Advances in Computers carries on a tradition of excellence, presenting detailed coverage of innovations in computer hardware, software, theory, design, and applications. The book provides contributors with a medium in which they can explore their subjects in greater depth and breadth than journal articles typically allow. The articles included in this book will become standard references, with lasting value in this rapidly expanding field.

Rare Earths elements are composed of 15 chemical elements in the periodic table. Scandium and yttrium have similar properties, with mineral assemblages, and are therefore referred alike in the literature. Although abundant in the planet surface, the Rare Earths are not found in concentrated forms, thus making them economically valued as they are so challenging to obtain. Rare Earths Industry: Technological, Economic and Environmental Implications provides an interdisciplinary orientation to the topic of Rare Earths with a focus on technical, scientific, academic, economic, and environmental issues. Part I of book deals with the Rare Earths Reserves and Mining, Part II focuses on Rare Earths Processes and High-Tech Product Development, and Part III deals with Rare Earths Recycling Opportunities and Challenges. The chapters provide updated information and priceless analysis of the theme, and they seek to present the latest techniques, approaches, processes and technologies that can reduce the costs of compliance with environmental concerns in a way it is possible to anticipate and mitigate emerging problems.

Populations of cities have grown at unprecedented rate, consuming ever more land, placing severe strain on the environment and also on cash-strapped governments. Nature needs to be reintroduced to our cities. This book is focused on urban nature conservation, aspects that will resonate with advisors to local government, people interested in bringing back nature to our cities and anyone with a keen interest in nature. Our ecosystems are under threat and green infrastructure needs to be better managed so that there will be less fragmentation and habitat loss. All of us have to live more towards a sustainable urban nature environment. This book guides all of us how to address nature on our doorsteps. There are 214 photos, 6 tables and 25 illustrations on principles of urban nature conservation. The book informs how to participate and synchronise lifestyles to contribute to sustainable urban nature environments. Urban wetlands, watercourses, riparian zones, buffer zones, ecological corridors and functions are explained. The annexures in the book described owl boxes, bird feeders, earthworm bins and how to produce organic compost. What is important is that more and more people move to cities and city developments encroach upon nature areas. These encroachments can be managed to accommodate ecologically sensitive urban nature areas. These areas can be utilised in ways that it will benefit the environment people live in.

This book presents an overview of current renewable energy sources, challenges and future trends. Drawing from their longtime expertise and deep knowledge of the field, the authors present a critic and well-structured perspective on sustainable power sources and technologies, including solar, wind, hydrogen and nuclear, both in large and small scale. Using accessible language they provide rigorous technological reviews and analyze the main issues of practical usage. The book addresses current questions in this area, such as: "Is there enough biomass to make a difference in energy needs? Should biomass be used in Energy Generation?"; "How mature is battery technology? Will it finally become cost effective, and will it make a significant difference this next decade?"; "How big a role will small and modular nuclear power generation play in the coming decades?"; "What will be the influence of national tax policies?". No prior technical knowledge is assumed of the reader. It is, therefore, ideal for professionals and students in all areas of energy and power systems, as well as those involved in energy planning, management and policy.

A major theme of this book is that, contrary to what many experts believe, being endowed with a plenitude of natural resources is not a curse: rather it provides a potential advantage, if capitalized by the well-endowed economy. Much depends on the institutions that help frame the decision-making process that affects the process of growth and development. Canada is an example of a successful export-oriented economy. And, its export-orientation has been a focal point of discussion and debate, going way back to discussions of the early fur trade, the fishing industry, wheat farming, and mining and oil and gas exploration. Unlike other economies well-endowed with natural resources, Canada does not appear to be at all cursed, but rather blessed with natural resource abundance. This book, which ranges from the late seventeenth to the early twentieth century, provides insights from Canadian economic history on how such abundance can be a handmaiden of successful growth and development. From this perspective, the natural resource curse appears to be more of a 'man-made' phenomenon than anything else. This book also investigates aspects of gender inequality in Canada as well as the evolution of hours worked as it intersects with worker preferences and 'market forces'. The narratives in this book are contextualised by the construction of new or significantly revised data sets, which speaks to the importance of data construction to robust economic analysis and economic history.

Containing a series of specially selected papers, this book deals with advances in disciplines contributing to sustainable development, such as planning, architecture, engineering, policy making, environmental sciences and economics, and identifies solutions to challenges posed by sustainable development. Written by researchers and practitioners from many different countries, the included papers provide a unique reference of experience and potential solutions to common problems via the application of planning and development strategies, assessment tools and decision making processes.

