Geographical Information Systems, Three Volume Set is a computer system used to capture, store, analyze and display information related to positions on the Earth's surface. It has the ability to show multiple types of information on multiple geographical locations in a single map, enabling users to assess patterns and relationships between different information points, a crucial component for multiple aspects of modern life and industry. This 3-volumes reference provides an up-to date account of this growing discipline through in-depth reviews authored by leading experts in the field. VOLUME EDITORS Thomas J. Cova The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States Ming-Hsiang Tsou San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, United States Georg Bareth University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany Chunqiao Song University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States Yan Song University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States Kai Cao National University of Singapore, Singapore Elisabete A. Silva University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Ten Maps that tell you everything your need to know about global politics - the million copy international bestseller

Geography shapes not only our history, but where we're headed...

ON THE RUSSIA/UKRAINE CRISIS - What is driving Russia's foreign policy? Why do Putin's actions mirror those made in the past? Prisoners of Geography analyses the geographic weaknesses and historical invasions of Russia's territories, exploring how they have ultimately shaped the decisions of its leaders past and present.

All leaders are constrained by geography. Their choices are limited by mountains, rivers, seas and concrete. Yes, to follow world events you need to understand people, ideas and movements - but if you don't know geography, you'll never have the full picture.

If you've ever wondered why Putin is so obsessed with Crimea, why the USA was destined to become a global superpower, or why China's power base continues to expand ever outwards, the answers are all here.

In ten chapters and ten maps, Prisoners of Geography looks at the past, present and future to offer an essential insight into one of the major factors that determines world history.

Networks of Invasion: Networks of Invasion: Empirical Evidence and Case Studies, Volume 57 bridges a conceptual gap between ecological network studies and invasion biology studies. This book contains chapters detailing pressing concerns regarding invasive species in food webs, but also extends the idea of networks of invasion to other systems, such as mutualistic networks or even the human microbiome. Chapters describe the tools, models and empirical methods adapted for tackling invasions in ecological networks, including sections on parasites and biological invasions, invasions in freshwater systems, and those in host-associated microbiome networks. In addition, the book provides interesting discussions on the importance of microorganisms and their relationship to macroorganisms.

Quantifying and Managing Soil Functions in Earth's Critical Zone: Combining Experimentation and Mathematical Modelling, Volume 142, the latest in the Advances in Agronomy series continues its reputation as a leading reference and first-rate source for the latest research in agronomy. Each volume contains an eclectic group of reviews by leading scientists throughout the world. Five volumes are published yearly, ensuring that the authors' contributions are disseminated to the readership in a timely manner. As always, the subjects covered are varied and exemplary of the myriad of subject matter dealt with by this long-running serial.

PLAY AND LEARN: learn about bees and biodiversity as you play this family strategy game for age 6+, based on traditional Mancala

SCREEN-FREE FUN for two players aged 6 and up

SOMETHING TO TREASURE: this is a quality product made to last, with bespoke illustration and sleek and stylish packaging

EXPLORE THE ENTIRE SERIES: this game is one of our nature games, others include Bird Bingo, I Saw It First! Ocean, Match a Leaf, Under the Sea

LAURENCE KING PUBLISHING has been capturing imaginations and inspiring creativity in new and unexpected ways for over 30 years, with playful and eye-catching games, gifts and books

Buzz the bees to the flowers to collect pollen and then back to the hive to make honey for feeding and growing your very own bee colony. The player with the largest colony wins! Based on the ancient gameplay of mancala, Beehive Mancala is a fun strategy game for adults and children aged 6+. Includes facts about the bees and flowers featured, plus details on the honey-making process and the importance of bees from the beekeeper at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Since the appearance of Homo sapiens on the planet hundreds of thousands of years ago, human beings have sought to exploit their environments, extracting as many resources as their technological ingenuity has allowed. As technologies have advanced in recent centuries, that impulse has remained largely unchecked, exponentially accelerating the human impact on the environment. Humans versus Nature tells a history of the global environment from the Stone Age to the present, emphasizing the adversarial relationship between the human and natural worlds. Nature is cast as an active protagonist, rather than a mere backdrop or victim of human malfeasance. Daniel R. Headrick shows how environmental changes-epidemics, climate shocks, and volcanic eruptions-have molded human societies and cultures, sometimes overwhelming them. At the same time, he traces the history of anthropogenic changes in the environment-species extinctions, global warming, deforestation, and resource depletion-back to the age of hunters and gatherers and the first farmers and herders. He shows how human interventions such as irrigation systems, over-fishing, and the Industrial Revolution have in turn harmed the very societies that initiated them. Throughout, Headrick examines how human-driven environmental changes are interwoven with larger global systems, dramatically reshaping the complex relationship between people and the natural world. In doing so, he roots the current environmental crisis in the deep past.

