The book examines a new concern in water quality policy, namely aquatic micropollutants. Micropollutants are chemicals detected in small concentrations in waterbodies today, originating from pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, or detergents, among others. Since the regulation of micropollutants is a fairly new issue, it has been largely neglected in social sciences. However, the search for appropriate solutions is of high political relevance at both the national and international levels, with many open questions arising that concern the most adequate governance structures and steering mechanisms. Solutions suitable for classical, macro-pollutants, such as nutrients, do not necessarily apply to micropollutants because of the diversity of compounds and sources, and for technical, financial, and societal reasons. The book addresses this knowledge gap by investigating the steering mechanisms at hand and their prospect for problem solving. In this regard, the research provides a systematic depiction and comparison of policy designs in place for the reduction of micropollutants in the Rhine basin. Moreover, the study yields insights into the governance structures in place, into actors' responsibilities and constellations, and policy processes regarding micropollutants. The study is furthermore embedded into broader theoretical questions of policy research. More precisely, this research is a contribution to policy analysis that aims to achieve more optimal policy results by providing for a better understanding of the nature of policy designs and the social mechanisms behind the choice of them. Despite the intrinsic aim of policy analysis at contributing to more optimal policy outcomes, there remains a lack of research regarding analytical tools that enable an ex-ante assessment of policy designs' problem-solving abilities. To explore such a research path, this book proposes a novel index of policy comprehensiveness for quantifying the prospective performance of policy designs in alleviating an underlying policy issue, e.g. reducing pollutants in waters. Furthermore, the book uncovers the social mechanisms behind policymaking and turns to the question: In which social settings is it possible to achieve a comprehensive policy design? Compared to purely micro-level explanations, the advantage of the network approach is that it goes beyond the mere aggregation of policy actors' attributes by taking into consideration actors' interdependencies. In order to take the network approach seriously, the study systematically links the structure of a policy network with comprehensive policy designs. Network concepts, such as coalition structure, interconnectedness, and belief similarity, are employed from policy change research here in order to explore the link between structural network characteristics and comprehensive policy design. By studying how network structures affect policy design, the book critically examines the explanatory value of the network approach.

This book introduces the latest research regarding the adsorption of heavy metals, toxic ions, and organic compounds at the interfaces of water/minerals, such as mineralogical characterizations, surface chemistry, and modification of natural minerals as adsorbents, as well as the adsorption of cations, anions, and organic compounds in water. Presenting findings by the authors and their co-workers, the book helps readers grasp the principals and benefits of using minerals for water treatment, as well as the advanced technologies in the area developed over last 30 years, especially the last 10 years.

Is safe and sustainable water and sanitation for all an unaffordable pipedream? This book surveys the worldwide development of water and sewage services and the challenges in meeting Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6) along with climate change, population growth and urbanisation. It explores the reasons why current SDG6 progress is failing, including weak policy implementation, staff shortages and inadequate funding, as well as the limited impact of aid funding. The author contends that despite a series of innovations, debt finance remains too small to address needs of developing economies. Therefore, instead of advocating new funding, this book proposes addressing the funding gap through technological innovation and more efficient management and procurement through a series of examples that have challenged traditional assumptions. After four decades of good intentions, SDG6 is making a difference in monitoring shortfalls for the first time, allowing for more effective responses. This book outlines the role of innovation in hardware development, procurement and installation, and discusses how network management and operations can most effectively address funding gaps. The potential for savings is considerable, if effectively replicated. New approaches are driving forward affordable resilience, including nature-based solutions such as upstream habitat enhancement to retain water and improve downstream water quality; the circular economy, including water, nutrient, energy and heat recovery from wastewater; and demand management. This book will be of great value to scholars, policy makers and practitioners interested in the global finance of sustainable water and sanitation.

This is the third book in a series on Computational Methods in Earthquake Engineering. The purpose of this volume is to bring together the scientific communities of Computational Mechanics and Structural Dynamics, offering a wide coverage of timely issues on contemporary Earthquake Engineering. This volume will facilitate the exchange of ideas in topics of mutual interest and can serve as a platform for establishing links between research groups with complementary activities. The computational aspects are emphasized in order to address difficult engineering problems of great social and economic importance.