Management of Coking Coal Resources provides a one-stop reference that focuses on sustainable mining practices using a four-point approach that includes the economical, governmental, societal, and environmental aspects of coal exploration, coking coal mining, and steelmaking applications. This type of approach galvanizes the excavation, processing methods, and end uses of coal as an energy and steelmaking source, thus ensuring that the supply of coking coal meets the future demands of the rapidly expanding economies in India and other developing countries. The book provides information on the strategic planning and revitalization of India's Jharia coalfield, addressing actionable plans for methods of extraction, master plans for mine fires, subsidence management, land use planning, and sustainable mining. Users will find a multidisciplinary reference that presents the broad range of applications, techniques, and methodologies used in maintaining coking coal quality from exploration through extraction.

Sustainable Horticulture: Microbial Inoculants and Stress Interaction gives insights into the applications and formulations of microbial inoculants. In recent years, the optimum yields of horticultural plants largely influenced by rising global temperature, biotic stress (attack of pathogens) and abiotic stresses has created extra pressure for the horticulturalist to meet the need of optimum yield production for the burgeoning global population. However, the challenges of biotic and abiotic stress factors mitigated by traditional physical or chemicals methods include high application cost and adverse impact on quality limit the frequent use, hence the solutions in this book create new avenues for progress. This book covers those challenges and how microbial based bio inoculants are broadly used in horticulture to mitigate the challenges of biotic and abiotic stresses. It provides an important contribution on how to apply efficient beneficial microbes (microbial inoculants) for a sustainable society.

This timely book offers a fresh view on how oceans and coasts are, and should be, managed. The urgency of this issue is increasingly being recognized, as critical limits to the economic exploitation of our oceans and coasts are reached. The authors argue that ecological economics is in a unique position to address this problem given its particular focus on interconnected ecological and economic systems. Four 'cornerstones' of this ecological economics approach to the oceans and coasts are presented; most importantly, sustainability is the overarching policy goal, rather than economic efficiency, as I soften emphasized in mainstream economics. Secondly, recognizing the biophysical limits and thresholds of marine systems is fundamental. Thirdly, a complex systems view is adopted, which has profound implications for managing marine systems in the face of intrinsic uncertainty, irreversibility and interdependent behaviour. Finally, the approach is necessarily methodologically pluralistic, given the complexity and multi-faceted character of marine ecological-economic systems. Ecological Economics of the Oceans and Coasts is a unique book that will be warmly welcomed by ecological economists, researchers and academics of coastal and marine management and policy as well as natural resource and environmental economists. Policy advisors on oceans and coasts, coastal and marine managers will also find this book of great interest and value.

The authors and editors of this book challenge traditional assumptions about economic growth, and develop the elements of a reoriented macroeconomics that takes account both of environmental impacts and social equity. Policies including carbon trading, revenue recycling, and reorientation of private and social investment are analyzed, providing insight into new paths for economic development with flat or negative carbon emissions. These issues will be crucial to macroeconomic and development policies in the twenty-first century.What are the likely economic effects of climate change? What are the costs of substantial action to avert climate change? What economic policies can be effective in responding to climate change? The debate has broad implications for public policy. However, it also raises fundamental questions about economic analysis itself, and moves issues of environmental policy from the microeconomic to the macroeconomic level. Taking global climate change seriously requires a re-examination of macroeconomic goals. Economic growth has been closely linked to expanded use of energy, primarily fossil fuels. The assumption of continuing economic growth, in turn, leads economists to discount future costs, including the generational impacts of climate change. Challenging conventional concepts of growth implies different development paths both for rich and poor nations. This volume brings together contributions from scholars around the world to address these issues. Scholars, researchers and students of economics and development studies along with policymakers and non-governmental organizations will find this insightful book of great interest.

This book evaluates China's energy diplomacy across the globe and how it transcends the barriers to maintain both its security and its Chinese characteristics. How China graduated from 'self-sufficiency' to 'Go out' policy. How will China's energy security evolve within the ambit of Chinas new normal? For China, its energy security has been of primary importance, both domestically and internationally. This book explores the foreign dimension. The energy security in the Mao era was a necessity, a policy in the Deng era and a strategy in the period henceforth. The book identifies the evolution of China from a manufacturer to an investor, that is, its outbound direct investments in the energy field and the shift in its focus from traditional fuels to renewable energy sources. It goes beyond the traditional choices of energy like West Asia and Africa and explore the lesser suppliers who could have a stronger say in the future to come.

