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Carbon Sequestration for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
by David A. Ussiri Rattan LalThis book provides an understanding of the role of human activities in accelerating change in global carbon cycling summarizes current knowledge of the contemporary carbon budget. Starting from the geological history, this volume follows a multidisciplinary approach to analyze the role of human activities in perturbing carbon cycling by quantifying changes in different reservoirs and fluxes of carbon with emphasis on the anthropogenic activities, especially after the industrial revolution. It covers the role of different mitigation options – natural ecological, engineered, and geoengineered processes as well as the emerging field of climate engineering in avoiding dangerous abrupt climate change. Although the targeted audience is the educators, students, researchers and scientific community, the simplified analysis and synthesis of current and up to date scientific literature makes the volume easier to understand and a tool policy makers can use to make an informed policy decisions.
Toward an Other Globalization: From the Single Thought to Universal Conscience (Pioneers in Arts, Humanities, Science, Engineering, Practice #12)
by Lucas Melgaço Tim Clarke Milton SantosThis book presents an alternative theory of globalization that derives not from the dominant perspective of the West, from which this process emerged, but from the critical vantage point of the Third World, which has borne the heaviest burdens of globalization. It offers a critical and uniquely first-hand perspective that is lacking not only from the apologists of Western hegemony, but from most scholars writing against this hegemony from within the globalizing world. Renowned throughout Latin America and parts of Europe, the author, Brazilian geographer Milton Santos, has long been for the most part inaccessible to the English-speaking world. Only one of his books, The Shared Space: The Two Circuits of the Urban Economy in Underdeveloped Countries, published in 1975, has been translated into English; nevertheless, the works of Santos's most important phase, from the 1980s until his death in 2001, have remained unavailable to English readers. With the translation of Toward an Other Globalization, one of the last works published in Santos’s lifetime, this situation has finally been rectified. In this book, Santos argues that we must consider globalization in three different senses: globalization as a fable (the world as globalizing agents make us believe), as perversity (the world as it is presently, in the throes of globalization), and as possibility (the world as it could be). What emerges from the analysis of these three senses is an alternative theory of globalization rooted in the perspective of the so-called Global South. Santos concludes his text with a message that is optimistic, but in no way naïve. What he offers instead is a revolutionary optimism and, indeed, an other globalization.
Evolution of Motions of a Rigid Body About its Center of Mass
by Felix L. Chernousko Leonid D. Akulenko Dmytro D. LeshchenkoThe book presents a unified and well-developed approach to the dynamics of angular motions of rigid bodies subjected to perturbation torques of different physical nature. It contains both the basic foundations of the rigid body dynamics and of the asymptotic method of averaging. The rigorous approach based on the averaging procedure is applicable to bodies with arbitrary ellipsoids of inertia. Action of various perturbation torques, both external (gravitational, aerodynamical, solar pressure) and internal (due to viscous fluid in tanks, elastic and visco-elastic properties of a body) is considered in detail. The book can be used by researchers, engineers and students working in attitude dynamics of spacecraft.
Dependent Growth: Foreign Investment and the Development of the Automotive Industry in East-Central Europe
by Petr PavlínekThis book offers a critical analysis of recent developments in the automotive industry of East-Central Europe (ECE). Economists, industry specialists and national governments have considered the rapid development of the automotive industry in ECE in the past twenty years an unqualified success. This rapid growth has been based on large inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) from Western Europe, North America, Japan and South Korea, and it significantly contributed to GDP growth, created thousands of new jobs, and completely transformed the previously existing automotive industry in the region. This volume offers an analysis that goes beyond uncritical celebratory accounts of this rapid growth. It is based on original, detailed firm-level research conducted by the author in Czechia and Slovakia between 2009 and 2015 that covered assembly firms and the networks of component suppliers. Theoretically and conceptually, the analysis will draw on the global production networks and global value chains perspectives. Drawing on the original empirical data and on additional available information, this volume concentrates on several important questions related to the development of the automotive industry in ECE in the 2000s:• The role of FDI in the rapid development of the automotive industry after 1990 and particularly in the 2000s.• The upgrading of the automotive industry in East-Central Europe through FDI• The position of ECE in the automotive industry research and development (R&D)• The effects of the 2008-2009 economic crisis in the automotive industry of ECE.• The role of state in the rapid development of the automotive industry in ECE in the 1990s and 2000s.• The effects of FDI on domestic firms in the form of linkages between foreign-owned and domestic firms and spillovers from foreign-owned to domestic firms.
