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Books > Earth & environment > Earth sciences > General
Addressing the persistent environmental threat of organic chemicals with a fresh approach to degradation and transformation processes, Organic Chemicals in the Environment: Mechanisms of Degradation and Transformation, Second Edition examines a wide range of compounds as well as abiotic and microbiological reactions mediated by microorganisms. The book emphasizes the pathways used and the broad classes of enzymes involved. It provides an overview of experimental procedures with detailed coverage of the organic compounds that are considered to be xenobiotics. The book begins by providing a broad perspective on abiotic and biotic reactions, including the significance of a range of environmental determinants. The following chapters briefly introduce experimental procedures and emphasize those procedures for establishing the structure of metabolites using isotopes and physical methods. Next, the authors outline details of biochemical reactions involved in the biodegradation of the major groups of aliphatic, carbocyclic aromatic, and heterocyclic compounds. They end with coverage of bioremediation that has attracted increasing concern because of the hazard presented by the disposal of unwanted chemicals or by-products from their manufacture. Broad and comprehensive, this book provides a cohesive treatment of the subject. It contains an extensive set of literature references and numerous illustrative figures. The authors use a mechanistic approach with emphasis on the pathways, and the principles that emerge provide a guide not only for specific compounds but also for those having a more remote structural resemblance.
* Most up-to-date overview of planetary science, generously illustrated * Accessible prose with a unique perspective by professional astronomers active in planetary science research with extensive teaching experience and expertise in history of astronomy and classical astronomy * Detailed appendices that supplement the text including past, current, and future space missions
* Most up-to-date overview of planetary science, generously illustrated * Accessible prose with a unique perspective by professional astronomers active in planetary science research with extensive teaching experience and expertise in history of astronomy and classical astronomy * Detailed appendices that supplement the text including past, current, and future space missions
John Stevens Henslow (1796-1861), a student of Adam Sedgwick, became Professor of Mineralogy at Cambridge in 1822. He soon moved to a chair in Botany, and became a teacher and mentor to Charles Darwin. This book on mineralogy was first published in 1823. It was intended to save time in class by providing an easily accessible reference to the composition of various minerals according to the principles of atomic theory, which was then entering the scientific mainstream. In that paradigm, analysis and examination of any mineral's composition involved first ascertaining the mineral's elementary molecules, both 'essential' and 'accidental', and second, determining the proportions in which the essential ingredients combined to form the integrant molecule of the mineral. Henslow's book will interest historians of science tracing the development of atomic theory, and those working more broadly in the history of university education and the intellectual climate of the nineteenth century.
Reservoir management is fundamental to the efficient and responsible means of extracting hydrocarbons, and maximising the economic benefit to the operator, licence holders and central government. All stakeholders have a social responsibility to protect the local population and environment. The process of managing an oil or gas reservoir begins after discovery and continues through appraisal, development, production and abandonment; there is cost associated with each phase and a series of decision gates should be in place to ensure that an economic benefit exists before progress is made. To correctly establish potential value at each stage it is necessary to acquire and analyse data from the subsurface, the planned surface facilities and the contractual obligations to the end-user of the hydrocarbons produced. This is especially true of any improved recovery methods proposed or plans to extend field life. To achieve all the above requires a multi-skilled team of professionals working together with a clear set of objectives and associated rewards. The team's make-up will change over time, as different skills are required, as will the management of the team, with geoscientists, engineers and commercial analysts needed to address the issues as they arise. This book is designed as a guide for non-specialists involved in the process of reservoir management, which is often treated as a task for reservoir engineers alone: it is a task for all the disciplines involved in turning a exploration success into a commercial asset. Most explorers earn their bonus based on the initial estimates of in-place hydrocarbons, regardless of the ultimate cost of production; the explorers have usually moved on to a new basin before the first oil or gas is produced! This book is not a deeply academic tome, rather the description of a process enlivened by a number of stories and case studies from the author's forty years of experience in the oil-patch.
