An overview of naturalistic decision making, which views people as inherently skilled and experienced.

This second volume deals with power relations between the Industrial Revolution and the First World War.

Distinguishing four sources of power in human societies - ideological, economic, military and political - 'The Sources of Social Power' traces their interrelations throughout human history. Volume 2 deals with power relations between the Industrial Revolution and the First World War.

The first systematic, quantitative appraisal of power density, offering detailed reviews of power densities of renewable energy flows, fossil fuels, and all common energy uses. “There's no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil.” —Bill Gates In this book, Vaclav Smil argues that power density is a key determinant of the nature and dynamics of energy systems. Any understanding of complex energy systems must rely on quantitative measures of many fundamental variables. Power density—the rate of energy flux per unit of area—is an important but largely overlooked measure. Smil provides the first systematic, quantitative appraisal of power density, offering detailed reviews of the power densities of renewable energy flows, fossil fuels, thermal electricity generation, and all common energy uses. Smil shows that careful quantification, critical appraisals, and revealing comparisons of power densities make possible a deeper understanding of the ways we harness, convert, and use energies. Conscientious assessment of power densities, he argues, proves particularly revealing when contrasting the fossil fuel–based energy system with renewable energy conversions. Smil explains that modern civilization has evolved as a direct expression of the high power densities of fossil fuel extraction. He argues that our inevitable (and desirable) move to new energy arrangements involving conversions of lower-density renewable energy sources will require our society—currently dominated by megacities and concentrated industrial production—to undergo a profound spatial restructuring of its energy system.

A landmark book rolls out a bold, new, energy-based theory of human history based on a simple, yet powerful law: whoever controls the world's effective energy supplies during a given energy age will inevitably dominate the economic, political, and cultural history of that age. The innovative theory articulated in Sources of Power: How Energy Forges Human History parses history into four ages: the foraging, agriculture, coal, and oil ages, each defined by the dominant source of power. Manfred Weissenbacher tests this sweeping theory against the panorama of world history, combining formidable powers of synthesis with a specialist's deep understanding of energy systems and technologies. After proving the operation of his law through history and into the present, Weissenbacher applies it to global geopolitical trends. He assesses the prospects of the various candidate technologies to succeed oil and charts future scenarios based on the distribution of energy reserves. Finally, he forecasts the fates of the American and Chinese empires in the twilight of the oil age: the United States as a mature superpower forced to deploy military might to occupy oilfields in the Middle East; China as an emerging superpower forced to deploy economic might to muscle in on the development of Third World oilfields.

This innovative approach to the fundamentals of electric power provides the most rigorous, comprehensive and modern treatment available. To impart a thorough grounding in electric power systems, it begins with an informative discussion on per-unit normalizations, symmetrical components and iterative load flow calculations. Covering important topics within the power system, such as protection and DC transmission, this book looks at both traditional power plants and those used for extracting sustainable energy from wind and sunlight. With classroom-tested material, this book also presents: the principles of electromechanical energy conversion and magnetic circuits; synchronous machines - the most important generators of electric power; power electronics; induction and direct current electric motors. Homework problems with varying levels of difficulty are included at the end of each chapter, and an online solutions manual for tutors is available. A useful Appendix contains a review of elementary network theory. For senior undergraduate and postgraduate students studying advanced electric power systems as well as engineers re-training in this area, this textbook will be an indispensable resource. It will also benefit engineers in electronic power systems, power electronic systems, electric motors and generators, robotics and mechatronics. www.wiley.com/go/kirtley_electric