This book provides an in-depth analysis of nine weapons and explosive remnants of war, their uses in armed conflict and their deadly impact on the environment. Besides three weapons of mass destruction (Biological, Chemical and Nuclear), it also covers controversial weapons like Depleted Uranium, White Phosphorus, Cluster Munitions, and Anti-personnel Landmines, their military applications, and the health and environmental hazard posed by them. The book offers an impartial analysis of legal regimes, and their efficacy in minimising the damage these weapons wreak on humans and the environment. It then examines the principles and rules of international humanitarian law, which could be used by the international community to ban these weapons. The book concludes by making a few recommendations addressed to international organisations, the States and military commanders with a view to reducing the damage caused by these weapons to the earth's pristine environment.

As a basic human need, water and its treatment are of the utmost importance. However, some rural areas are disadvantaged and have difficulty in effectively treating their water supply, which can affect the health and safety of their region. To protect and defend citizens, research must supply effective and applicable methods in securing the safety and drinkability of water. Membrane Technology for Water and Wastewater Treatment in Rural Regions is an essential publication that discusses the fabrication and characterization of membranes, processes and operations, and specific applications of membranes on water and wastewater treatment. Moreover, the book discusses selected promising aspects of membrane usage in the industry with a focus on palm oil mill industry, sewage management and treatment, and water treatment in rural areas. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics including membrane processes, water production, and transport resistances, this book is ideally designed for engineers, chemists, environmentalists, public officials, researchers, academicians, students, and industry professionals.

The Handbook of Chemical Technology and Pollution Control (3rd Edition) provides a detailed review of the chemistry and operating conditions of many of the present large-scale chemical processes important to our economy and high standards of living. The processes that could lead to emissions affecting our air, soil, and water are considered, together with ways in which it may be possible to reduce or eliminate these pollutants. Focusing on cleaner production concepts without neglecting 'end of pipe' measures. With an increase in the awareness of corporate and social responsibility among business and industry leaders, the pressure to reduce harmful emissions and the desire to increase efficiencies and energy utilization, this book provides an essential resource. Suitable for researchers, practitioners and postgraduate students in the fields of chemical and biochemical engineering and environmental science, as well as government monitoring and regulatory agencies and industry leaders who want to stay one step ahead, this book will be a valuable addition to any library.
* Integrated treatment of chemical technology with emission control chemistry
* Introductory outline of the causes and effects of air and water pollution chemistry
* Outline of the operating features and efficiency of basic emission control devices
* Historical background of developments in industrial chemistry to 2004 in a single volume
* Organized for easy access to chemical technology, new developments, or emission control details
* Referenced to current additional sources of information in each area covered
* Review questions provide working experience with the material provided

This book presents the design and development of an Internet of Things (IoT) enabled, smart sensor to detect nitrate contamination in natural water. It considers three different sensors designed, fabricated and configured for nitrate detection: a Graphite/PDMS and Si-based MEMS sensors, and aFR4-based sensor. It also introduces a selective polymer material developed by means of the ion imprinting polymerization technique that was used as a coating on the Si-based MEMS sensor. Further, the book discusses the development of a smart sensing system that can be used to remotely monitor the nitrate concentration in any water. Fully explaining all the techniques used, the book is of interest to engineers, researchers and scientists working in the field of the water-quality measurement.

Humans rank with the powerful forces of nature transforming Earth. Since the mid-20th century, population growth, industrialization, and globalization have had such deep and wide-ranging impacts that our planet no longer functions as it did during the previous eleven millennia. So distinctive is this collective human intervention that a new geological interval has been proposed; it is called the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is intriguing scientifically, fascinating intellectually, and deeply disturbing politically, socially, economically, and ethically. We must learn how to co-exist sustainably with the rest of nature in what is emerging as a new planetary state. To do so, we must first understand what "Anthropocene" means in all its dimensions. This book adopts a multidisciplinary approach, starting with an exploration of the Anthropocene as a geological concept: ranging across the physical changes to the landscape, to the rapidly heating climate, to a biosphere undergoing transformation. And what of the "anthropos" in the Anthropocene? While geoscience does not normally address political and ethical issues of justice and equity, or economics and culture, Anthropocene studies in the humanities and social sciences investigate the complexities of the human activity driving global change. Here the book looks at human history, both in the deep past and more recently, the politics and economics of growth spurring the Anthropocene, and potential ways of mitigating its cruel effects. Our fragile, still beautiful, planet is finite. The new realities of the Anthropocene will need our best efforts, across disciplinary divides, at effective hope and action.

