Science Literacy Week 2014

Demonstrates the importance and functions of transport planners, traffic engineers, environmentalists, civil, geotechnical, and structural engineers, materials technologists, mechanical and electrical engineers in relation to stadium engineering practice. This book shows how all these skills are brought up to the benefit of stadium development.

Understanding the 'human operator' is a central concern of both ergonomists and sport and exercise scientists. This cutting-edge collection of international research papers explores the interface between physical, cognitive and occupational ergonomics and sport and exercise science, illuminating our understanding of 'human factors' at work and at play. Drawing on a wide diversity of disciplines, including applied anatomy, biomechanics, physiology, engineering, psychology and design, the book explores themes of central importance within contemporary ergonomics and sport and exercise science, such as performance, health, environment, technology and special populations. Contemporary Sport, Leisure and Ergonomics establishes important methodological connections between the disciplines, advancing the research agenda within each. It is essential reading for all serious ergonomists and human scientists.

"In The New American Swimming Pool, editor James Grayson Truelove carefully surveys 40 particularly striking forms—urban, suburban, oceanside and country—to isolate swimming pools' aesthetic and functional elements. Waterfalls, rock gardens, modernist geometries, dramatic illumination, tiling and terracing are all deployed. With its site plans, lists of materials and more than 300 color photos, the book will make a valuable reference for architects, landscape architects and homeowners.” —Publishers Weekly, April 30, 2001

A revered brand among cycling enthusiasts and bike racers alike, Campagnolo is to cycling what Ferrari is to race cars. And like Ferrari, it carries the name of its founder, Tullio Campagnolo, who segued from bicycle racing to manufacturing when he found the equipment of the day not up to the rigors of competition. His patented designs are still in use today, and Campagnolo's components have been part of more cycling victories than any other brand. Yet the same equipment used by world champions is available to everyday cyclists -- it's this universal appeal that has forged Campagnolo's sterling reputation. The company's legacy is explored here in text and images. With its deeply researched history, much of it drawn from the company's private archives, spectacular color photography, and lavish presentation, ""Campagnolo: 75 Years"" is a book for every cycling lover.

In sport disciplines such as running, ice skating, bicycling and cross-country skiing the aerodynamic drag force constitutes the major obstacle to overcome. Furthermore, in ski jumping and in various activities involving a ball the aerodynamic lift force comes in addition into action.This book describes the various sport disciplines on the basis of aerodynamic analysis and also cover the biomechanics part by illustrative performance examples. Such treatment of the underlying physical phenomena of sport activities gives a valuable supplement to existing literature on sport. The reader will also be guided to references which exist for the various topics discussed, so she or he can go into a deeper study of the particular sport activity at wish.

This brand new Handbook addresses Paralympic sports and athletes, providing practical information on the medical issues, biological factors in the performance of the sports and physical conditioning. The book begins with a comprehensive introduction of the Paralympic athlete, followed by discipline-specific reviews from leading authorities in disability sport science, each covering the biomechanics, physiology, medicine, philosophy, sociology and psychology of the discipline. The Paralympic Athlete also addresses recent assessment and training tools to enhance the performance of athletes, particularly useful for trainers and coaches, and examples of best practice on athletes′ scientific counseling are also presented. This new title sits in a series of specialist reference volumes, ideal for the use of professionals working directly with competitive athletes.

Played in Britain is a groundbreaking series celebrating Britain's diverse sporting heritage, from medieval cockpits and bowling greens to 20th century billiard halls, ice rinks and stadiums.In Liquid Assets, the third book of this much talked-about series, journalist Janet Smith, author of a history of Tooting Bec Lido and herself a keen swimmer, traces the development of Britain's surprisingly rich stock of lidos, starting with their muddy beginnings in London's parks, through their fashionable heyday in the Thirties, to their battle for survival today.Lavishly illustrated with both archive and contemporary photographs, Liquid Assets highlights some of the nation's outstanding architectural examples. But if lidos were once to be found in virtually every town and city, since 1945 many have been closed, often despite the efforts of thousands of vociferous campaigners. Liquid Assets charts the best of these lost lidos, including one in Purley where the towering concrete and steel diving board now forms the curious centrepiece of a garden centre.The book also provides a unique listing of all lidos still open in Britain, with detailed case studies of the most impressive, including the Art Deco glories of the triangular-shaped Jubilee Pool, Penzance, Saltdean Lido, near Brighton and Tinside Lido, Plymouth, all opened in 1935 and recently renovated to popular acclaim. With our summers seemingly getting ever hotter, are we about to enter a second golden era for Britain's much loved lidos?Never before has there been a comprehensive account of this, one of most popular forms of recreational architecture. Played in Britain invites readers to dip in and discover anew the best of the nation's Liquid Assets.

