign. This chapter assembles resource materials for educators which will spark the creative instincts of the researchers using the materials contained within this book to develop new resources for pollution prevention education. The broad spectrum of topics included in this book indicates the diversity of this area, and the vibrant nature of the ongoing research. The possibilities of producing desirable products without the formation of waste byproducts are bounded only by the creativity of the reaction engineer.Clear evidence of increasing demands in the processing industry prompted the editors and authors to publish a new book about High Pressure Process Technology: Fundamentals and Applications. This book presents the latest knowledge regarding the high pressure processing aspects combined with that about the modeling, the design and the operation of safe and reliable high pressure plants and equipment. This treatment and selection of the subjects is stimulating and unique. Consisting of nine chapters, each subdivided into several sections, the book addresses the high pressure aspects, providing well selected correlated information connected with a comprehensive overview together with a large number of references. The main body of the first eight chapters refers to subjects like high pressure in general, the thermodynamics and kinetics of the fluids involved, the design of high pressure equipment, the modeling and design of reactors, separation and fractionation units, the safety aspects, the control and economics. In the extended last chapter, examples of promising high pressure applications are explained, such as chemical and enzymatic reactions in supercritical solvents, hydrogenation under supercritical conditions, supercritical water oxidation, polymerization with metallocene catalysts, supercritical extraction, fractionation and precipitation, supercritical pharma processing, ultra-high pressure sterilization and supercritical dry-cleaning.Presenting the first book to focus on the importance of silicon for plant health and soil productivity and on our current understanding of this element as it relates to agriculture.Long considered by plant physiologists as a non-essential element, or plant nutrient, silicon was the center of attention at the first international conference on Silicon in Agriculture, held in Florida in 1999.Ninety scientists, growers, and producers of silicon fertilizer from 19 countries pondered a paradox in plant biology and crop science. They considered the element Si, second only to oxygen in quantity in soils, and absorbed by many plants in amounts roughly equivalent to those of such nutrients as sulfur or magnesium. Some species, including such staples as rice, may contain this element in amounts as great as or even greater than any other inorganic constituent. Compilations of the mineral composition of plants, however, and much of the plant physiological literature largely ignore this element. The participants in Silicon in Agriculture explored that extraordinary discrepancy between the silicon content of plants and that of the plant research enterprise.The participants, all of whom are active in agricultural science, with an emphasis on crop production, presented, and were presented with, a wealth of evidence that silicon plays a multitude of functions in the real world of plant life. Many soils in the humid tropics are low in plant available silicon, and the same condition holds in warm to hot humid areas elsewhere. Field experience, and experimentation even with nutrient solutions, reveals a multitude of functions of silicon in plant life. Resistance to disease is one, toleration of toxic metals such as aluminum, another. Silicon applications often minimize lodging of cereals (leaning over or even becoming prostrate), and often cause leaves to assume orientations more favorable for light interception. For some crops, rice and sugarcane in particular, spectacular yield responses to silicon application have been obtained. More recently, other crop species including orchids, daisies and yucca were reported to respond to silicon accumulation and plant growth/disease control. The culture solutions used for the hydroponic production of high-priced crops such as cucumbers and roses in many areas (The Netherlands for example) routinely included silicon, mainly for disease control. The biochemistry of silicon in plant cell walls, where most of it is located, is coming increasingly under scrutiny; the element may act as a crosslinking element between carbohydrate polymers.There is an increased conviction among scientists that the time is at hand to stop treating silicon as a plant biological nonentity. The element exists, and it matters.Neural networks have shown enormous potential for commercial exploitation over the last few years but it is easy to overestimate their capabilities. A few simple algorithms will learn relationships between cause and effect or organise large volumes of data into orderly and informative patterns but they cannot solve every problem and consequently their application must be chosen carefully and appropriately. This book outlines how best to make use of neural networks. It enables newcomers to the technology to construct robust and meaningful non-linear models and classifiers and benefits the more experienced practitioner who, through over familiarity, might otherwise be inclined to jump to unwarranted conclusions. The book is an invaluable resource not only for those in industry who are interested in neural computing solutions, but also for final year undergraduates or graduate students who are working on neural computing projects. It provides advice which will help make the best use of the growing number of commercial and public domain neural network software products, freeing the specialist from dependence upon external consultants.