2 comments about Student Solutions Manual to Accompany Chang's Chemistry.

1. This manual is a complementary guide to Raymond Chang's Chemistry. It, step by step, illustrates how to solve specific chem problems that are found in the textbook. As a result, a student can learn the process of solving these problems. Furthermore, the manual gives an outline of the different types of problems from the textbook. In addition, tips, tricks, and often shortcuts on solving chem problems are given.



2. This is the best book that you can get to supplement the Sixth Edition Chemistry book. Even though it has only the even answers, a lot of the problems are very similar to the odd problems. Since you have to send a teaching certificate to McGraw McHill to get the full teacher's edition, this is the next best thing.

No comments about Introduction to Robotics in CIM Systems (5th Edition).

4 comments about Chemical Fate and Transport in the Environment, Second Edition.

1. This is a reasonably priced textbook for advanced undergrad & grads studying the environmental sciences in Engineering, Hydrology, and Chemistry. Environmental consultants in the private sector could also employ this textbook as a reference. Harry Hemond (of MIT) and Liz Fechner-Levy (consultant in Bethesda, MD) deliver a quantitative treatment of processes. Battle-tested at MIT for many years, this volume features time-saving exercises at the end of each chapter and an accompanying solutions manual.



2. While there is no doubt that the author is highly proficient in the subject matter the book was a difficult read. Terms and theories were explained clearly however this is not an introductory level chemistry book. This book is written for chemical or environmental engineering students. Illustrations and tables are also inserted at points where you are engrossed in some pretty heady material so it gave the impression of jumping around. I say this b/c illustrations and tables had a lot of information included. The formulas were high level mathematical computations that I found bewildering. I am not Einstein but I also have 10 years of in the trenches environmental chemistry and field management. There were excellent problems to work at the end of each chapter but the answers were not to be found in the book. I have no idea if I worked the problems correctly which defeats the point of working them in the first place. I would not recommend this book as a "beginner level" chemistry book. This is more appropriate for a graduate school level which may have been the intended audience. If you are looking for a book packed with theory and formulas then this is the book for you. I had expected a book that was a little more general in nature.



3. Overall I would say this is a well written and useful text. I used this text for a Graduate Level Civil Engineering class while working on my Masters. This is a good introductory text for understanding the basic concepts of advective and fickian transport of contaminants of concern. The concepts presented can be applied to pretty much any chemical. The text covers basic concepts, chemical distribution of phases, mechanisms responsible for physical transport, air-water exchange modeling, Redox reactions, dissolved oxygen modeling,determining partitioning coefficients among phases, transport within the subsurface enviornmental and processess within the atmosphere. I found that the section on Bio Accumlation Factor (BAF), Bio Concentration Factor (BCF), and determining the increasing concentration within each trophic level within the food chain of the system to be weak. Each chapter within the text is full of problem sets but there is no solution guide which would be helpful. I would recommend this text, however, I would also supplement certain sections with additional reading as required.



4. Full disclosure: I am a student of the author. This is a graduate level intro textbook that braids together the several disciplines of environmental engineering, e.g. chemistry, hydrology, and biology, and gives an accessible quantitative treatment of the processes involved. I find this text generally useful for solving problems in environmental engineering because the central issues have been carefully distilled and the most relevant equations are easy to find and apply. This book is not a replacement for textbooks in chemistry or hydrology, but it ties everything together well for the environmental engineer...when you want to cut straight to the crux of the matter its the book you'll reach for first.

2 comments about Interpreting the National Electrical Code.

1. I really like the authors, they seem very well informed. I'd like to meet them sometime and discuss their thoughts! ;-)
   -Matthew Best



2. 
   The single most important reference in the electrical industry, the National Electrical Code (NEC), is updated every three years and outlines minimum standards for all types of electrical installations. Each time the National Electrical Code® is significantly revised to keep pace with technology and enhance protection against electrical fire and shock hazards. This is a valuable reference to help you get in position to advance your knowledge and be prepared with the newest codes.
   
   This book is like an annotated version of the NEC 2005, explaining in a clear and understandable language that is additionally supported by clear to follow diagrams every important aspect covered by the NEC.
   
   This book is loaded with solutions designed to provide better safeguards, add greater usability, and bring provisions in line with technology trends. Absolutely a must for anyone involved in electrical design, installation, or inspection, the 2005 NEC provides 100% of the information needed to meet Code® and avoid costly errors in electrical installations of all types.

1 comments about Polymers: Chemistry and Physics of Modern Materials, Third Edition.

1. Good introduction. Covers chemistry of polymerization (step growth, free radical, ionic). Amorphous, semi-crystalline and elastomeric polymers. Covers mechanical properties in terms of viscoelastic behaviour. This book could be very useful to non-chemists requiring a brief readable introduction to, or overview of, polymer chemistry. Does not assume high level of prior knowledge in chemistry or calculus. Does also not provide much specific physical or mechanical data of commercial polymers.

5 comments about Crystal Clear: A Human-Powered Methodology for Small Teams (Agile Software Development Series).