An Assessment of Mine Legacies and How to Prevent Them: A Case Study from Latin America (SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science)
by Vladimir Pacheco CuevaThis book seeks to enrich the growing literature on mine legacies by examining a case study of a small abandoned mine in Latin America. Using a combination of Rapid Rural Appraisal and secondary source analysis, this study assessed some of the most damaging legacies of the San Sebastian mine in eastern El Salvador, compared the country’s mine closure legislation against world’s best practice standards and provided strategies for awareness, prevention and remediation. The most damaging legacy to the environment is that of Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) contamination of the local river. The impact of AMD is felt well beyond the mining district and the costs of prevention and remediation were found to be significant. Apart from environmental legacies, the mine also left a number of socio-economic legacies including: limited access to non-polluted water that results in San Sebastian residents devoting a high proportion of their income in obtaining water, lost opportunities due to the cessation of mining, uncertain land tenure situation and increasing growth of ASGM activities that exacerbate already existing environmental pollution due to use of mercury. The study also found that the state’s capacity to ensure compliance with the law is very weak and that in many important respects the country’s current legal framework does not meet world’s best practice when it comes to mine closure requirements.The findings are important because they demonstrate that the lack of closure planning can lead to private operators socializing the costs of pollution. The study also shows that the lack of state capacity may result in extractive projects becoming socio-economic liabilities in the long term.
The c and a-Theorems and the Local Renormalisation Group (SpringerBriefs in Physics)
by Graham ShoreThe Zamolodchikov c-theorem has led to important new insights in the understanding of the Renormalisation Group (RG) and the geometry of the space of QFTs. The present primer introduces and reviews the parallel developments of the search for a higher-dimensional generalisation of the c-theorem and of the Local RG (LRG).The idea of renormalisation with position-dependent couplings, running under local Weyl scaling, is traced from its early realisations to the elegant modern formalism of the LRG. The key rôle of the associated Weyl consistency conditions in establishing RG flow equations for the coefficients of the trace anomaly in curved spacetime, and their relation to the c-theorem and four-dimensional a-theorem, is explained in detail.A number of different derivations of the c-theorem in two dimensions are presented and subsequently generalised to four dimensions. The obstructions to establishing monotonic C-functions related to the trace anomaly coefficients in four dimensions are explained. The possibility of deriving an a-theorem for the coefficient of the Euler-Gauss-Bonnet density is explored, initially by formulating the QFT on maximally symmetric spaces. Then the formulation of the weak a-theorem using a dispersion relation for four-point functions is presented. Finally, the application of the LRG to the issue of limit cycles in theories with a global symmetry is described, shedding new light on the geometry of the space of couplings in QFT.
Ethnic Landscapes of America
by John A. CrossThis volume provides a comprehensive catalog of how various ethnic groups in the United States of America have differently shaped their cultural landscape. Author John Cross links an overview of the spatial distributions of many of the ethnic populations of the United States with highly detailed discussions of specific local cultural landscapes associated with various ethnic groups. This book provides coverage of several ethnic groups that were omitted from previous literature, including Italian-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Japanese-Americans, and Arab-Americans, plus several smaller European ethnic populations. The book is organized to provide an overview of each of the substantive ethnic landscapes in the United States. Between its introduction and conclusion, which looks towards the future, the chapters on the various ethnic landscapes are arranged roughly in chronological order, such that the timing of the earliest significant surviving landscape contribution determines the order the groups will be viewed. Within each chapter the contemporary and historical spatial distribution of the ethnic groups are described, the historical geography of the group’s settlement is reviewed, and the salient aspects of material culture that characterize or distinguish the group’s ethnic landscape are discussed. Ethnics Landscapes of America is designed for use in the classroom as a textbook or as a reader in a North American regional course or a cultural geography course. This volume also can function as a detailed summary reference that should be of interest to geographers, historians, ethnic scholars, other social scientists, and the educated public who wish to understand the visible elements of material culture that various ethnic populations have created on the landscape.