This volume continues the retrospective analyses of Volumes I and II, but goes beyond that in an attempt to understand how phenolic acids are partitioned in seedling-solution and seedling-microbe-soil-sand culture systems and how phenolic acid effects on seedlings may be related to the actual and/or conditional physicochemical properties (e.g., solubility, hydrophobicity, pKa, molecular structure and soil sorption/desorption) of simple phenolic acids. Specifically, it explores the quantitative partitioning (i.e., source-sink relationships) of benzoic and cinnamic acids in cucumber seedling-solution and cucumber seedling-microbe-soil-sand systems and how that partitioning may influence phenolic acid effects on cucumber seedlings. Regressions, correlations and conceptual and hypothetical models are used to achieve these objectives. Cucumber seedlings are used as a surrogate for phenolic acid sensitive herbaceous dicotyledonous weed seedlings. This volume was written specifically for researchers and their students interested in understanding how a range of simple phenolic acids and potentially other putative allelopathic compounds released from living plants and their litter and residues may modify soil chemistry, soil and rhizosphere microbial biology, seedling physiology and seedling growth. In addition, this volume describes the potential relationships, where they may exist, for direct transfer of organic compounds between plants, plant communication and plant-plant allelopathic interactions and addresses the following questions: Can physicochemical properties of phenolic acids be used as tools to help understand the complex behavior of phenolic acids and the ultimate effects of phenolic acids on sensitive seedlings? What insights do laboratory bioassays and the conceptual and hypothetical models of laboratory systems provide us concerning the potential behavior and effects of phenolic acids in field systems? What potential role may phenolic acids play in broadleaf-weed seedling emergence in wheat debris cover crop no-till systems?

The Evolution of the Genome provides a much needed overview of genomic study through clear, detailed, expert-authored discussions of the key areas in genome biology. This includes the evolution of genome size, genomic parasites, gene and ancient genome duplications, polypoidy, comparative genomics, and the implications of these genome-level phenomena for evolutionary theory. In addition to reviewing the current state of knowledge of these fields in an accessible way, the various chapters also provide historical and conceptual background information, highlight the ways in which the critical questions are actually being studied, indicate some important areas for future research, and build bridges across traditional professional and taxonomic boundaries.
The Evolution of the Genome will serve as a critical resource for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and established scientists alike who are interested in the issue of genome evolution in the broadest sense.
-Provides detailed, clearly written chapters authored by leading researchers in their respective fields
-Presents a much-needed overview of the historical and theoretical context of the various areas of genomic study
-Creates important links between topics in order to promote integration across subdisciplines, including descriptions of how each subject is actually studied
-Provides information specifically designed to be accessible to established researchers, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students alike

Arsenic contamination poses a major environmental problem, especially in Southeast Asian countries like Bangladesh and India. Threatening the health of millions of people due to arsenic's toxicity and carcinogenicity, the major routes of arsenic exposure for humans are either through drinking water or crops. Rice is the crop most affected by arsenic owing to its cultivation in major arsenic contaminated areas, biogeochemical factors in the soil during rice growth, and specific features of rice that enable it take up more arsenic than other crop plants. This book addresses the problem of arsenic by pursuing a holistic approach. It presents the status quo in different parts of the world (North and South America, Europe, Asia, etc.) and provides essential information on food-related arsenic exposure risks for humans, and possible preventive and curative measures for tackling arsenic poisoning. It covers the arsenic contamination status of rice, rice-based products, other vegetables, fishes, mushrooms, and other foods, with a special focus on rice-arsenic interactions. The mechanisms of arsenic uptake, translocation and distribution in plants and grains are also explained. In closing, the book reviews a variety of prospective agronomic and biotechnological solutions to the problem of arsenic accumulation in rice grains. The book is intended for a broad audience including researchers, scientists, and readers with diverse backgrounds including agriculture, environmental science, food science, environmental management, and human health. It can also be used as an important reference guide for undergraduate and graduate students, university faculties, and environmentalists.

