This volume provides a comprehensive overview of environmental aspects of the Sava River, which is the greatest tributary to the Danube River and the major drainage river system of South Eastern Europe. Hydroelectric power plants, river traffic, intensive agricultural activities, heavy industry and floods have considerable influence on the environment and biota in the basin. Summarizing the results that were gathered in the course of EU, bilateral and national projects, the book highlights the most important stressors and helps readers to better understand the impact of anthropogenic activities on the function of river basins. Topics include: transboundary water cooperation between the riparian countries; climate change projection, including its impact on flood hazards; evaluation of anthropogenic pollution sources; pollution of sediments, metal bioavailability and ecotoxicological and microbiological characterization of the river. The biological part also addresses quality aspects related to wildlife in river aquatic ecosystems (algae, macrophytes, zooplankton, macroinvertebrates and fish) and riparian ecosystems (amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals). The general state of biodiversity and pressures caused by invasive aquatic species are also discussed.

This practical manual represents a comprehensive, up-to-date compilation of useful chemical ecology techniques and references. Written from the viewpoint of the practitioner, this book and its companion volume on bioassays describe apparatus and methods, providing detailed discussions of the advantages and limitations of various techniques. Taken together, the volumes provide the information required to isolate and identify biologically active chemicals mediating inter- and intraspecific interactions between organisms from most of the major taxa. Methods in Chemical Ecology: Chemical Methods describes both macro- and microscale techniques, paying particular attention to the problems inherent in working with microscale samples. The book is arranged in a logical sequence, beginning with chapters on the initial extraction and purification of compounds, and progressing through methods used in identification of chemical structures, including both instrumental and microchemical methods. The book finishes with chapters on the separation of enantiomers, and the use of electrophysiological techniques. Coverage includes descriptions of both cutting-edge methods such as solid phase microextraction, and methods that have been in common use for a decade or more. With minimal use of technical jargon, this volume is designed as an indispensable reference manual for graduate students as well as experienced researchers. This volume will also serve as a valuable reference book for researchers in many related disciplines, including natural-products chemistry, ecology, botany/plant sciences, zoology, entomology, marine biology and ecology, and pharmacology.

Azo dyes play an important role as coloring agents in the textile, food, and pharmaceutical industry. Due to the toxicity, mutagenicity and carcinogenicity of azo dyes and their breakdown products, their removal from industrial wastewaters has been an urgent challenge. Promising and cost-effective methods are based on their biodegradation, which is treated in this volume. The topics presented by experts in the field include: the classification of azo dyes; toxicity caused by azo dyes; aerobic and anaerobic azo dye biodegradation mechanisms; the role of bacteria, fungi, algae and their enzymes in biodegradation; the impact of redox mediators on azo dye reduction; the integration of biological with physical and chemical processes; the biotransformation of aromatic amines; reactor modelling for azo dye conversion; the biodegradation of azo dyes by immobilized bacteria and fungi; and factors affecting the complete mineralization of azo dyes.

This study presents a unique way to utilize the existing literature to explain the success of treaties in managing hydrologic stress. Literature-derived core concepts are summarized as seven treaty mechanisms categories (specificity, uncertainty management, enforcement, communications, flexibility, integrativeness, and scale) and are hypothesized as important for shaping the institutional resiliency of a treaty. Treaty design is shown to have a relevant and important role in shaping basin management so that nations may better achieve their goals in a changing climate.

The 2016 International Conference on Energy, Environment and Materials Science (EEMS 2016) took place on July 29-31, 2016 in Singapore. EEMS 2016 has been a meeting place for innovative academics and industrial experts in the field of energy and environment research. The primary goal of the conference is to promote research and developmental activities in energy and environment research and further to promote scientific information exchange between researchers, developers, engineers, students, and practitioners working all around the world. The conference will be organized every year making it an ideal platform for people to share views and experiences in energy, environment and materials science and related areas.

Operational information management is at a crossroads as it sheds the remaining vestiges of its paper-based processes and moves through the uncharted domain of electronic data processes. The final outcome is not yet in full focus, but real progress has been made in the transition to electronic documents providing the aviation industry with a clear direction. This book looks at a combination of industry initiatives and airline successes that point to the next steps that operators can take as they transition to fully integrated information management systems. Although the route has not been fully identified, it is evident that a key to successful long-term efficient information management is industry-wide cooperation. The chapters are authored by a range of experts in operational information management, and collectively, they outline ways that operators can improve efficiency across flight, ground and maintenance operations. Considerations and recommendations are identified and presented addressing the following priorities: Safety-critical information and procedures Human factors Information security Operational information standardization. The readership includes: Airline flight operations managers and standards personnel, Airline operating documents and publication specialists, Airline information managers, Commercial pilots, Airline maintenance managers and personnel, Manufacturers and vendors of aviation products, Aviation regulators and policy makers, Aviation researchers and developers of information technologies, and Military technical publications specialists.