This book focuses on the geological characteristics and genesis of several base metal deposits in the northern margin of the North China Plate, namely the Bainaimiao Cu-Au-Mo, the Huogeqi Cu-Pb-Zn, the Dongshengmiao Zn-Pb-Cu and the Jiashengpan Zn-Pb deposits. These deposits have geological and geochemical affinities with orogenic-type deposits, such as shear zone-controlled mineralization and carbon-rich low-salinitiy ore-forming fluids, and are characterized by multistage ore-forming histories. Remobilization of the pre-enriched (stratabound or porphyry-type) base metals took place as responses to orogenesis and metamorphism, leading to metal redistribution and the formation of orogenic-type orebodies. The formation of orogenic-type base metal deposits is enigmatic, and the case studies presented in this book provide insights into understanding the genesis of this type of deposits. In particular, pre-enrichment of base metals seems to be important, in terms of preconditioning for later shear zone-controlled mineralization, since base metals are believed to have limited solubilities in the low-salinity ore-fluids.

The book presents a state-of-the-art overview of current developments in the field in a way accessible to attendees coming from a variety of fields. Relevant examples are turbulence research, (environmental) fluid mechanics, lake hydrodynamics and atmospheric physics. Topics discussed range from the fundamentals of rotating and stratified flows, mixing and transport in stratified or rotating turbulence, transport in the atmospheric boundary layer, the dynamics of gravity and turbidity currents eventually with effects of background rotation or stratification, mixing in (stratified) lakes, and the Lagrangian approach in the analysis of transport processes in geophysical and environmental flows. The topics are discussed from fundamental, experimental and numerical points of view. Some contributions cover fundamental aspects including a number of the basic dynamical properties of rotating and or stratified (turbulent) flows, the mathematical description of these flows, some applications in the natural environment, and the Lagrangian statistical analysis of turbulent transport processes and turbulent transport of material particles (including, for example, inertial and finite-size effects). Four papers are dedicated to specific topics such as transport in (stratified) lakes, transport and mixing in the atmospheric boundary layer, mixing in stratified fluids and dynamics of turbidity currents. The book is addressed to doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers, but also to academic and industrial researchers and practicing engineers, with a background in mechanical engineering, applied physics, civil engineering, applied mathematics, meteorology, physical oceanography or physical limnology.

The book is a practical manual which has been created to support the syllabus of agro-meteorology courses specifically designed for graduate and post-graduate students. The topics covered in the manual include working with meteorological instruments for measurement of various meteorological parameters like temperature, humidity, sunshine hours, precipitation, etc. Separate chapters have been included for computation of growing degree days, agro-climatic zones, crop modelling and agro-advisory services. The book will have great appeal to students of agriculture, horticulture, and forestry.

This volume addresses major evolutionary changes that took place during the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic. These include discussions on major evolutionary radiations and ecological innovations on land and at sea, such as the Mesozoic marine revolution, the Mesozoic radiation of vertebrates, the Mesozoic lacustrine revolution, the Cenozoic radiation of mammals, the evolution of paleosol biotas, and the evolution of hominins. The roles of mass extinctions at the end of the Triassic and at the end of the Cretaceous are assessed. This volume set provides innovative reviews of the major evolutionary events in the history of life from an ichnologic perspective. Because the long temporal range of trace fossils has been commonly emphasized, biogenic structures have been traditionally overlooked in macroevolution. However, comparisons of ichnofaunas through geologic time do reveal the changing ecology of organism-substrate interactions. The use of trace fossils in evolutionary paleoecology represents a new trend that is opening a window for our understanding of major evolutionary radiations and mass extinctions. Trace fossils provide crucial evidence for the recognition of spatial and temporal patterns and processes associated with paleoecologic breakthroughs.