Originally published in 1983, The Earth Sciences: An Annotated Bibliography is a compact and thematically organized guide that provides comprehensive access to themes and areas of study in the earth sciences. The bibliography is not exhaustive but provides a detailed and critical index to the most important literature in the field. The book's core focus is geology and examines the subject broadly, covering everything from glaciology, geomorphology, natural history and palaeontology, to oceanography, mapping, stratigraphy and evolution. The book provides detailed essays for each bibliographical chapter on the state of each field of research and the literature compiled for each bibliography will go as far back as around 1700 and contains a wide range of sources from across the world. This book will be of interest to academics and students of natural history, geology, and environmental sciences alike.
This book presents a comprehensive review of the most recent studies on the impact of contaminants on the marine environment. Conventional and new information, as well as the latest techniques, are presented, which can be applied to several types of marine organisms from bacteria and fungi to animals and algae. Specific topics discussed include the impact of different contaminants on different organisms as well as different approaches and their outcomes in terms of impact assessment. The integration of these techniques is also discussed in order to attain sentinel species and biomarkers to be applied for assessing ecological quality and impact assessment programs and studies.
Originally published in 1982 The Awakening Earth explores the idea of the Earth as a collective, self-regulatory living organism, and considers in this context, the function of the human race. The book provides an exploration of humanity's potential and explores the possibility of mankind's evolutionary future. Drawing on the work of physicists, psychologists, philosophers and mystics, the book argues that humanity is on the verge of another evolutionary leap and explores evolution in the context of spiritual growth, arguing that widespread inner awakenings could lead to a more analogous society, functioning as a single social super-organism, much in the way cells in a body function as a biological organism.
This title includes a number of Open Access chapters. This book presents the latest research on resilience strategies around the world. Research such as this is necessary to create new ideas and to evaluate established ones in an effort to make communities more adaptable and to increase people's survival and quality of life while living with the reality of climate change. The book offers definitions of resilience and various ways of measuring it, since resilience is still a concept in transition. It also describes general strategies for increasing communities' resilience at multiple levels, then dives into specific dimensions of resilience, tying it to energy infrastructure and systems and public health.
From the Foreword: "While large-scale machine learning and data mining have greatly impacted a range of commercial applications, their use in the field of Earth sciences is still in the early stages. This book, edited by Ashok Srivastava, Ramakrishna Nemani, and Karsten Steinhaeuser, serves as an outstanding resource for anyone interested in the opportunities and challenges for the machine learning community in analyzing these data sets to answer questions of urgent societal interest...I hope that this book will inspire more computer scientists to focus on environmental applications, and Earth scientists to seek collaborations with researchers in machine learning and data mining to advance the frontiers in Earth sciences." --Vipin Kumar, University of Minnesota Large-Scale Machine Learning in the Earth Sciences provides researchers and practitioners with a broad overview of some of the key challenges in the intersection of Earth science, computer science, statistics, and related fields. It explores a wide range of topics and provides a compilation of recent research in the application of machine learning in the field of Earth Science. Making predictions based on observational data is a theme of the book, and the book includes chapters on the use of network science to understand and discover teleconnections in extreme climate and weather events, as well as using structured estimation in high dimensions. The use of ensemble machine learning models to combine predictions of global climate models using information from spatial and temporal patterns is also explored. The second part of the book features a discussion on statistical downscaling in climate with state-of-the-art scalable machine learning, as well as an overview of methods to understand and predict the proliferation of biological species due to changes in environmental conditions. The problem of using large-scale machine learning to study the formation of tornadoes is also explored in depth. The last part of the book covers the use of deep learning algorithms to classify images that have very high resolution, as well as the unmixing of spectral signals in remote sensing images of land cover. The authors also apply long-tail distributions to geoscience resources, in the final chapter of the book.
-Offers an interdisciplinary, three-lesson module using project- and problem-based learning to help ninth-grade students investigate different epochs and time periods of the Earth's formation. -Written and developed for ninth grade teachers, the book offers lesson plans guiding students to identify, define and describe the attributes scientists use to delineate Earth's eras, periods, and epochs, in order to determine the appropriate boundary event to define the Anthropocene Epoch, and to develop a publication-ready textbook entry for an Earth science textbook. -Anchored in the Next Generation Science Standards, the Common Core State Standards, and the Framework for 21st Century Learning, which can be used in full or in part to meet the needs of districts, schools and teachers charting a course toward an integrated STEM approach.