In a world without wood, we might not be here at all. Without wood, we wouldn't have had the fire, heat, and shelter that allowed us to expand into the colder regions of the planet. If civilization somehow did develop, our daily lives still would be vastly different: there would be no violins, baseball bats, chopsticks, or wine corks. The book you are now holding wouldn't exist. At the same time, many of us are removed from the world where wood is shaped and celebrated every day. That world is inhabited by a unique assortment of eccentric craftsmen and passionate enthusiasts who have created some of the world's most beloved musical instruments, feared weapons, dazzling architecture, sacred relics, and bizarre forms of transportation. In A Splintered History of Wood, Spike Carlsen has uncovered the most outlandish characters and examples, from world-champion chainsaw carvers to blind woodworkers, the Miraculous Staircase to the Lindbergh kidnapping case, and many more, in a passionate and personal exploration of nature's greatest gift.

From the iPod to the Nintendo Wii, the first decade of the twenty-first century has already brought us incredible inventions we could not have imagined before, yet that have already changed how we live our lives and spend our free time. Although the twenty-first century is only beginning, the number of new patents that have been filed bears witness to the ongoing ingenuity of inventors around the world and the fact that technology is changing more rapidly than ever before. Following on the success of Stephen van Dulken’s previous surveys of invention, Inventing the 21st Century examines the leading inventions of this century, including the Blackberry, the teen-repelling Mosquito Tone, the Segway, mixed-source DNA analysis, and E-book readers. Van Dulken is careful to describe both the technical aspects of the inventions as well as the human interest stories behind them; to this end, he includes personal interviews with the inventors themselves, providing an engaging insight into how and why they came up with their unique ideas. Illustrated throughout with the original patents for the inventions, this absorbing and readable account of the amazing technological leaps already taken this century—and the creative inventors behind them—will be of interest to anyone fascinated by the world of modern technology and gadgets that surrounds us.

Forty examples of pool design ranging from the nature-inspired designs of Isabelle Greene to the vanguard mid-century pools of Thomas Church and the Mexican-style architecture of Ricardo Legorreta.

This book, which has been prepared by an international group of experts, provides comprehensive guidance for the design, planning and implementation of assessments and monitoring programmes for water bodies used for recreation. It addresses the wide range of hazards which may be encountered and emphasizes the importance of linking monitoring programmes to effective and feasible management actions to protect human health. It also provides details of sampling and analytical methods. This book will be an invaluable source of information for anyone concerned with monitoring and assessing recreational waters, including field staff. It will also be useful for national and regional government departments concerned with tourism and recreation, and for students and special interest groups.

The bicycle ranks as one of the most enduring, most widely used vehicles in theworld, with more than a billion produced during almost two hundred years of cycling history. This book offers an authoritative and comprehensive account of the bicycle's technical and historical evolution, from the earliest velocipedes (invented to fill the need for horseless transport during ashortage of oats) to modern racing bikes, mountain bikes, and recumbents. It traces the bicycle'sdevelopment in terms of materials, ergonomics, and vehicle physics, as carried out by inventors, entrepreneurs, and manufacturers. Written by two leading bicycle historians andgenerously illustrated with historic drawings, designs, and photographs, Bicycle Design describes the key stages in the evolution of the bicycle, beginning with the counterintuitive idea of balancing on two wheels in line, through the development of tension-spokedwheels, indirect drives (employing levers, pulleys, chains, and chainwheels), and pneumatic tires. The authors examine the further development of the bicycle for such specific purposes as racing,portability, and all-terrain use; and they describe the evolution of bicycle components includingseats, transmission, brakes, lights (at first candle-based), and carriers (racks, panniers,saddlebags, child seats, and sidecars). They consider not only commercially successful designs but also commercial failures that pointed the way to future technological developments. And they debunksome myths about bicycles -- for example, the mistaken but often-cited idea that Leonardo sketched achain-drive bike in his notebooks. Despite the bicycle's long history and mass appeal, its technological history has been neglected. This volume, with its engaging and wide-ranging coverage,fills that gap. It will be the starting point for all future histories of the bicycle.