This book presents current applications of remote sensing techniques for clouds and precipitation for the benefit of students, educators, and scientists. It covers ground-based systems such as weather radars and spaceborne instruments on satellites. Measurements and modeling of precipitation are at the core of weather forecasting, and long-term observations of the cloud system are vital to improving atmospheric models and climate projections. The first section of the book focuses on the use of ground-based weather radars to observe and measure precipitation and to detect and forecast storms, thunderstorms, and tornadoes. It also discusses the observation of clouds using ground-based millimeter radar. The second part of the book concentrates on spaceborne remote sensing of clouds and precipitation. It includes cases from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, using satellite radars to observe precipitation systems. Then, the focus is on global cloud observations from the ClaudSat, Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO), including a perspective on the Earth Clouds, Aerosols, and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) satellite. It also addresses global atmospheric water vapor profiling for clear and cloudy conditions using microwave observations. The final part of this volume provides a perspective into advances in cloud modeling using remote sensing observations.

This book aims at providing a brief but broad overview of biosignatures. The topics addressed range from prebiotic signatures in extraterrestrial materials to the signatures characterising extant life as well as fossilised life, biosignatures related to space, and space flight instrumentation to detect biosignatures either in situ or from orbit. The book ends with philosophical reflections on the implications of life elsewhere. In the 15 chapters written by an interdisciplinary team of experts, it provides both detailed explanations on the nature of biosignatures as well as useful case studies showing how they are used and identified in ancient rocks, for example. One case study addresses the controversial finding of traces of fossil life in a meteorite from Mars. The book will be of interest not only to astrobiologists but also to terrestrial paleontologists as well as any reader interested in the prospects of finding a second example of life on another planet.

This book reviews the geochemical and petrological characteristics of potassic igneous rock complexes, and investigates the various tectonic settings in which these rocks occur. The authors provide an overview and classification of these rocks and elucidate the geochemical differences between barren and mineralized potassic igneous complexes. High-K rocks are genetically associated with a number of epithermal gold and porphyry copper-gold deposits. In recent years, there has also been growing recognition of an association of such rocks with iron-oxide copper-gold (IOCG) deposits, intrusion-related gold deposits (IRGDs) and Carlin-type gold deposits. This fifth updated and expanded edition incorporates new data and references from world-class copper and gold deposits worldwide. It also includes the latest publications on the petrogenesis of high-K magmatism and related mineral deposits. Numerous new representative ore photographs of the mineral deposits described are also included in the new edition. As such, the book offers a valuable guide not only for academic petrologists working on alkaline rocks, but also for exploration geologists prospecting for epithermal gold and/or porphyry copper-gold deposits in modern and ancient terrains.

This book presents (i) a comprehensive methodological approach in analyzing karst surface features using contemporary GIS tools of high resolution applied on a large study area and extensive dataset, (ii) a revision and evaluation of the existing concepts valid in the modern karst geomorphology, (iii) a detailed elaboration of overlooked and yet undefined karst surface features, and (iv) an innovation in the discussion on origin and evolution of karst surface features. The book contains the first example of such comprehensive application of the modern technologies in spatial analysis in the field of karst geomorphology, and it offers several new methodological and theoretical perspectives and presents numerous starting points for further research. It contributes both to the understanding of the local karst evolution and to the knowledge of karst surface features globally.

This book presents landslide studies using the geographic information system (GIS), which includes not only the science of GIS and remote sensing, but also technical innovations, such as detailed light detection and ranging profiles, among others. To date most of the research on landslides has been found in journals on topography, geology, geo-technology, landslides, and GIS, and is limited to specific scientific aspects. Although journal articles on GIS using landslide studies are abundant, there are very few books on this topic. This book is designed to fill that gap and show how the latest GIS technology can contribute in terms of landslide studies. In a related development, the GIS Landslide Workshop was established in Japan 7 years ago in order to communicate and solve the scientific as well as technical problems of GIS analyses, such as how to use GIS software and its functions. The workshop has significantly contributed to progress in the field. Included among the chapters of this book are GIS using susceptibility mapping, analyses of deep-seated and shallow landslides, measuring and visualization of landslide distribution in relation to topography, geological facies and structures, rivers, land use, and infrastructures such as roads and streets. Filled with photographs, figures, and tables, this book is of great value to researchers in the fields of geography, geology, seismology, environment, remote sensing, and atmospheric research, as well as to students in these fields.