Water and Land Security in Drylands: Response to Climate Change
by Mohamed Ouessar Donald Gabriels Atsushi Tsunekawa Steven EvettThis book presents recent lessons learned in the context of research and development for various dryland ecosystems, focusing on water resources management, land and vegetation cover degradation and remediation, and socioeconomic aspects, as well as integrated approaches to ensuring water and land security in view of the current and predicted climate change. As water and land are the essential bases of food production, the management of these natural resources is becoming a cornerstone for the development of dryland populations. The book gathers the peer-reviewed, revised versions of the most outstanding papers on these topics presented at the ILDAC2015 Conference in Djerba, Tunisia.
Making Value and Career Building in the Creative Economy: Evidence from Contemporary Visual Art (SpringerBriefs in Geography)
by Melanie FascheThis work offers a nuanced perspective based on empirical evidence of the role of talent and creativity for economic growth, prosperity, social and spatial inequality, and precarity in creative cities by arguing that creativity and talent need to be valued and eventually rewarded to achieve sufficient conditions for individual economic success. Shedding light on the recent momentum of a growing convergence of cultural and economic spheres in post‐industrial societies by building on a case study of contemporary visual art from interviews with commercial gallerists. Written from an economic geography and historical-institutional perspective while leveraging the analytic strength of the established repertoire of other social science disciplines this book will provide a fascinating read for economic geographers and other social scientists researching the creative and knowledge economy as well as arts professionals aiming to better understand the process of making value of contemporary visual art.
Silica Stories
by Christina De La Rocha Daniel J. ConleyDo you know silica, the tetrahedra of silicon and oxygen constituting the crystals of New Agers and the desiccant in a box of new shoes? It's no mere mundane mineral. As chemically reacting silicate rocks, silica set off the chain of events known as the origin of life. As biomineralized opal, it is the cell wall, skeleton, spicules, and scales of organisms ornamenting numerous lobes of the tree of life. Cryptocrystalline silica made into stone tools helped drive the evolution of our hands and our capability for complex grammar, music, and mathematics. As quartz crystals, silica is impressively electric and ubiquitous in modern technology (think sonar, radios, telephones, ultrasound, and cheap but precise watches). Silica is inescapable when we take a drink or mow the lawn and it has already started to save the Earth from the carbon dioxide we're spewing into the atmosphere. This book tells these scientific tales and more, to give dear, modest silica its due.
Regional Studies on Economic Growth, Financial Economics and Management: Proceedings of the 19th Eurasia Business and Economics Society Conference (Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics #7)
by Mehmet Huseyin Bilgin Hakan Danis Ender Demir Ugur CanThis volume presents selected papers from the 19th Eurasia Business and Economics Society (EBES) Conference held in Istanbul. Its primary emphasis is on showcasing the latest empirical research on social change, sustainable development and the management of public and private organizations in emerging economies. The respective articles also address more specialized and related topics such as financial risk tolerance, international strategic partnerships, female labor force participation, human capital dynamics, and economic integration, among others.
Sustainable Value Management for Construction Projects
by Ayodeji E. Oke Clinton O. AigbavboaThis book provides a unique guide to value management and sustainability in construction to researchers and professional. The book provides a better understanding of the concept of value management, the basis of sustainable construction and thereafter, demonstrates how using the principles of value management can help to achieve successful construction projects that are financially viable, socially beneficial and do not damage the environment.The book serves as an introduction to value management for scholars and researchers at all levels; and also as a practical guide for construction professionals, employers and other stakeholders in the construction industry.