Not long ago, the Solar System was the only example of a planetary system - a star and the bodies orbiting it - that we knew. Now, we know thousands of planetary systems, and have even been able to observe planetary systems at the moment of their birth. This Very Short Introduction explores this new frontier, incorporating the latest research. The book takes the reader on a journey through the grand sweep of time, from the moment galaxies begin to form after the Big Bang to trillions of years in the future when the Universe will be a dilute soup of dim galaxies populated mostly by red dwarf stars. Throughout, Raymond T. Pierrehumbert introduces the latest insights gained from a new generation of telescopes that catch planetary systems at the moment of formation, and to the theoretical advances that attempt to make sense of these observations. He explains how the elements that make up life and the planets on which life can live are forged in the interiors of dying stars, and make their way into rocky planets. He also explores the vast array of newly discovered planets orbiting stars other than our own, and explains the factors that determine their climates. Finally, he reveals what determines how long planetary systems can live, and what happens in their end-times. Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Did the Universe have a beginning? Will it have an end? Or has it always been the same, never changing? This is the subject of cosmology; the study of the Universe, and this book provides a perfect introduction to the subject for anyone that is interested in the wonders of our Universe This book provides an accessible overview of the Standard Model of Cosmology, which is explained in six Cosmological Clues, including evidence for the Big Bang and dark matter and dark energy - the keystones of modern cosmology. It takes readers through some of the most exciting questions in cosmology, such as what evidence do we have that the Universe started from the Big Bang? Has dark matter been observed? Will we ever know what dark energy is? Are the multiverses real? And could the Universe be a hologram? This book is an ideal guide for anyone interested in finding out more about our Universe. It will be of interest to those studying cosmology for the first time, including readers without a scientific background, who have an interest in looking up at the stars and wondering where they all came from! Key features: Contains the latest evidence for the Big Bang, dark matter, and dark energy and explores exciting scientific ideas, such as inflation and multiverses Provides a clear explanation of the main theories of how the Universe evolved based on key observations - the Cosmological Clues Gives the reader a concise introduction to the scientific process, using cosmology as the example, and explores why it has been so successful in creating the technologies we have today
This volume examines the way in which cultural ideas about "the heavens" shape religious ideas and are shaped by them in return. Our approaches to cosmology have a profound effect on the way in which we each deal with religious questions and participate in the imaginative work of public and private world-building. Employing an interdisciplinary team of international scholars, each chapter shows how religion and cosmology interrelate and matter for real people. Historical and contemporary case studies are included to demonstrate the lived reality of a variety of faith traditions and their interactions with the cosmos. This breadth of scope allows readers to get a unique overview of how religion, science and our view of space have, and will continue to, impact our worldviews. Offering a comprehensive exploration of humanity and its relationship with cosmology, this book will be an important reference for scholars of Religion and Science, Religion and Culture, Interreligious Dialogue and Theology, as well as those interested in Science and Culture and Public Education.
The gold standard text for helping students visualise and understand geologic processes makes hands-on and real-world exploration easier and more impactful than ever, in any course setting. New 3D specimen and digital elevation models, with corresponding Smartwork exercises, allow students to examine specimens and sites as if they were in the field or lab. And new highly visual "Practice What You Know" and "What Can You See?" activities at the end of each chapter and in Smartwork help students synthesise and apply important concepts like a geologist. Thoroughly updated with current events and essential data, the Seventh Edition also reveals the dynamism of geology and how it impacts our lives.