This book gathers the main research findings on monotonic, cyclic and postcyclic shear behavior of low-plasticity. Drawing on the low-plasticity silt from the Mississippi River Valley, it determines that the silt's critical state line can be changed due to liquefaction, and thus offers valuable insights and reference data for further investigations on soil mechanics and engineering applications to verify the above research findings. Low-plasticity silt with a plasticity index of less than 10, though commonly found around the world, nonetheless differs greatly from sand and clay in terms of its shear behavior. Failure to take into account the differences in shear characteristics between silt, clay and sand will lead to overconservative designs of offshore structures. In particular, dynamic loading from earthquakes, trains and ocean waves can set off the liquefaction of low-plasticity silt, and with it, major disasters and losses of properties. Additionally, some civil infrastructures have failed not only due to cyclic loading during an earthquake, but also due to reduction of shear strength or stiffness after that.

The main focus of this book is the transport mechanics of sediment particles coated with microbial biofilm, which is called bio-sediment. The book also addresses the question of how to measure and simulate the considerable variation in the properties of natural sediment associated with microbial biofilm, ranging from the micro-scale surface morphology to the macro-scale sediment transport. Nowadays most studies to elucidate the mechanisms of sediment transport have concentrated on physical-chemical sediment properties, little work explicitly coupled sediment dynamics and the environmental effects under the influence of micro-ecosystem, thus leaving a serious gap in water and sediment sciences as well as water ecological research. With respect to physical-chemical sediment properties, this book has been undertaken to evaluate and quantify the effect of biological factors - biofilm on sediment transport mechanics. The chapters cover topics including development of bio-sediment and its properties; model of biofilm growth on sediment substratum; bedform and flow resistance of bio-sediment bed; incipient velocity and settling velocity of bio-sediment; bedload and suspended load transport for bio-sediment; numerical simulation of bio-sediment transport. Besides, the measurement technology, analysis method and expression approach introduced in this book combine the characteristics of hydraulic, environmental and microbial research, having more immediate innovation. This book will be of interest to researchers, managers, practitioners, policy and decision makers, international institutions, governmental and non-governmental organizations, educators, as well as graduate and undergraduate students in the field of hydraulics and river dynamics. It will help to understand the relevance of sediment transport and biofilm growth under the role of aqueous micro-ecosystem, to introduce better tools for the simulation and prediction of bio-sediment transport, and to provide a scientific basis and application foundation for the research of interaction between sediment particles and ecological and environmental factors.

This edited volume provides a critical discussion of particular trends that are widely recognised to influence water management by comparing them with what is actually happening in the field. Among others, these trends include water security, adaptive or integrative management, and the water-energy-food nexus, which are often presented as essential means to reaching more sustainable and resilient water use. However, the extent to which these trends have managed to structure concrete practices in water management remains uncertain. Informed by empirically grounded research, each chapter of this work engages with a particular approach, concept or theory. Together, they provide a nuanced picture of trends in water management that require universal remedies and global norms.

Several textbooks and edited volumes are currently available on general soil fertility but' to date' none have been dedicated to the study of "Sustainable Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling in Soil." Yet this aspect is extremely important, considering the fact that the soil, as the 'epidermis of the Earth' (geodermis)' is a major component of the terrestrial biosphere. This book addresses virtually every aspect of C and N cycling, including: general concepts on the diversity of microorganisms and management practices for soil, the function of soil's structure-function-ecosystem, the evolving role of C and N, cutting-edge methods used in soil microbial ecological studies, rhizosphere microflora, the role of organic matter (OM) in agricultural productivity, C and N transformation in soil, biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) and its genetics, plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs), PGPRs and their role in sustainable agriculture, organic agriculture, etc. The book's main objectives are: (1) to explain in detail the role of C and N cycling in sustaining agricultural productivity and its importance to sustainable soil management; (2) to show readers how to restore soil health with C and N; and (3) to help them understand the matching of C and N cycling rules from a climatic perspective. Given its scope, the book offers a valuable resource for educators, researchers, and policymakers, as well as undergraduate and graduate students of soil science, soil microbiology, agronomy, ecology, and the environmental sciences. Gathering cutting-edge contributions from internationally respected researchers, it offers authoritative content on a broad range of topics, which is supplemented by a wealth of data, tables, figures, and photographs. Moreover, it provides a roadmap for sustainable approaches to food and nutritional security, and to soil sustainability in agricultural systems, based on C and N cycling in soil systems.