Acknowledgements
On a topic of the breadth which this book attempts, my friends and colleagues in the
industry and associated infrastructure sectors, and students from the University of
Mauritius, and ENSTA Paris (École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées,
Paris) have provided a useful platform to gather material as well as discussing ideas.
Naturally, errors in fact or interpretation are the responsibility of the author alone.
It is impossible for any one person to originate from personal knowledge and
experience all the information which comprises the subject matter of a technical
book of this kind. So, in addition to the valuable assistance received from those
already acknowledged, the author wishes to thank all the publishers and authors
from whom material for the text has been drawn. If any acknowledgement has been
overlooked, it is deeply regretted.
The preparation of the text has been supervised and monitored by Ms Karthika
Menon, Ms Margaret Deignan and their colleagues who had to give the text its
proper layout. Admittedly, not a very easy task with the numerous tables and figures.
I am thankful to them for their patience. My thanks also go to Ms Petra van
Steenbergen who gave the first encouragement for the book. The blame of any
poor quality photographs rests entirely upon me. The drawings were prepared by Mr
Anil Seenundun and his colleagues from my sketches, before being converted into
figures by the publisher.
xiii
On a topic of the breadth which this book attempts, my friends and colleagues in the
industry and associated infrastructure sectors, and students from the University of
Mauritius, and ENSTA Paris (École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées,
Paris) have provided a useful platform to gather material as well as discussing ideas.
Naturally, errors in fact or interpretation are the responsibility of the author alone.
It is impossible for any one person to originate from personal knowledge and
experience all the information which comprises the subject matter of a technical
book of this kind. So, in addition to the valuable assistance received from those
already acknowledged, the author wishes to thank all the publishers and authors
from whom material for the text has been drawn. If any acknowledgement has been
overlooked, it is deeply regretted.
The preparation of the text has been supervised and monitored by Ms Karthika
Menon, Ms Margaret Deignan and their colleagues who had to give the text its
proper layout. Admittedly, not a very easy task with the numerous tables and figures.
I am thankful to them for their patience. My thanks also go to Ms Petra van
Steenbergen who gave the first encouragement for the book. The blame of any
poor quality photographs rests entirely upon me. The drawings were prepared by Mr
Anil Seenundun and his colleagues from my sketches, before being converted into
figures by the publisher.
xiii