"We have to adapt to the impacts that, unfortunately, we can no longer avoid", said President Obama at the UN Climate Summit in September 2014. Adaptation and resilience are now a must in both academic research and international bodies. A fashionable concept, resilience's polysemy sparks many debates on its uses and operational relevance. This book bridges the increasing divide between academic research and the latest planning innovations, offering practical and conceptual insights for practitioners, researchers and students. Magali Reghezza-Zitt and Samuel Rufat present a cross-disciplinary, state-of-the-art debate and critical analysis of the social, spatial, practical and political implications of resilience.

This book is the result of over ten years of field research across Zambia. It covers the production and diverse uses of wood and non-wood forest products in different parts of Zambia. Although a short format, it is a multi-contributed work. It starts an overview of the forestry sector, and covers more specific areas like production, markets and trade of wood and non-wood products; the role of non-wood forest products in the livelihood of the local population, the contribution of the forestry sector to Zambia's overall economy and reviews of efforts to strategically utilize these resources for local economic, and sustainable, development.

Featuring new exercises related to tomato grafting, designing gardens, the safe operation of power equipment, and utilizing apps as horticultural tools, the NINTH EDITION of the LAB MANUAL TO ACCOMPANY INTRODUCTORY HORTICULTURE contains a variety of hands-on activities to help you retain and apply key concepts and information presented in the text.

Materials for Carbon Dioxide Mitigation Technology offers expert insight and experience from recognized authorities in advanced material development in carbon mitigation technology and constitutes a comprehensive guide to the selection and design of a wide range of solvent/sorbent/catalyst used by scientists globally. It appeals to chemical scientists, material scientists and engineers, energy researchers, and environmental scientists from academia, industry, and government in their research directed toward greener, more efficient carbon mitigation processes.

Chemostratigraphy: Concepts, Techniques, and Applications is the first collection of contributed articles that introduces young geoscientists to the discipline while providing seasoned practitioners with a standard reference that showcases the topic's most recent research and application developments. This multi-contributed reference on one of the youngest and most dynamic branches of the geosciences includes articles from some of the world's leading researchers. This book is a one-stop source of chemostratigraphy theory and application, helping geoscientists navigate through the wealth of new research that has emerged in recent years.

The world's population is expected to increase to over 8 billion by 2020. About 60% of the total population of the world lives in coastal areas and 65% of the cities with a population of over 2.5 million are located in coastal areas. Written by an international panel of experts in the fields of engineering and risk management, The Handbook of Coastal Disasters Mitigation presents a coherent overview of 10 years of coastal disaster risk management and engineering, during which some of the most relevant events of recent time have taken place, including the Indian Ocean tsunami, hurricanes Katrina and Sandy in the United States or the 2011 Japanese tsunami.

For much of its history, human population growth increased at a glacial pace. The demographic rate only soared about 200 years ago, climaxing in the period 1950-2000. In that 50-year span, the population grew more than it had in the previous 5000 years. Though these raw numbers are impressive, they conceal the fact that the growth rate of population topped out in the 1960s. The apparent population boom may be approaching a population bust, despite our coexistence with more than seven billion people. In On the Cusp, economist Charles Pearson explores the meaning of this population trend from the arc of demographic growth to decline. He reviews Thomas Malthus's famous 1798 argument that human population would exceed the earth's carrying capacity, and explains why this surfaces periodically when birth rates strongly exceed 2.1 children per household. Analyzing population trends through dual lenses - demography and economics - Pearson examines the potential opportunities and challenges of population decline and aging. In many industrialized countries, the combination of an aging population and considerable food security may call for policies that boost fertility, immigration, and worker participation, reform pension schemes, and ease concern over moderating rates of population and economic growth. Sharp and occasionally funny, Pearson's research has thought-provoking implications for future public policies. Pearson ends his analysis with a mildly hopeful conclusion, noting that both the rich and the poor face a new demographic order. Bold and comprehensive, general readers and students alike will find On the Cusp an informative and engaging read.