Dead zones are on the rise... Human activity has caused an increase in uninhabitable, oxygen-poor zones-also known as "dead zones"-in our waters. Oxygen is the third most abundant element in the universe, and it is a necessity for nearly all life on Earth. Yet many rivers, estuaries, coastal waters, and parts of the open ocean lack enough of it. In this book, David L. Kirchman explains the impacts of dead zones and provides an in-depth history of oxygen loss in water. He details the role the agricultural industry plays in water pollution, showcasing how fertilizers contaminate water supplies and kickstart harmful algal blooms in local lakes, reservoirs, and coastal oceans. Algae decomposition requires so much oxygen that levels drop low enough to kill fish, destroy bottom-dwelling biota, reduce biological diversity, and rearrange food webs. We can't undo the damage completely, but we can work together to reduce the size and intensity of dead zones in places like the Gulf of Mexico, Chesapeake Bay, and the Baltic Sea. Not only does Kirchman clearly outline what dead zones mean for humanity, he also supplies ways we can reduce their deadly impact on human and aquatic life. Nutrient pollution in some regions has already begun to decline because of wastewater treatment, buffer zones, cover crops, and precision agriculture. More needs to be done, though, to reduce the harmful impact of existing dead zones and to stop the thousands of new ones from cropping up in our waters. Kirchman provides insight into the ways changing our diet can reduce nutrient pollution while also lowering greenhouse gasses emitted by the agricultural industry. Individuals can do something positive for their health and the world around them. The resulting book allows readers interested in the environment-whether students, policymakers, ecosystem managers, or science buffs-to dive into these deadly zones and discover how they can help mitigate the harmful effects of oxygen-poor waters today.

Sustainable agricultural management technologies should be studied in terms of increased productivity, profitability, energy saving and efficiency of agricultural inputs usage by using efficiency indices and sustainable indicators.. The book serves as a complete source of information on efficiency indices and sustainability indicators followed in different branches of agricultural management research like nutrient, water and weed management, cropping and farming system studies, meteorological and crop physiological studies and economic assessment of all the management techniques. Keeping these things in mind the entire book has been divided into ten chapteThe book has been written for teachers, students, researchers and policy makers and extension workers engaged in agricultural management research strategies.

Cement production is known to be a polluting and energy-intensive industry. Cement plants account for 5 percent of global emissions of carbon dioxide and one of the main causes of global warming. However, cement it is literally the glue of progress. Designing Green Cement Plants provides the tools and techniques for designing new large cement plants that would promote sustainable growth, preserve natural resources to the maximum possible extent and make least possible additions to the Greenhouse Gases that cause global warming. Brief and but authoritative, this title embraces new technologies and methods such as Carbon Capture and Sequestration, as well as methods for harnessing renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. The author also discusses the efficient use of energy and materials through the use recycling. In addition, this book also examines thepossibilities of developing green cement substitutes such as Calera, Caliix, Novacem, Aether and Geopolymer cements.

An award-winning journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist offers an insightful, no-holds-barred exploration of today s most controversial yet promising new energy technology: fracking.
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is the process of injecting fluid into the ground at extremely high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks and release the oil and natural gas inside. It has been the subject of three major films, countless news articles, and has become a hotly contested topic both for its environmental impact and its positive effect on the economy and job creation.
In "Frackistan," Russell Gold examines both sides of the arguments and illuminates the truth of this frequently misunderstood technology. It is a thrilling journey filled with memorable and colorful characters: a green-minded Texas oilman who created the first modern frack; an Oklahoman natural gas empire builder who gave the world an enormous new supply of energy but was brought down by his own success; and a cast of many. Gold melds his natural gift for engaging, in-depth storytelling and reportage with his insight into the energy industry to bring to life the fascinating history of how this major new source is changing the way we use energy.
"Frackistan" is not simply the story of fracking: It is the compelling and thought-provoking story of the modern global economy and how the United States and the world have been forever changed.

Over the past two decades, China has become an economic powerhouse. However, as the world's largest producer of CO2 emissions, the scale and seriousness of China's environmental problems are clearly evident. This pioneering book provides an economic analysis of the significant environmental and energy problems facing China in the 21st century. Chinese Economic Development and the Environment measures productivity, taking into account energy resources and environmental attributes that are central to sustaining economies. Applying an integrated model of energy production, transformation and consumption processes, the authors investigate the underlying driving forces behind trends in CO2 emissions in relation to the total primary energy supply. Exploring the history and development of China's economic, energy and environmental policy, this book will strongly appeal to postgraduate students in economics and environmental studies. It will also be beneficial for practitioners and policy-makers interested in understanding how successful market and environmental policies can contribute to efficiency by encouraging, rather than inhibiting, technological innovation.

In large parts of the world, the reduction in the viability of agriculture and rural areas is an escalating problem. Sustainable Land Management offers a contemporary overview of the strategies employed to cope with the marginalisation of agriculture, through analyses of case studies and regional trends in marginalisation.The authors argue that complexities and driving forces governing marginalisation are not always the same across nations and regions due to climate, geography, economics, legislation and political status. This book illustrates in what form these complexities exist, and how these unravel at the national and regional levels. As the need to understand and cope with marginalisation processes has developed, the concept of multi-functionality has also gained a vital place in the string of coping strategies. This work contributes essential knowledge for the development of marginalisation mitigation policy actions across the globe. Informative and well-documented, this book will appeal to those researching and working in the fields of agricultural and resource economics, rural geography, environmental governance and sustainable development.