In this book the longitudinal behavior of road vehicles is analyzed. The main emphasis is on the analysis and minimization of the fuel and energy consumption. Most approaches to this problem enhance the complexity of the vehicle system by adding components such as electrical motors or storage devices. Such a complex system can only be designed by means of mathematical models. This text gives an introduction to the modeling and optimization problems typically encountered when designing new propulsion systems for passenger cars. It is intended for persons interested in the analysis and optimization of classical and novel vehicle propulsion systems. Its focus lies on the control-oriented mathematical description of the physical processes and on the model-based optimization of the system structure and of the supervisory control algorithms. This text has evolved from a lecture series at ETH Zurich. Prerequisites are general engineering topics and a first course in optimal control theory.

Thermofluids, while a relatively modern term, is applied to the well-established field of thermal sciences, which is comprised of various intertwined disciplines. Thus mass, momentum, and heat transfer constitute the fundamentals of th- mofluids. This book discusses thermofluids in the context of thermodynamics, single- and two-phase flow, as well as heat transfer associated with single- and two-phase flows. Traditionally, the field of thermal sciences is taught in univer- ties by requiring students to study engineering thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer, in that order. In graduate school, these topics are discussed at more advanced levels. In recent years, however, there have been attempts to in- grate these topics through a unified approach. This approach makes sense as thermal design of widely varied systems ranging from hair dryers to semicond- tor chips to jet engines to nuclear power plants is based on the conservation eq- tions of mass, momentum, angular momentum, energy, and the second law of thermodynamics. While integrating these topics has recently gained popularity, it is hardly a new approach. For example, Bird, Stewart, and Lightfoot in Transport Phenomena, Rohsenow and Choi in Heat, Mass, and Momentum Transfer, El- Wakil, in Nuclear Heat Transport, and Todreas and Kazimi in Nuclear Systems have pursued a similar approach. These books, however, have been designed for advanced graduate level courses. More recently, undergraduate books using an - tegral approach are appearing.

This book presents the proceedings of the 2nd International Congress on Innovation and Research—A Driving Force for Socio-Econo-Technological Development (CI3 2021). CI3 was held on September 1–3, 2021. It was organized by the Instituto Tecnológico Superior Rumiñahui and GDEON, in co-organization with Higher Institutes: Bolivariano de Tecnología, Central Técnico, Espíritu Santo, José Chiriboga Grijalva, ISMAC, Policía Nacional del Ecuador Vida Nueva; and sponsored by the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (Peru), Universidade Federal de Goiás (Brazil) and City University of New York (United States). CI3 aims to disseminate the research project results that are being carried out in different Higher Education Institutions, research centers, and the business sector.

The ten-volume set LNCS 12949 – 12958 constitutes the proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Computational Science and Its Applications, ICCSA 2021, which was held in Cagliari, Italy, during September 13 – 16, 2021. The event was organized in a hybrid mode due to the Covid-19 pandemic.