International concern in scientific, industrial, and governmental communi ties over traces of xenobiotics in foods and in both abiotic and biotic en vironments has justified the present triumvirate of specialized publications in this field: comprehensive reviews, rapidly published research papers and progress reports, and archival documentations. These three international publications are integrated and scheduled to provide the coherency essential for nonduplicative and current progress in a field as dynamic and complex as environmental contamination and toxicology. This series is reserved ex clusively for the diversified literature on "toxic" chemicals in our food, our feeds, our homes, recreational and working surroundings, our domestic an imals, our wildlife and ourselves. Tremendous efforts worldwide have been mobilized to evaluate the nature, presence, magnitude, fate, and toxicology of the chemicals loosed upon the earth. Among the sequelae of this broad new emphasis is an undeniable need for an articulated set of authoritative publications, where one can find the latest irr,portant world literature pro duced by these emerging areas of science together with documentation of pertinent ancillary legislation. Research directors and legislative or administrative advisers do not have the time to scan the escalating number of technical publications that may contain articles impbrtant to current responsibility. Rather, these individuals need the background provided by detailed reviews and the assurance that the latest information is made available to them, all with minimal literature searching.

Heavy metals always pose serious ecological risks when released into the environment due to their elemental non-degradable nature, regardless of their chemical form. This calls for the development of efficient and low-cost effluent treatment and metal recuperation technologies for contaminated waste water, not only because regulatory limits need to be met but also because the waste itself can be a resource for certain precious metals.

Biosorption is a general property of living and dead biomass to rapidly bind and abiotically concentrate inorganic or organic compounds from even very diluted aqueous solutions. As a specific term, biosorption is a method that utilizes materials of biological origin - biosorbents formulated from non-living biomass - for the removal of target substances from aqueous solutions. Recent research on biosorption provides a solid understanding of the mechanism underlying microbial biosorption of heavy metals and related elements.

This book gathers review articles analyzing current views on the mechanism and (bio)chemistry of biosorption, the performance of bacterial, fungal and algal biomass, and the practical aspects of biosorbent preparation and engineering. It also reviews the physico-chemical evaluations of biosorbents and modelling of the process as well as the importance of biosorption during heavy metal removal using living cells. It is a reference work for scientists, environmental safety engineers and R&D specialists who wish to further promote biosorption research and use the accumulated knowledge to develop and build industrial applications of biosorption in heavy metal separation technologies.

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The major changes taking place in technology have some of the greatest effect in the world of aviation. Yet, in an industry which started with the concept of 'open skies', each sector has traditionally developed on its own and adjusted to developments in other areas as and when required. The need for integration is particularly important as the skies become increasingly crowded. More intense commercialization dramatically increases the interlocking between technological developments and the size of the financial investments required. For maximum efficiency the aviation system thus has to develop as an integrated whole with a greater awareness of events in other sectors. This book is intended to meet this requirement by addressing the breadth and depth of the aviation system and looking at some areas where significant advances are happening. While following the processes of development, the reader will see where the results might lead in the new century. Its three parts concentrate on areas of great significance - in integration as well as in technological progress - especially for their impact on human and social aspects. The editor and the invited contributors are amongst the foremost experts, researchers and industry leaders in their fields in the global aviation community, many with hands-on experience of massive change. The intended readership includes those who are moving into management functions in air traffic management, airplane manufacturing and airline operations; in training centres, colleges and institutions.

This book focuses on the use of farm level, micro- and macro-data of cooperative systems and networks in developing new robust, reliable and coherent modeling tools for agricultural and environmental policy analysis. The efficacy of public intervention on agriculture is largely determined by the existence of reliable information on the effects of policy options and market developments on farmers' production decisions and in particular, on key issues such as levels of agricultural and non-agricultural output, land use and incomes, use of natural resources, sustainable-centric management, structural change and the viability of family farms. Over the last years, several methods and analytical tools have been developed for policy analysis using various sets of data. Such methods have been based on integrated approaches in an effort to investigate the above key issues and have thus attempted to offer a powerful environment for decision making, particularly in an era of radical change for both agriculture and the wider economy.

This book aims at stimulating discussion between researchers working on state of the art approaches for operational control and design of transport of water on the one hand and researchers working on state of the art approaches for transport over water on the other hand. The main contribution of the book as a whole is to present novel perspectives ultimately leading to the management of an envisioned unified management framework taking the recent advances from both worlds as a baseline. The book is intended to be a reference for control-oriented engineers who manage water systems with either or both purposes in mind (transport of water, transport of goods over water). It highlights the possible twofold nature of water projects, where water either acts as primary object of study or as a means. The book is dedicated to comparing and relating to one another different strategies for (operational) management and control of different but strongly related systems in the framework of the water. In that sense, the book presents different approaches treating both the transport of water and transport over water. It compares the different approaches within the same field, highlighting their distinguishing features and advantages according to selected qualitative indices, and demonstrates the interaction and cross-relations between both fields. It will also help to determine the gaps and common points for both fields towards the design of such a unifying framework, which is lacking in the literature. Additionally, the book looks at case studies where the design of modeling/control strategies of either transport of water or transport over water have been proposed, discussed or simulated.