Uncertainty can take many forms, can be represented in many ways, and can have important implications in decision-making and policy development. This book provides a rigorous scientific framework for dealing with uncertainty in real-world situations, and provides a comprehensive study of concepts, measurements, and applications of uncertainty in ecological modeling and natural resource management. The focus of this book is on the kinds and implications of uncertainty in environmental modeling and management, with practical guidelines and examples for successful modeling and risk analysis in the face of uncertain conditions and incomplete information. Provided is a clear classification of uncertainty; methods for measuring, modeling, and communicating uncertainty; practical guidelines for capturing and representing expert knowledge and judgment; explanations of the role of uncertainty in decision-making; a guideline to avoiding logical fallacies when dealing with uncertainty; and several example cases of real-world ecological modeling and risk analysis to illustrate the concepts and approaches. Case topics provide examples of structured decision-making, statistical modeling, and related topics. A summary provides practical next steps that the reader can take in analyzing and interpreting uncertainty in real-world situations. Also provided is a glossary and a suite of references.
Uncertainty can take many forms, can be represented in many ways, and can have important implications in decision-making and policy development. This book provides a rigorous scientific framework for dealing with uncertainty in real-world situations, and provides a comprehensive study of concepts, measurements, and applications of uncertainty in ecological modeling and natural resource management. The focus of this book is on the kinds and implications of uncertainty in environmental modeling and management, with practical guidelines and examples for successful modeling and risk analysis in the face of uncertain conditions and incomplete information. Provided is a clear classification of uncertainty; methods for measuring, modeling, and communicating uncertainty; practical guidelines for capturing and representing expert knowledge and judgment; explanations of the role of uncertainty in decision-making; a guideline to avoiding logical fallacies when dealing with uncertainty; and several example cases of real-world ecological modeling and risk analysis to illustrate the concepts and approaches. Case topics provide examples of structured decision-making, statistical modeling, and related topics. A summary provides practical next steps that the reader can take in analyzing and interpreting uncertainty in real-world situations. Also provided is a glossary and a suite of references.
A Primer on Human Impacts on the Environment An insightful and illuminating discussion of the impact humans have had on Earth In A Primer on Human Impacts on the Environment: The Conceptual Approach, distinguished environmental scientist Liam Heneghan explores the intricate relationships between humanity and Earth in an accessible and engaging style. Replete with real-world examples and drawing from classic and contemporary scholarship, the author adapts the fundamental conceptual models of the environmental disciplines to assess the risks human beings are taking with their home planet. The conceptual approach of this primer challenges readers to think across multiple disciplines to reveal the "big picture" that is all too often lost in the details of contemporary environmental studies. Readers will also find: A thorough introduction to conceptual modeling, showing how systems models can be adapted and applied in a rapidly changing world Comprehensive explorations of the human impact on the Earth, including an examination of possible ecological limits and planetary boundaries In-depth evaluations of environmental risks, especially, though not limited to, climate change and biodiversity loss A guide to contemplating catastrophic risk and the potential for societal collapse without inducing unnecessary anxiety An interdisciplinary focus, emphasizing the role of the natural and social sciences, as well as the arts and humanistic disciplines in safeguarding the future Perfect for students of environmental science and environmental studies, A Primer on Human Impacts on the Environment will also earn a place in the libraries of graduate students working on environmental themes and practicing professionals in the environmental management community.
The growth of cosmology into a precision science represents one of the most remarkable stories of the past century. Much has been written chronicling this development, but rarely has any of it focused on the most critical element of this work-the cosmic spacetime itself. Addressing this lacuna is the principal focus of this book, documenting the growing body of evidence compelling us-not only to use this famous solution to Einstein's equations in order to refine the current paradigm, but-to probe its foundation at a much deeper level. Its excursion from the smallest to largest possible scales insightfully reveals an emerging link between the Universe we behold and the established tenets of our most fundamental physical theories. Key Features: Uncovers the critical link between the Local Flatness Theorem in general relativity and the symmetries informing the spacetime's metric coefficients Develops a physical explanation for some of the most unpalatable coincidences in cosmology Provides a sober assessment of the horizon problems precluding our full understanding of the early Universe Reveals a possible explanation for the origin of rest-mass energy in Einstein's theory In spite of its technical layout, this book does not shy away from introducing the principal players who have made the most enduring contributions to this field. Anyone with a graduate level foundation in physics and astronomy will be able to easily follow its contents.