A provocative look at our nation's dependency on the automobile and how its potential impact on urban design will either make or break our health, economy, and quality of life. In this thought-provoking work, author and urban planning expert Chad Frederick scrutinizes the use of automobiles in cities, investigating its role in exacerbating urban inequalities and thwarting sustainability of modern society. Through a comprehensive, thoughtful discussion, Frederick illustrates how the automobile is fundamentally at odds with the very nature of cities. He shows how cars impose huge burdens on our health, equity, environment, local and national economy, and quality of life. Most of all, he shows how automobile dependency has put our entire society at risk. The book delves into the monumental role of automobiles in the development of cities after the Great Depression, impacting the American identity and affecting the way we produce and manage urban spaces. Frederick provides compelling evidence that cities with more diverse modes of transportation are greener, healthier, more prosperous, and even more enjoyable places to live than automobile-dependent cities. He identifies one institution responsible for our inability to improve our cities: the social sciences, and examines the root cause of our inability to make progress toward more multi-modal cities. In conclusion, the author offers a radical solution for moving beyond the underlying logic that forces us to create automobile-dependent cities. Shows how automobiles in urban areas harm health, economy, and society overall Explains why some are opposing the movement toward more multi-modal cities and why 40 years of research in this area has not resulted in better cities Explores how automobile dependency exerts enormous power over our daily lives by shaping the kind and quality of our social interactions, and by influencing our civic attitudes and worldviews Illustrates the broad impacts of automobile use that reach into every aspect of modern life: from public health and income inequality, to environmental quality and quality of life

Met haar innemende en boeiende vertelstyl teken Dot Serfontein in Systap onder die juk verhale oor die lewens van ’n versameling merkwaardige mense op.

Die leser leer ken ’n groep Noord-Vrystaters wat aan dié wêreld sy sonderlinge geskiedenis en karakter verleen het. Dit is ’n distrik “lankal reeds bewoon deur verantwoordelike, stoere mense wat hulle deur niemand laat voorsê nie”, soos dit in die titelverhaal gestel word.

Van hierdie stoere mense is byvoorbeeld die unieke tant Hannie Wolmarans. Die staaltjies oor haar het vir die skryfster as kind so onwaarskynlik geklink dat hulle in dieselfde klas as sprokies geval het. Daar is byvoorbeeld ook oom Lood, wat selfs in die eienaardige Serfontein-familie, hom kon onderskei as ’n eienaardige mens. Die luimige aard van die vertellings word ook in hierdie bundel deurweef met waardering en deernis, veral vir haar ma Boeta en pa Oupats.

Whether on a national or a personal level, everyone has a complex relationship with their closest neighbors. Where are the borders? How much interaction should there be? How are conflicts solved? Ancient Israel was one of several small nations clustered in the eastern Mediterranean region between the large empires of Egypt and Mesopotamia in antiquity. Frequently mentioned in the Bible, these other small nations are seldom the focus of the narrative unless they interact with Israel. The ancient Israelites who produced the Hebrew Bible lived within a rich context of multiple neighbors, and this context profoundly shaped Israel. Indeed, it was through the influence of the neighboring people that Israel defined its own identity-in terms of geography, language, politics, religion, and culture. Ancient Israel's Neighbors explores both the biblical portrayal of the neighboring groups directly surrounding Israel-the Canaanites, Philistines, Phoenicians, Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, and Arameans-and examines what we can know about these groups through their own literature, archaeology, and other sources. Through its analysis of these surrounding groups, this book will demonstrate in a direct and accessible manner the extent to which ancient Israelite identity was forged both within and against the identities of its close neighbors. Animated by the latest and best research, yet written for students, this book will invite readers into journey of scholarly discovery to explore the world of Israel's identity within its most immediate ancient Near Eastern context.