Dynamics of Mechanical Systems with Non-Ideal Excitation (Mathematical Engineering)
by Livija Cveticanin Miodrag Zukovic Jose Manoel BalthazarIn this book the dynamics of the non-ideal oscillatory system, in which the excitation is influenced by the response of the oscillator, is presented. Linear and nonlinear oscillators with one or more degrees of freedom interacting with one or more energy sources are treated. This concerns for example oscillating systems excited by a deformed elastic connection, systems excited by an unbalanced rotating mass, systems of parametrically excited oscillator and an energy source, frictionally self-excited oscillator and an energy source, energy harvesting system, portal frame – non-ideal source system, non-ideal rotor system, planar mechanism – non-ideal source interaction. For the systems the regular and irregular motions are tested. The effect of self-synchronization, chaos and methods for suppressing chaos in non-ideal systems are considered. In the book various types of motion control are suggested. The most important property of the non-ideal system connected with the jump-like transition from a resonant state to a non-resonant one is discussed. The so called ‘Sommerfeld effect’, resonant unstable state and jumping of the system into a new stable state of motion above the resonant region is explained. A mathematical model of the system is solved analytically and numerically. Approximate analytical solving procedures are developed. Besides, simulation of the motion of the non-ideal system is presented. The obtained results are compared with those for the ideal case. A significant difference is evident. The book aims to present the established results and to expand the literature in non-ideal vibrating systems. A further intention of the book is to give predictions of the effects for a system where the interaction between an oscillator and the energy source exist. The book is targeted at engineers and technicians dealing with the problem of source-machine system, but is also written for PhD students and researchers interested in non-linear and non-ideal problems.
Energy Efficiency in the Minerals Industry: Best Practices and Research Directions (Green Energy and Technology)
by Kwame Awuah-OffeiThis book presents a state-of-the-art analysis of energy efficiency as applied to mining processes. From ground fragmentation to mineral processing and extractive metallurgy, experts discuss the current state of knowledge and the nagging questions that call for further research. It offers an excellent resource for all mine managers and engineers who want to improve energy efficiency to boost both production efficiency and sustainability. It will also benefit graduate students and experienced researchers looking for a comprehensive review of the current state of knowledge concerning energy efficiency in the minerals industry.
Spatial Modeling and Assessment of Urban Form: Analysis of Urban Growth: From Sprawl to Compact Using Geospatial Data
by Biswajeet PradhanThis book discusses the application of Geospatial data, Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) technologies in analysis and modeling of urban growth process, and its pattern, with special focus on sprawl and compact form of urban development. The book explains these two kinds of urban forms (sprawl and compact urban development) in detail regarding their advantages, disadvantages, indicators, assessment, modeling, implementation and their relationship with urban sustainability. It confirms that the proposed modeling approaches, geospatial data and GIS are very practical for identifying urban growth, land use change patterns and their general trends in future. The analyses and modeling approaches presented in this book can be employed to guide the identification and measurements of the changes and growth likely to happen in urban areas. In addition, this book can be helpful for town planning and development in order to design urban areas in a compact form and eventually sustainable manner.
Geological Records of the Fuegian Andes Deformed Complex Framed in a Patagonian Orogenic Belt Regional Context (SpringerBriefs in Earth System Sciences)
by Rogelio Daniel AcevedoThis book studies the Fuegian Andes in Argentina, showing both simple and complex aspects. The first ones refer to the general stratigraphy of the area and the latter result from their tectonic characteristics. Concerning the stratigraphy, an appraisal of the denomination and valorization of formations of Jurassic and early Cretaceous age is performed here to reach the simple scheme of the Fuegian-Patagonian continuity under the name of “Fuegian Andes Deformed Complex”. As an essay the formational nomenclature is simplified and the local concept of basement is evaluated. In relation to their structural aspects it is assumed that the formation of the orogenic Fuegian arc and the folding of the Mesozoic and early Tertiary layers are connected phenomena. Tectonic forces from the West, the Northeast and the South have had participation in the formation of the tectonic arc. The lithostatic column pressure was added once the layers were folded and thrusted upwards during the birth of the Fuegian Andes. Even the speculation of a great main fold overturned to North, as an abstraction, is considered. Instead, the Magallanes-Fagnano fault is appreciated only as a product of the transcurrent Quaternary movements, lacking associated eruptive processes that contribute to define plate borders.