Newly-issued in the series' paperback format, Pools: Good Ideas surveys both spectacular and affordable pools located all over the world.Hundreds of examples of extraordinary pools are examined in depth through visually appealing images, designer's sketches and descriptive texts. The richness of the architectural elements and the sheer beauty of the pools themselves come through on every page. It is the ultimate reference book for pool design, one of the fastest growing design areas in new home construction and home remodeling. Architects who have featured work include Eli Mouyal (Morocco), Tomas Wegner (Germany), Guillem Mas (Spain), Juan de los Rios (Mexico), Christhopher Taverna (France), Charles Boccara (France), B&B Estudio de Arquitectura (Spain), Bruno Lafforgue (Italy), Marco Emili (Italy), Ramon Esteve (Spain), Françoise Pialoux (France), Bruno Lafourcade (Morocco), Victor Espositio (Chile), Unicorn Architects (USA), and Patrick Genard (USA).

This monograph is a comprehensive introduction to the field of soccer robotics. Soccer robotics has become an important research area integrating mechatronics, computer science and artificial intelligence techniques to create real-world autonomous systems. It also serves as a popular test arena in which to compare the different approaches, in diverse types of competition and with varying levels of distributed perception and collaboration. The focus of this monograph is the FIRA framework of Soccer Robotics, in particular MiroSot, which uses a central overhead camera to overview the whole soccer field and a central control of the robots. "Soccer Robotics" completely describes the different requirements to create a soccer team and details the hardware aspects, the computer vision needed, navigation, action selection, basic skills and game strategy. These aspects are described at an undergraduate level, resulting in a book not only useful as a text for courses but also indispensable for everyone who wants to participate in MiroSot robotics.

Commonly used throughout the world, manual lifting tasks—whether simple or complex—all involve variable loads, postures, and movements. This practical guide discusses how to analyze the intricate lifting function and prevent injury during its execution. Outlining revised NIOSH Lifting Equation (RNLE) methods, the book illustrates their use in assessing manual lifting tasks of varying degrees of difficulty. Using examples to reinforce presented concepts, it explains how RNLE methods can be applied to evaluate single, composite, variable, and sequential lifting tasks. It also explores how to interpret and apply the results according to international standards and guidelines.

This new edition of John Forester's handbook for transportation policy makers andbicycling advocates has been completely rewritten to reflect changes of the last decade. It includesnew chapters on European bikeway engineering, city planning, integration with mass transit andlong-distance carriers, "traffic calming," and the art of encouraging private-sector support forbicycle commuting.A professional engineer and an avid bicyclist, John Forester combined thoseinterests in founding the discipline of cycling transportation engineering, which regards bicyclingas a form of vehicular transportation equal to any other form of transportation. Forester, whobelieves that riding a bicycle along streets with traffic is safer than pedaling on restricted bikepaths and bike lanes, argues the case for cyclists' rights with zeal and with statistics based onexperience, traffic studies, and roadway design standards. Over the nearly two decades since BicycleTransportation was first published, he has brought about many changes in the national standards forhighways, bikeways, bicycles, and traffic laws. His Effective Cycling Program continues togrow.

With the invention of compressed air in the 1840s, human divers could enter previously inaccessible deep water environments and engineers could design underwater mines and monumental bridges that had never been possible before. But a painful, sometimes fatal illness - decompression sickness, or the bends - mysteriously afflicted many of those who used compressed air. This book is a wide-ranging history of the wonders compressed air brought about and the suffering its unknown hazards inflicted. John L. Phillips explores the intertwining roles of science, technology, engineering, medicine and politics in the invention of compressed air, the recognition and identification of decompression sickness, and the 100-year-long process of learning to understand and treat the bends.