In March 2011 the Fukushima nuclear power plant (NPP) in Japan was hit by an earthquake and subsequent tsunami which resulted in the release of significant amounts of radioactive material. The incident led to the suspension of nuclear programmes by a number of countries. This book provides a definitive account of the accident.

This Third Edition of Elements of Petroleum Geology is completely updated and revised to reflect the vast changes in the field since publication of the Second Edition. This book is a usefulprimer for geophysicists, geologists, and petroleum engineers in the oil industry who wish to expand their knowledge beyond their specialized area. It is also an excellent introductory text for a university course in petroleum geoscience. Elements of Petroleum Geology begins with an account of the physical and chemical properties of petroleum, reviewing methods of petroleum exploration and production. These methods include drilling, geophysical exploration techniques, wireline logging, and subsurface geological mapping. After describing the temperatures and pressures of the subsurface environment and the hydrodynamics of connate fluids, Selley examines the generation and migration of petroleum, reservoir rocks and trapping mechanisms, and the habit of petroleum in sedimentary basins. The book contains an account of the composition and formation of tar sands and oil shales, and concludes with a brief review of prospect risk analysis, reserve estimation, and other economic topics.

Radioactive waste management and contaminated site clean-up reviews radioactive waste management processes, technologies, and international experiences. Part one explores the fundamentals of radioactive waste including sources, characterisation, and processing strategies. International safety standards, risk assessment of radioactive wastes and remediation of contaminated sites and irradiated nuclear fuel management are also reviewed. Part two highlights the current international situation across Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. The experience in Japan, with a specific chapter on Fukushima, is also covered. Finally, part three explores the clean-up of sites contaminated by weapons programmes including the USA and former USSR.
Radioactive waste management and contaminated site clean-up is a comprehensive resource for professionals, researchers, scientists and academics in radioactive waste management, governmental and other regulatory bodies and the nuclear power industry.
Explores the fundamentals of radioactive waste including sources, characterisation, and processing strategiesReviews international safety standards, risk assessment of radioactive wastes and remediation of contaminated sites and irradiated nuclear fuel managementHighlights the current international situation across Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America specifically including a chapter on the experience in Fukushima, Japan

Why is the United Nations not more effective on global environmental challenges? The UN Charter mandates the global organization to seek four noble aspirations: international peace and security, rule of law among nations, human rights for all people, and social progress through development. On environmental issues, however, the UN has understood its charge much more narrowly: it works for "better law between nations" and "better development within them." This approach treats peace and human rights as unrelated to the world's environmental problems, despite a large body of evidence to the contrary. In this path-breaking book, a leading scholar of global environmental governance critiques the UN's failure to use its mandates on human rights and peace as tools in its environmental work. The book traces the institutionalization and performance of the UN's "law and development" framework and the parallel silence on rights and peace. Despite some important gains, the traditional approach is failing for some of world's most pressing and contentious environmental challenges, and has lost most of the political momentum it once enjoyed. The disastrous "Rio+20" Summit laid this fact bare, as assembled governments failed to find meaningful agreement on any of the most pressing issues. By not treating the environment as a human rights issue, the UN fails to mobilize powerful tools for accountability in the face of pollution and resource degradation. And by ignoring the conflict potential around natural resources and environmental protection efforts, the UN misses opportunities to transform the destructive cycle of violence and vulnerability around resource extraction. The book traces the history of the UN's traditional approach, maps its increasingly apparent limits, and suggests needed reforms. Detailed case histories for each of the four mandate domains flag several promising initiatives, while identifying barriers to transformation. Its core implication: the UN's environmental efforts require not just a managerial reorganization but a conceptual revolution-one that brings to bear the full force of the organization's mandate. Peacebuilding, conflict sensitivity, rights-based frameworks, and accountability mechanisms can be used to enhance the UN's environmental effectiveness and legitimacy.

