Planning, measuring, and paying attention to details form the basis for all successful engineering operations. Measurements pervade everything we do and must be viewed from a systems perspective. A comprehensive all-encompassing guide to measurements, Handbook of Measurements: Benchmarks for Systems Accuracy and Precision focuses on high-level engineering computations essential for benchmarks and technical innovation. The book uses a systems framework and a technically rigorous approach to systems linking of measurements—an approach that sets it apart from other handbooks. The popular saying "measure twice and cut once" bears out the importance of measurements in human endeavors. This handbook covers both qualitative and quantitative topics of measurement. It opens with a chapter on the fundamentals of measurement and includes coverage of human-centric measurements, such as measurement of personnel productivity and contractor performance. It concludes with three appendices on measurement, references, conversion factors, equations, formulas, and statistics for measurement. It is well understood that humans cannot manage anything that cannot be measured. All elements involved in our day-to-day decision making involve some form of measurement, whether in the kitchen, retail, sports, service operations, geographical exploration, health care delivery, worker productivity, clothing design, engineering product design, or space craft launching. Measuring an attribute of a system and then analyzing it against some standard, some specification, some best practice, or some benchmark empower a decision maker to take appropriate and timely actions. This book gives you a guide for sustainable practices to ensure accurate measurements, helping you make decisions backed by metrics.

This collection represents successful invited submissions from the papers presented at the 8th Annual Conference of Energy Economics and Management held in Beijing, China, 22–24 September 2017. With over 500 participants, the conference was co-hosted by the Management Science Department of National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Chinese Society of Energy Economics and Management, and Renmin University of China on the subject area of “Energy Transition of China: Opportunities and Challenges”. The major strategies to transform the energy system of China to a sustainable model include energy/economic structure adjustment, resource conservation, and technology innovation. Accordingly, the conference and its associated publications encourage research to address the major issues faced in supporting the energy transition of China. Papers published in this collection cover the broad spectrum of energy economics issues, including building energy efficiency, industrial energy demand, public policies to promote new energy technologies, power system control technology, emission reduction policies in energy-intensive industries, emission measurements of cities, energy price movement, and the impact of new energy vehicle.

Nineteen Fact-Filled Charters that contain authoritative treatment of all aspects of dimensional measurement technology make Handbook of Dimensional Measurement the most readable and comprehensive guide available for engineers and technicians engages in the various stages of industrial production. Design engineers, manufacturing engineers, tool and gage makers, quality control specialists, and reliability experts will find a wealth of practical data as well as complete coverage - both basic and advanced - of dimensional measurement techniques and equipment. The Third Edition of this classic book has been completely revised to include the computer and electronics revolution in metrology. Virtually every type of measurement instrument and machine, even the newest devices, can be found in these pages. Hundreds of changes, and additions and scores of new illustrations have been incorporated to assure that Handbook of Dimensional Measurement retains its status as the standard reference for the practitioner of dimensional measurement.

Personalized and precision medicine (PPM)—the targeting of therapies according to an individual’s genetic, environmental, or lifestyle characteristics—is becoming an increasingly important approach in health care treatment and prevention. The advancement of PPM is a challenge in traditional clinical, reimbursement, and regulatory landscapes because it is costly to develop and introduces a wide range of scientific, clinical, ethical, and socioeconomic issues. PPM raises a multitude of economic issues, including how information on accurate diagnosis and treatment success will be disseminated and who will bear the cost; changes to physician training to incorporate genetics, probability and statistics, and economic considerations; questions about whether the benefits of PPM will be confined to developed countries or will diffuse to emerging economies with less developed health care systems; the effects of patient heterogeneity on cost-effectiveness analysis; and opportunities for PPM’s growth beyond treatment of acute illness, such as prevention and reversal of chronic conditions. This volume explores the intersection of the scientific, clinical, and economic factors affecting the development of PPM, including its effects on the drug pipeline, on reimbursement of PPM diagnostics and treatments, and on funding of the requisite underlying research; and it examines recent empirical applications of PPM.

Manufacturing, reduced to its simplest form, involves the sequencing of product forms through a number of different processes. Each individual step, known as an unit manufacturing process, can be viewed as the fundamental building block of a nation's manufacturing capability. A committee of the National Research Council has prepared a report to help define national priorities for research in unit processes. It contains an organizing framework for unit process families, criteria for determining the criticality of a process or manufacturing technology, examples of research opportunities, and a prioritized list of enabling technologies that can lead to the manufacture of products of superior quality at competitive costs. The study was performed under the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation and the Defense Department's Manufacturing Technology Program.

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a fast-growing sector with the ability to evoke a revolution in manufacturing due to its almost unlimited design freedom and its capability to produce personalised parts locally and with efficient material use. AM companies, however, still face technological challenges such as limited precision due to shrinkage, built-in stresses and limited process stability and robustness. Moreover, often post-processing is needed due to high roughness and remaining porosity. Qualified, trained personnel are also in short supply. In recent years, there have been dramatic improvements in AM design methods, process control, post-processing, material properties and material range. However, if AM is going to gain a significant market share, it must be developed into a true precision manufacturing method. The production of precision parts relies on three principles: Production is robust (i.e. all sensitive parameters can be controlled). Production is predictable (for example, the shrinkage that occurs is acceptable because it can be predicted and compensated in the design). Parts are measurable (as without metrology, accuracy, repeatability and quality assurance cannot be known). AM of metals is inherently a high-energy process with many sensitive and inter-related process parameters, making it susceptible to thermal distortions, defects and process drift. The complete modelling of these processes is beyond current computational power, and novel methods are needed to practicably predict performance and inform design. In addition, metal AM produces highly textured surfaces and complex surface features that stretch the limits of contemporary metrology. With so many factors to consider, there is a significant shortage of background material on how to inject precision into AM processes. Shortage in such material is an important barrier for a wider uptake of advanced manufacturing technologies, and a comprehensive book is thus needed. This book aims to inform the reader how to improve the precision of metal AM processes by tackling the three principles of robustness, predictability and metrology, and by developing computer-aided engineering methods that empower rather than limit AM design. Richard Leach is a professor in metrology at the University of Nottingham and heads up the Manufacturing Metrology Team. Prior to this position, he was at the National Physical Laboratory from 1990 to 2014. His primary love is instrument building, from concept to final installation, and his current interests are the dimensional measurement of precision and additive manufactured structures. His research themes include the measurement of surface topography, the development of methods for measuring 3D structures, the development of methods for controlling large surfaces to high resolution in industrial applications and the traceability of X-ray computed tomography. He is a leader of several professional societies and a visiting professor at Loughborough University and the Harbin Institute of Technology. Simone Carmignato is a professor in manufacturing engineering at the University of Padua. His main research activities are in the areas of precision manufacturing, dimensional metrology and industrial computed tomography. He is the author of books and hundreds of scientific papers, and he is an active member of leading technical and scientific societies. He has been chairman, organiser and keynote speaker for several international conferences, and received national and international awards, including the Taylor Medal from CIRP, the International Academy for Production Engineering.