Anthropogenic Soils (Progress in Soil Science)
by Jeffrey HowardThis book is a state-of-the-art review of the physical, chemical and mineralogical properties of anthropogenic soils, their genesis morphology and classification, geocultural setting, and strategies for reclamation, revitalization, use and management.
Famines During the ʻLittle Ice Ageʼ (1300-1800): Socionatural Entanglements in Premodern Societies
by Dominik Collet Maximilian SchuhThis highly interdisciplinary book studies historical famines as an interface of nature and culture. It will bring together researchers from the natural and social sciences as well as the humanities. With reference to recent interdisciplinary concepts (disaster studies, vulnerability studies, environmental history) it will examine, how the dominant opposition of natural and cultural factors can be overcome. Such an integrated approach includes the "archives of nature" as well as "archives of man". It challenges deterministic models of human-environment interaction and replaces them with a dynamic, historicising approach. As a result it provides a fresh perspective on the entanglement of climate and culture in past societies.
Lectures on Hyperhamiltonian Dynamics and Physical Applications (Mathematical Physics Studies)
by Giuseppe Gaeta Miguel A. RodríguezThis book provides the mathematical foundations of the theory of hyperhamiltonian dynamics, together with a discussion of physical applications. In addition, some open problems are discussed. Hyperhamiltonian mechanics represents a generalization of Hamiltonian mechanics, in which the role of the symplectic structure is taken by a hyperkähler one (thus there are three Kähler/symplectic forms satisfying quaternionic relations). This has proved to be of use in the description of physical systems with spin, including those which do not admit a Hamiltonian formulation. The book is the first monograph on the subject, which has previously been treated only in research papers.
Advances in Geomorphology and Quaternary Studies in Argentina: Proceedings of the Sixth Argentine Geomorphology and Quaternary Studies Congress (Springer Earth System Sciences)
by Jorge RabassaThis proceedings volume presents selected research highlights from the Sixth Argentine Geomorphology and Quaternary Studies Congress, hosted at CADIC, Ushuaia, on April 8–12, 2015 by the Argentine Association of Geomorphology and Quaternary Studies (AACYG). The congress included special sessions, symposia, invited lectures and posters on the following topics: Quaternary stratigraphy and geochronology, paleontology (diatoms, mollusks, foraminifera, palynology, phytoliths, paleobotany, vertebrates), dendrochronology, climate change, paleoclimate, Pampean Quaternary paleolimnology, paleomagnetism, environmental magnetism, hydrogeochemical processes, geoarchaeology, geomorphology, structural geology and neotectonics, paleosurfaces, volcanism, geological hazards, assets, geomorphosites, and digital mapping. The Scientific Committee of the Congress has selected the papers published in this volume from more than 150 contributions in many different disciplines.