This book is the first comprehensive treatment of the major ethical and social issues resulting from the use of ionizing radiation. It covers topics such as nuclear fuel cycles, radioactive waste treatment, nuclear bomb testing, nuclear safety management, stakeholder engagement, cleanup after nuclear accidents, ecological risks from radiation, environmental justice, health and safety for radiation workers, radiation dose standards, the ethics of clinical radiology, and the principles of radiation protection and their ethical underpinnings. With authors ranging from philosophers to radiation protection officials and practitioners, the book spans from theoretical to practical implications of this important area of radiation risk assessment and management.
Covers all the major social and ethical issues in relation to radiation protectionInformation is easily accessible and non-technicalAuthors include leading radiation protection officials as well as specialists who are more independent of the radiation protection system, thus presenting both authoritative and more critical viewsIncludes theoretical perspectives as well as practical experience

Since the turn of the millennium, more than one million people have been killed and 2.3 billion others have been directly affected by natural disasters around the world. In cases like the 2010 Haiti earthquake or the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, these disasters have time and time again wrecked large populations and national infrastructures. While recognizing that improved rescue, evacuation, and disease control are crucial to reducing the effects of natural disasters, in the final analysis, poverty remains the main risk factor determining the long-term impact of natural hazards. Furthermore, natural disasters have themselves a tremendous impact on the poorest of the poor, who are often ill-prepared to deal with natural hazards and for whom a hurricane, an earthquake, or a drought can mean a permanent submersion in poverty. The Economic Impacts of Natural Disasters focuses on these concerns for poverty and vulnerability. Written by a collection of esteemed scholars in disaster management and sustainable development, the report provides an overview of the general trends in natural disasters and their effects by focusing on a critical analysis of different methodologies used to assess the economic impact of natural disasters. Economic Impacts presents six national case studies (Bangladesh, Vietnam, India, Nicaragua, Japan and the Netherlands) and shows how household surveys and country-level macroeconomic data can analyze and quantify the economic impact of disasters. The researchers within Economic Impacts have created path-breaking work and have opened new avenues for thinking and debate to push forward the frontiers of knowledge on economics of natural disasters. "A great report and an important addition to the literature about the economics of disasters and the cost-effectiveness of prevention, mitigation and adaption, including a good number of interesting and relevant applications from developed and devloping countries."-Javier E. Baez, Independent Evaluation Group, The World Bank

Bringing together ecology, evolutionary moral psychology, and environmental ethics, J. Baird Callicott counters the narrative of blame and despair that prevails in contemporary discussions of climate ethics and offers a fresh, more optimistic approach. Whereas other environmental ethicists limit themselves to what Callicott calls Rational Individualism in discussing the problem of climate change only to conclude that, essentially, there is little hope that anything will be done in the face of its "perfect moral storm" (in Stephen Gardiner's words), Callicott refuses to accept this view. Instead, he encourages us to look to the Earth itself, and consider the crisis on grander spatial and temporal scales, as we have failed to in the past. Callicott supports this theory by exploring and enhancing Aldo Leopold's faint sketch of an Earth ethic in "Some Fundamentals of Conservation in the Southwest," a seldom-studied text from the early days of environmental ethics that was written in 1923 but not published until 1979 after the environmental movement gathered strength.

Lubricants are essential in engineering, however more sustainable formulations are needed to avoid adverse effects on the ecosystem. Bio-based lubricant formulations present a promising solution. Biolubricants: Science and technology is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary and timely review of this important subject.
Initial chapters address the principles of lubrication, before systematically reviewing fossil and bio-based feedstock resources for biodegradable lubricants. Further chapters describe catalytic, (bio) chemical functionalisation processes for transformation of feedstocks into commercial products, product development, relevant legislation, life cycle assessment, major product groups and specific performance criteria in all major applications. Final chapters consider markets for biolubricants, issues to consider when selecting and using a lubricant, lubricant disposal and future trends.
With its distinguished authors, Biolubricants: Science and technology is a comprehensive reference for an industrial audience of oil formulators and lubrication engineers, as well as researchers and academics with an interest in the subject. It provides an essential overview of scientific and technological developments enabling the cost-effective improvement of biolubricants, something that is crucial for the green future of the lubricant industry.
A comprehensive, interdisciplinary and timely review of bio-based lubricant formulationsAddresses the principles of lubricationReviews fossil and bio-based feedstock resources for biodegradable lubricants