This two-volume work is an effort to provide a common platform to environmental engineers, microbiologists, chemical scientists, plant physiologists and molecular biologists working with a common aim of sustainable solutions to varied environmental contamination issues. Chapters explore biological and non-biological strategies to minimize environmental pollution. Highly readable entries attempt to close the knowledge gap between plant - microbial associations and environmental remediation. Volume 1 focuses on important concepts such as biological remediation strategies to enhance soil quality at contaminated sites; synergistic influences of tolerant plants and rhizospheric microbial strains on the remediation of pesticide contaminated soil, and the role of plant types such as hyperaccumulator plants in the cleanup of polluted soils. Readers will discover mechanisms and underlying natural inherent traits of various plants and microbes for tolerating, excluding, remediating, accumulating, or metabolizing a variety of pollutants.

The analysis of solid materials by introducing solid test sampies directly into the graphite furnace of an atomic absorption spectrometer must be regarded as a powerful analytical approach. Even if it is - of course - not the "ultimate method." After three decades of development, the instrumentation and the methodology are available to apply solid sampling successfully for the analysis of almost every material. Moreover, several tasks cannot be solved using other analytical methods as neatly as they can using direct solid sampling. The conventional methods work more or less satisfactorily, so why do we sug gest applying solid sampling much more extensively than it is today? To begin with, the features pointed out time and again should be named: Rapidity of the analytical procedure, low susceptibility to analyte loss or contamination, very smallquantities can be analyzed, and expenditure on instrumentation and per sonell is also low. These properties are examined and the necessary conditions are discussed (Chapter 1) as are the analytical tasks (Chapter 6) for which use of this method is advantageous. Other features that are often overlooked are just as important: The simplicity of the analytical procedures allows the analyst to main tain an intimate relationship with the original scientific task that has to be solved with the analysis. Furthermore, the considerable reduction of working place haz ards and pollution by avoiding the use of chemical reagents must nowadays be assessed as a feature as important as the others."

The population explosion that began in the 1960s has been accompanied by a decrease in the quality of the natural environment, e.g. pollution of the air, water and soil with essential and toxic trace elements. Numerous poisonings of people and animals with highly toxic anthropogenic Hg and Cd in the 20th century prompted the creation of the abiotic environment, mainly in developed countries. However, the system is insufficient for long-term exposure to low concentrations of various substances that are mainly ingested through food and water. This problem could be addressed by the monitoring of sentinels - organisms that accumulate trace elements and as such reflect the rate and degree of environmental pollution. Usually these are long-lived vertebrates - herbivorous, omnivorous and carnivorous birds and mammals, especially game species. This book describes the responses of the sentinels most commonly used in ecotoxicological studies to 17 trace elements.

Biofuels have been represented by some as a silver bullet to the climate change threat, and by others as a fatal mistake set to destroy forests and increase hunger; they are neither. Sane and sensibly developed they offer a chance to reduce emissions, generate employment and diversify rural livelihoods. But widespread commercialisation without proper sustainability standards could prove a disaster, causing more environmental and human harm than good. This new WBGU report shows that a sustainable use of bioenergy is possible and outlines how opportunities can be exploited while at the same time minimizing risks. This large and detailed report examines the issues surrounding bioenergy from a global perspective and demonstrates how the sustainable use of bioenergy can help minimize risks to food security, nature conservation and climate change. .

Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology publishes authoritative reviews on the occurrence, effects, and fate of pesticide residues and other environmental contaminants. It will keep you informed of the latest significant issues by providing in-depth information in the areas of analytical chemistry, agricultural microbiology, biochemistry, human and veterinary medicine, toxicology, and food technology.

The "EffizienzCluster LogistikRuhr" was a winner in the Leading Edge Science Cluster competition run by the German federal Ministry of Education and Research. The mission and aim of the "EffizienzCluster LogistikRuhr" is to facilitate tomorrow's individuality - in the sense of individual goods supply, mobility, and production - using 75 percent of today's resources. Efficiency - both in economical and ecological terms - is enabled by state-of-the-art and innovative logistical solutions including transportation, production and intralogistics. These proceedings "Efficiency and Logistics" give first answers from 27 research projects as an insight into the current state of research of Europe's leading research and development cluster in logistics and as a contribution to the discussion on how logistics as a science can help to cope with foreseeable resource shortage and sustainability as global challenges.

Currently the globally-connected world creates complexity for local decision makers. Environmental, social, organizational, and informational problems are pluralistic and messy. Systems approaches are required to reduce conflict and confusion. A key challenge is to apply holistic systems concepts to improve the lives of those served by systems of all kinds. This challenge motivated the theme for 2007's ANZSYS conference-'Systemic development: local solutions in a global environment'. This volume brings together nearly seventy papers covering the following topics: A globally-connected virtual world; Applications of creativity to systemic problem-solving; Conceptual modelling; Critical systems; Information systems; Managing systemic development; Organizational systems; Regional and environmental systems; Social systems; System dynamics; and Systems theory/systems thinking.