During the nineteenth century, the bicycle evoked an exciting new world in which even a poor person could travel afar and at will. But was the "mechanical horse" truly destined to usher in a new era of road travel or would it remain merely a plaything for dandies and schoolboys? In Bicycle: The History (named by Outside magazine as the #1 book on bicycles), David Herlihy recounts the saga of this far-reaching invention and the passions it aroused. The pioneer racer James Moore insisted the bicycle would become "as common as umbrellas." Mark Twain was more skeptical, enjoining his readers to "get a bicycle. You will not regret it--if you live." Because we live in an age of cross-country bicycle racing and high-tech mountain bikes, we may overlook the decades of development and ingenuity that transformed the basic concept of human-powered transportation into a marvel of engineering. This lively and engrossing history retraces the extraordinary story of the bicycle--a history of disputed patents, brilliant inventions, and missed opportunities. Herlihy shows us why the bicycle captured the public's imagination and the myriad ways in which it reshaped our world.

The Greenhill Dictionary of Guns and Gunmakers contains a wealth of data an the art of gunmaking and identifies a huge number of individual guns and gun-types produced since 1836. This indispensable reference book represents nearly thirty years of compilation work and is a comprehensive guide to the sheer number and variety of guns and valuable insight into the art of gunmaking.

The bicycle is almost unique among human-powered machines in that it uses human muscles in a near-optimum way. This new edition of the bible of bicycle builders and bicyclists provides just about everything you could want to know about the history of bicycles, how human beings propel them, what makes them go faster, and what keeps them from going even faster. The scientific and engineering information is of interest not only to designers and builders of bicycles and other human-powered vehicles but also to competitive cyclists, bicycle commuters, and recreational cyclists. The third edition begins with a brief history of bicycles and bicycling that demolishes many widespread myths. This edition includes information on recent experiments and achievements in human-powered transportation, including the "ultimate human- powered vehicle," in which a supine rider in a streamlined enclosure steers by looking at a television screen connected to a small camera in the nose, reaching speeds of around 80 miles per hour. It contains completely new chapters on aerodynamics, unusual human-powered machines for use on land and in water and air, human physiology, and the future of bicycling. This edition also provides updated information on rolling drag, transmission of power from rider to wheels, braking, heat management, steering and stability, power and speed, and materials. It contains many new illustrations.

The swimming pool has become increasingly important in residential design as architects use natural elements like water and light to create houses that are integrated into the landscape. Packed with over 400 full color photographs of stunningly designed, magnificently landscaped swimming pools throughout the United States and the Mediterranean, this book provides an overview of the latest in pool design. The book presents examples of re-designed pools as well as those highlighting the latest generation of uniquely shaped and constructed pools.

Developers, designers and operators are increasingly needing to create versatile sport and leisure amenities that are of lasting value to local and wider communities. Placing facilities design and operation at the heart of sports development, this book adopts a holistic approach, integrating experience in the field with collective knowledge across many different uses and technologies. Extensive use of case studies from around the world makes this book a definitive reference for practitioners and students in sports and leisure, building design and facilities management.

This tour de force in experimental robotics paves the way toward understanding dynamic environments in vision and robotics. It describes the first robot able to play, and even beat, human ping-pong players. Constructing a machine to play ping-pong was proposed years ago as a particularly difficult problem requiring fast, accurate sensing and actuation, and the intelligence to play the game. The research reported here began as a series of experiments in building a true real-time vision system. The ping-pong machine incorporates sensor and processing techniques as well as the techniques needed to intelligently plan the robot's response in the fraction of a second available. It thrives on a constant stream of new data. Subjectively evaluating and improving its motion plan as the data arrives, it presages future robot systems with many joints and sensors that must do the same, no matter what the task. Contents:Introduction. Robot Ping-Pong. System Design. Real-Time Vision System Robot Controller. Expert Controller Preliminaries. Expert Controller. Robot Ping-Pong Application. Conclusion. A Robot Ping-Pong Playeris included in the Artificial Intelligence Series, edited by Patrick Winston and Michael Brady.