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and the Internet of Things are facing tremendous advances both in terms of energy-efficiency as well as in the number of available applications. Consequently, there are challenges that need to be tackled for the future generation of WSNs. After giving an overview of the WSN protocols and IEEE 802.15.4 standard, this book proposes IEEE 802.15.4 Medium Access Control (MAC) sub-layer performance enhancements by employing not only RTS/CTS combined with packet concatenation but also scheduled channel poling (MC-SCP). Results have shown that the use of the RTS/CTS mechanism improves channel efficiency by decreasing the deferral time before transmitting a data packet. Furthermore, the Sensor Block Acknowledgment MAC (SBACK-MAC) protocol enables more efficiency as it allows the aggregation of several acknowledgement responses in one special Block Acknowledgment (BACK) Response packet. The throughput and delay performance have been mathematically derived under both ideal conditions (a channel environment with no transmission errors) and non-ideal conditions (with transmission errors). Simulation results successfully validate the proposed analytical models. This research reveals the importance of an appropriate design for the MAC sub-layer protocol for the desired WSN application. Depending on the mission of the WSN application, different protocols are required. Therefore, the overall performance of a WSN application certainly depends on the development and application of suitable e.g., MAC, network layer protocols.

Sediments and Ecohyraulics is comprised of papers submitted to the 6th International Conference on Cohesive Sediments (INTERCOH 2005) held in Saga, Japan, September 2005. The papers are divided into two major categories. The first is basic processes, including erosion, settling, flocculation, and consolidation. The second major catagory is application of the understanding of cohesive sediments to address specific issues, including waterway and part management, fluid mud behavior, and contaminiated sediment management.
*Provides an up-to-date resource of the present knowledge of cohesive sediment transport processes
*Contains practical solutions on cohesive transport problems
*Presents information on managing cohesive sediments

Household Chemicals and Emergency First Aid is an essential manual that covers 386 household chemicals, discusses their hazards when mixed with other chemicals, describes the symptoms of overexposure, and provides instructions for emergency first aid treatment. The book is intended to be used in the event that label instructions on household chemicals have not been followed. It describes what may possibly happen and how to handle the situation if it does occur. Poison control centers are listed by state with phone numbers and addresses. Because household accidents involving chemicals are so prevalent, this manual is a ""must have"" book for all emergency medical technicians, paramedics, and other emergency first aid providers. It is also useful for anyone wanting detailed information regarding emergency situations with household chemicals.

The book is the first of its kind to deal with almost the entire swath of water resources assessment, development and sustainable management. The idea of the book crystallized during the long journey of the Editors on various facets of water issues in India and abroad during their extended association, at all levels with the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, as well as International Organizations dealing with water. Currently water-stressed, India is likely to become water scarce in not too distant a future. The global freshwater supply and its sustainable use for human consumption, and conservation of the ecosystem have never come under such a rigorous scrutiny before. The unplanned and reckless exploitation of this precious resource have led to a crisis situation, compounded by a real threat of climate change. This book is, therefore, timely and of particular relevance not only to India but the entire world. The book contains 20 chapters, beside the lead article by the Editors. The chapters are contributed by the eminent professionals, researchers, academicians and civil society representatives having an in-depth understanding of the issues. The contents of the chapters have been chosen to represent all aspects of water. The assessment of water resources using satellite data and in-depth analyses of groundwater sector like, the Aquifer Mapping Programme initiated by Government of India, application of gravity satellite data to assess the resource build up, artificial recharge of aquifers and its contamination, are dealt with by eminent experts. The articles on sustainable management of water through good governance by community participation and involvement of civil society are placed. Flood management both through a basin level approach as well as by building resilience in vulnerable areas is discussed. Other critical issues like water bodies management, constitutional provisions, water governance and financial issues, hydro-power and need of research and development in this sector are also dealt with aptly. In view of emerging crisis and complexities in this sector the future pathways and the paradigm shift that is required in administrative and policy level is also discussed.