1. Lots of relevent information about Software Development project management. It give insight into ways of dealing with stuff I see every day at work. I am about 1/3 of they way through, it is well laid out, I'd recommend it for anyone that is a technology development group and want some good ideas for how to deal with projects.



2. The Crystal methodology is extremely lightweight, and is not saddled with the percieved "rules" of XP. This is *the* guidebook for the Crystal familiy. Pick a few of the 7 properties and get started building better software!



3. Cockburn's writing style is fluid, the agile development topic is interesting, and his experience is very valuable.



4. I love this book. Recommended read for anyone who has to obtain requirements form customers. The book also has many team building elements and a great Agile roadmap.



5. The "Agile" umbrella includes multiple approaches/lenses from which to view, practice and evolve software and teams. Alistair's material offers an additional lens. So when reading this material, I don't believe it was ever his intent for people to pick up Crystal and say "This is it". Rather, this material offers an alternative framework of thought that would nicely meld/synthesize with other characteristics/practices/behaviors under the Agile umbrella of software evolution. I've not personally applied the material yet .. but could see it's inter-relationship to those things I do currently practice today under the Agile space.

2 comments about Chemistry of the Environment (2nd Edition).

1. Chemistry of the Environment is a great overview of the chemical processes of environmental change. There is a lot of in-depth discussion of air pollution and ozone depletion, as well as water pollution. The book covers virtually every topic in environmental sciences, even going into detail in some ares that are usually classified as environmental geology. The book is written clearly and is accessible for most people who have taken general chemistry courses. A background in organic chemistry would be helpful but is not necessary. This is one of those textbooks that I kept at the end of the semester, to have as a reference guide.



2. I found the first edition of this book very useful for myself and my students as a reference and the second edition is even more useful. The book is excellent in covering thoroughly the chemical aspects of energy and environmental problems. The book is divided into four parts: Energy, Atmosphere, Hydrosphere/Lithosphere, Biosphere.
   
   The authors discuss the advantages and disadvantages of petroleum, natural gas, coal and the ways of handling the emission of CO2. They include chapters on nuclear, renewable energy, and energy utilization.
   
   I'm particularly impressed with the use of figures which show the many aspects of a system being discussed,with the different contributions from different sources happening at the same time. For instance what happens to the energy annually on earth, organic carbon changing to fossil fuels, energy storage in photosynthesis, maximum work, and systems efficiency, etc. These are great for understanding how many aspects there are to a process.
   
   The section on the atmosphere has chapters that covers air pollution, ozone, climate changes, nitrogen and oxygen chemistry. The section on the hydrosphere covers water resources from a global perspective, properties of water, the importance of acids-bases, solubility, redox reactions, the chemistry of nitrogen and phosphorous. Water quality pollution and its treatment are covered in detail. The section on the biosphere covers toxic materials, the nitrogen cycle in food production use of fertilizers and insecticides.
   
   Dimensional analysis is used extensively throughout and in assigned problems. For instance they calculate an estimate of the energy in a moderate rainstorm to be over a million tons of TNT. They actually show the calculations for other interesting problems such as the increase in energy used in the future with even a small 2.5% annual increase.
   
   You won't find a better or more even-handed exposition of the natural cycles on the Earth emphasizing the importance of understanding the chemistry involved, and our options to keep us and the Earth healthy.

5 comments about IT Systems Management: Designing, Implementing, and Managing World-Class Infrastructures (Harris Kern's Enterprise Computing Institute Series).

1. This is a great book for IT managers who need a reference book with stepwise procedures to help plan, implement and manage any area of IT Systems.



2. Entire book looks as if it's been photo-copied. Some pages have text cut off where the photocopy hasn't been done properly. Do not recommend buying this book.



3. This book is essentially a summary of the IT Infrastructure Library.
   
   Considered in that light, this is a pretty good book for the money. It falls short of 5 stars by giving short attention to service desk (aka help desk) management and by not making clear it's debt to the ITIL.
   
   For those who are not aware, the ITIL is a best practice framework for IT service delivery management. Developed and published by the UK's Office of Government Commerce, it is a series of 8 books: Service Support, Service Delivery, Planning to Implement Service Management, Application Management, Infrastructure Management, Security Management, Software Asset Management, and The Business Perspective. [...]
   
   Having 7+ years experience in IT service delivery I recommend all organizations, regardless of industry or profit-status, utilize best practices for IT management. The preferred way to do this is
   1. Implement COBIT to create an overall IT management framework.
   2. Implement ITIL for service delivery management.
   3. Implement ISO 17799 for security management.
   4. Use the Balanced Scorecard methodology to coordinate goal setting and performance measurement between customers, financial stakeholders, internal process stakeholders, and training and growth needs.
   
   To sum up, this is a good, inexpensive summary or intro to IT systems management as defined by ITIL.



4. This book has faded text through a 1/4 of the first pages, and the rest of the book looks xeroxed copied! I think the printer and publishers should reimburse thse who bought this book!



5. This book help me a lot for my job that shows the right way for implementation the good IT system.

3 comments about Instrument Engineers' Handbook, Fourth Edition, Volume Two: Process Control and Optimization.