The Role of Integrity in the Governance of the Commons: Governance, Ecology, Law, Ethics
by Laura Westra Janice Gray Franz-Theo GottwaldThis book explores the impact of disintegrity on various aspects of governance, as the disregard of ecological conditions produce grave direct effects to human rights (to water or food) and, indirectly, also to human security in several ways. International legal regimes need to be reconsidered and perhaps re-interpreted, in order to correct these situations that affect the commons today.Some believe that our starting point should acknowledge the impact we already have on the natural world, and accept that we now live in the "anthropocene". Others think that the present emphasis on sustainable development needs to be re-defined. Finally, many believe that reconnecting with moral principles both in professional life and in governance in general represents a necessary first step.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, its Impact on Egyptian Agriculture and the Potential for Alleviating Water Scarcity (Environment & Policy #55)
by Youssef M. HamadaThis book covers the entire Nile Basin and reflects the latest findings. It provides unique and cutting-edge insights into the region’s agriculture, water resources, governance, poverty, productivity, upstream-downstream linkages, innovations, future plans and their implications.Many international summits and conferences have declared that there is an urgent need to save agriculture from its demise. Most international agencies now recognize that something must be done, but what? Beyond policy changes, the restructuring of global governance and institutional reforms are called for. Commitments must be translated into concrete actions leading to a renewed interest in agriculture and a return to the basic objective of achieving food security.
Urban Sustainability through Smart Growth: Intercurrence, Planning, and Geographies of Regional Development across Greater Seattle (The Urban Book Series)
by Yonn DierwechterThis book investigates the new urban geographies of “smart” metropolitan regionalism across the Greater Seattle area and examines the relationship between smart growth planning strategies and spaces of work, home, and mobility. The book specifically explores Seattle within the wider space-economy and multi-scaled policy regime of the Puget Sound region as a whole, ‘jumping up’ from questions of city politics to concerns with what the book interprets as the “intercurrence” of city-regional “ordering." These theoretical terms capture the state-progressive effort to promote smarter forms of regional development but also the societal/institutional tensions and outright contradictions that such urban development invariably entails, particularly around problems of social equity. Key organizing themes in the text include: the historical path-dependencies of uneven economic and social development, particularly between Tacoma-Pierce County and Seattle-King County; current patterns of high-wage, medium-wage, and low-wage jobs; the emerging spatial and social structure of recent residential changes, especially with respect to class and race composition; and, finally, transit trends and new urban spaces associated with policy efforts to mitigate highway congestion and car-dependency. Greater Seattle, then, is mapped as a key US urban region inscribed spatially by the uneven search for a more sustainable order. Historically-sensitive, theoretically-informed and empirically topical, this book is of interest to scholars and students at all levels in regional planning, urban geography, political science, sustainability studies, urban sociology and public policy.
Building Sustainable Cities of the Future (Green Energy and Technology)
by Justin BishopThis book draws upon the expertise of academic researchers, urban planners and architects to explore the challenge of building the sustainable cities of the future. It addresses this challenge by considering current cities and those of the near future, and creates a picture of the sustainable city from the bottom up.Individual chapters cover topics such as transport, energy supply, sustainable urbanism and promoting social equality in large infrastructure projects. Real-world examples are presented to illustrate how systems thinking is used to integrate different components of a city so as to ensure that the whole is more sustainable than its parts.Written in an accessible style, this book is intended for general readers as much as it is for students and researchers interested in sustainable cities and related topics. It is also ideal for urban planners seeking best-practice guidelines for sustainable urban development.
Disaster Risk Reduction in Indonesia: Progress, Challenges, and Issues (Disaster Risk Reduction)
by Riyanti Djalante Matthias Garschagen Frank Thomalla Rajib ShawThis book is a unique, transdisciplinary summary of the state of the art of disaster risk reduction (DRR) in Indonesia. It provides a comprehensive overview of disaster risk governance across all levels and multiple actors including diverse perspectives from practitioners and researchers on the challenges and progress of DRR in Indonesia. The book includes novel and emerging topics such as the role of culture, religion, psychology and the media in DRR. It is essential reading for students, researchers, and policy makers seeking to understand the nature and variety of environmental hazards and risk patterns affecting Indonesia.Following the introduction, the book has four main parts of key discussions. Part I presents disaster risk governance from national to local level and its integration into development sectors, Part II focuses on the roles of different actors for DRR, Part III discusses emerging issues in DRR research and practice, and Part IV puts forward variety of methods and studies to measure hazards, risks and community resilience.