Based on the first edition with extensive analysis of practical applications of environmental risk management and compliance management systems, this second edition of International Environmental Risk Management reflects updates made in the understanding and application of risk management best practices and makes available a frame of reference and systematic approach to environmental and social governance (ESG). It provides a pathway for readers to implement environmental management strategies that can be integrated with core operations and other risk management efforts, including supporting sustainability and corporate social responsibility initiatives associated with climate change, the circular economy or supply chain conditions, as well as enterprise risk management; anti-bribery, and other compliance management systems. This book provides in-depth discussions of ways to use global environmental management standards. New features in this edition: Combines EMS standards with discussion of specific principles, other authors' research, and guidelines on management practices. Provides guidelines on how to prepare for, anticipate, and resolve environmental issues. Includes easily understandable information for all readers and is not simply aimed toward individuals who are knowledgeable about this topic. Provides in-depth discussions on using global environmental management standards to manage risk and promote resilience, as well as legal strategies and voluntary initiatives that companies can utilize to minimize risk. Accounts for the substantive revisions in ISO 14001:2015. As a growing and rapidly changing field, it is necessary to address new issues, guidelines, and regulations to assist businesses, academia, students, consultants, lawyers, and environmental managers with a pragmatic resolution to environmental risk management issues. This second edition gives a broad and detailed analysis of the changes made to international standards and practices and serves as an excellent guide to managing environmental risk.
Microbe-Assisted Phytoremediation of Environmental Pollutants: Recent Advances and Challenges provides comprehensive information on the principles and practical knowledge of microbe-assisted phytoremediation of organic and inorganic pollutants for environmental safety. This book describes the physiological, biochemical, microbiological, and molecular basis of microbe-assisted phytoremediation and contains many relevant topics to fill the gaps in developing an understanding of microbe-assisted phytoremediation of environmental pollutants. The book provides state-of-the-art knowledge on fundamental, practical, and purposeful utilization of plant-associated bacteria (plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria [PGPR] and endophytes) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi for plant-growth promotion and enhanced phytoremediation of environmental pollutants in the contaminated matrix. Features: Provides a state-of-the-art overview of microbe-assisted phytoremediation Emphasizes the roles of PGPR, endophytes, and mycorrhizal fungi in assisted phytoremediation Elucidates biochemical and molecular mechanisms of microbe-assisted phytoremediation Details field studies and success stories of microbe-assisted phytoremediation Explores advances, challenges, and future directions in microbe-assisted phytoremediation The book serves as a valuable resource for researchers, ecotoxicologists, environmental scientists and engineers, environmental microbiologists and biotechnologists, environmental health and risk scientists, environmental science managers and administrators, remediation practitioners, environmental policymakers, and students at the postgraduate and doctoral levels in the relevant fields who wish to work on microbe-assisted phytoremediation of pollutants for environmental safety and sustainability.
Originally published in 1899, The History of Creation was the first book of its kind to apply a doctrine to the whole range of organic morphology and make use of the effect Darwin had on biological sciences during the 19th century. Haeckel looks at Darwin's reform of Descent Theory and its establishment through the doctrine of selection. He introduces Descent Theory into the systematic classification of animals and plants and finds a "natural system" on the basis of genealogy - that is, to construct hypothetical pedigrees for the various species of organisms. The book will be of interest to those studying natural history and the origins of modern scientific thought, it will appeal to researchers both in the natural sciences and in history.
Originally published in 1899, The History of Creation was the first book of its kind to apply a doctrine to the whole range of organic morphology and make use of the effect Darwin had on biological sciences during the 19th century. Haeckel looks at Darwin's reform of Descent Theory and its establishment through the doctrine of selection. He introduces Descent Theory into the systematic classification of animals and plants and finds a "natural system" on the basis of genealogy - that is, to construct hypothetical pedigrees for the various species of organisms. The book will be of interest to those studying natural history and the origins of modern scientific thought, it will appeal to researchers both in the natural sciences and in history.
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