1. The first edition was published in 1969, the second edition was released in 1982 (Volume 1) and 1985 (Volume 2). This latest edition comprises over 3000 pages between the 2 volumes. Each volume includes 8 chapters with many sub-headings per chapter.

   The Flow Measurement (29 sub-headins) and Analytical Instrumentation (60 sub-headings) chapters were heavily revised for the 1995 edition of VOLUME 1. PLC's & Other Logic Devices (10 subheadings), DCS & Computer-based Systems (16 sub-headings) and Process Control Systems (27 sub-headings) were largely rewritten for the 1995 edition of VOLUME 2. Within each product-oriented sub-heading (eg. Magnetic Flowmeters, Infrared Analyzers, DCS Basic Packages), in addition to extensive treatment of the applicable technology, a comprehesive listing of manufacturers and typical price ranges is provided. Under Process Control Systems, a diverse group of applications (Airhandler Controls, Clean Room Controls, Distillation Advanced Controls, Compressor Controls, Reactor Control & Optimation and many others) is profiled. Throughout this handbook, process control is treated in the time-domain to minimize mathematical complications implicit in frequency-domain analysis. Its focus is the practicding engineer and explains most control phoenomena visually.

   Over 250 contributing authors are listed, including many prestigious names immediately recognizable by process control professionals. Liptak personally authored a substantial number of revised and up-dated easlier contribution of pioneering practitioners. This opus is a tour de force.

   Liptak is a long-time industrial consultant, teaches a graduate course in advanced process control at Yale and writes the widely-followed Lessons Learned feature in CONTROL magazine. He has also lectured at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and been published on the editorial pages of the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.




2. This book is a Must Have in your Engineering Library.
   Liptak provides extensive detail for this to be your one-stop-shop for controls as well as a great introduction & encyclopedia for the rookies.
   Hats off to Liptak and his team.
   Just brace yourself for the 1,500 pages of information !! ;)



3. 
   Absolutely the Very Best Process Control Reference for the Process Control Engineer - Now Updated and Expanded !!. This is the second volume of the Instrument Engineer's Handbook, and. as its title suggests, it deals with Process control and Optimization, covering everything from Control Hardware, Control Theory, Control Strategies, and the Control and Optimization of Specific Unit Operations.
   
   The Chapters on Control Hardware cover in detail transmitters, controllers, control valves, regulators and other types of final control elements, PLCs, and other logic devices, human interfaces and displays, including the design of control rooms.
   
   The Chapters on Control Theory and Control Strategies covers everything from control basics and PID controllers, to tuning methods, stability, process characteristics, process modeling and simulation, model-based control, genetic and other evolutionary algorithms, fuzzy logic programming, neural networks and other advance control strategies.
   
   The Chapters on Control and Optimization of Unit Operations provide both in-depth of both the theory of operation and control, and practical implementation for the control of pumping, distillation, chemical reaction, heat transfer and many other.
   
   While evaluating and reviewing such sophisticated topics about Process Control, this handbook also tries and succeeds to provide and reinforce the reader with the most useful tool for the Automation and Control Engineer: Common Sense. In order to emphasize the importance of Common Sense, the Author gives some practical recommendations that include the following ones:
   
   - Before we can control a process, one must fully understand it.
   - Being progressive is good, but being a guinea pig is not. Therefore is the wrong control strategy is implemented, the performance of even the most advanced digital hardware will be unacceptable.
   - And Instrumentation, Automation, and Process Control Engineer or Technician is doing a good and better job by telling plant management what they need to know, and not what they like to hear.
   - If an instrument is worth installing, it should also be worth calibrating and maintaining. No device can outperform the reference against it was calibrated.
   - Trust your common sense not the sales literature. Independent performance evaluation based on the recommendation of international and national users associations should be done before installation, and not after it.
   
   I am an Industrial Practitioner of Process Measurement & Control. I have been working in the Process Industries for more than 16 years as an Automation, Instrumentation, Process Safety and Process Control Engineer. I consider this book to be the very best reference in the field for anyone and everyone working in these areas or in areas related with their Industrial applications. You will find this handbook useful, either if your work is related with the engineering, maintenance or operation of Process Control Systems.
   
   If you are a beginner to Process Control, you may also want to consider "Process Dynamics, Modeling, and Control (Topics in Chemical Engineering)" by Babatunde A. Ogunnaike, which is an excelent introductory reference to Chemical Processes Dynamics and Control.

2 comments about Textile Testing and Analysis.

1. This book is not only poorly written, it is also poorly edited. I am not a textile engineer or textile technologist, and I found obvious errors in the first chapters that would actually affect the quality of work anyone using this book would perform. I think that the authors of this book should be ashamed of themselves. I suspect they are professors that needed to be published, and now they are. Their peers should review this book before giving them any credibility.



2. For anyone who is involved in textile testing and analysis, this book is very thorough. It not only lists which acceptable testing standards to use, AATCC, ASTM, etc. but it explains different considerations for unexpected results. I'm not sure what business someone who is "not a textile engineer or textile technologist" has reviewing this book. I doubt it was intended to be a great work of literature to read in one's spare time. I do however believe that it is an excellent resource and guide to anyone who actually works in a textile lab and analyzes test results.