Our Sun is the nearest star and thus an ideal laboratory to study dynamic processes which are related to solar terrestrial physics. The topics addressed in this book cover solar MHD and generation of acoustic waves, as well as physical parameters that are suited to describing solar activity and could serve as proxies for space weather forecasting. The influence of solar activity (radiation and solar wind) on telecommunication systems, satellite missions etc. is also discussed. In short, contribution reports are given on various topics in solar physics. The book covers solar physics from the photosphere to space weather influences. The intended level of readership is aimed at students working in this or related fields, professionals, and astronomers who wish to acquire some basic knowledge in the field of solar terrestrial relations, which is provided in the review articles.

This is an extended version of lectures that were held at the summer workshop Atmosphiirische Umweltforschung im Spannungsfeld zwischen Technik und Natur (At mospheric Environmental Research between Technology and Nature) at the Techni 16, 1996. We were very happy to have Paul J. Crutzen, cal University in Cottbus on July winner of the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1995, presenting the key lecture on glo bally changing chemistry in the atmosphere. Over the last decades, atmospheric chem istry has been established step by step, not just as an applied discipline of chemistry, but also as a key discipline for our understanding of air pollution, biogeochemical cycling, and climactic processes as well. In fact, the new definition of meteorology as the science of physics and chemistry of the atmosphere expresses this development very well. The chemistry of the atmosphere is strongly influenced by anthropogenic emissions, even on a global scale. As a result of emissions and chemical reactions, the chemical composition of the atmosphere influences the ecosystems directly via depo sition of trace substances, and indirectly by changing the physical climate. Therefore, in this book we combined state-of-the-art lectures describing the physical and chemi cal status of the atmosphere and selected issues representing the interface between atmosphere, technology and nature. Oxidising capacity, heterogeneous processes and acidity still remain as key issues in atmospheric chemistry, even in regions where efficient air control measures have been adopted resulting in reduction of primary atmospheric pollutants."

Gaseous Dielectrics VIII covers recent advances and developments in a wide range of basic, applied, and industrial areas of gaseous dielectrics.

Climate and Environmental Database Systems contains the papers presented at the Second International Workshop on Climate and Environmental Database Systems, held November 21-23, 1995, in Hamburg, Germany. Climate and environmental data may be separated into two classes, large amounts of well structured data and smaller amounts of less structured data. The large amounts are produced by numerical climate models and by satellites, handling data in the order of magnitude of 100 Tbytes for the climate modelling sites and 1000 Tbytes for the recording and processing of satellite data. Smaller amounts of poorly structured data are the environmental data, which come mainly from observations and measurements. Present-day problems in data management are connected with a variety of data types. Climate and Environmental Database Systems addresses the state of the art, practical experience, and future perspectives for climate and environmental database systems, and may be used as a text for a graduate level course on the subject or as a reference for researchers or practitioners in industry.

In recent years an increasing number of studies have been published reporting observations of adapted behaviour and shifting species ranges of plant and animal species due to recent climate warming. Are these `fingerprints' of climate change? An international conference was organised to bring together scientists from different continents with different expertise but sharing the same issue of climate change impact studies. Ecologists, zoologists, and botanists exchanged and discussed the findings from their individual field of research. The present book is an international collection of biological signs of recent climate warming, neither based only on computer models nor on prediction for the future, but mainly on actually occurring changes in the biosphere such as adapted behaviour or shifts in the ranges of species. `Fingerprints' of Climate Change presents ecological evidence that organisms are responding to recent global warming. The observed changes may foreshadow the types of impacts likely to become more frequent and widespread with continued warming.

Protecting the Ozone Layer: Lessons, Models, and Prospects Since the mid-1980s, the international community has adopted several significant instruments designed to reverse the degradation of the life support systems of the planet. None of these international agreements have been as successful as the 1987 Montreal Protocol in creating the incentives and mechanisms for protecting the ozone layer. Through the efforts of industry, government and public interest groups, national commitments and achievements have progressed further and faster than expected, while the list of controlled chemicals has expanded. Now in its second decade, the Protocol enters a crucial phase of its implementation. Protecting the Ozone Layer: Lessons, Models, and Prospects presents a wealth of information about the scientific, legal-political, and technological hurdles that we will have to overcome if humanity is to reverse its self-destructive course. The technology section in particular should appeal to industries affected by ozone layer protection as well as those affected by climate protection, since this is the first ozone publication featuring insights by the companies that spearheaded the major technological breakthroughs. Every initiative to improve the environmental performance of industry has been accompanied by pronouncements of economic devastation, from acid rain to auto emissions standards, from auto mileage improvements to the protection of the ozone layer. Each new initiative brought claims from industry that this situation was different, yet none of their predictions have come true. At a time when industry fights efforts to protect the environment, the ozone experience shows both how technical breakthroughs have enabled environmental protection policies to work in the past and how they will work again in the future. Protecting the Ozone Layer: Lessons, Models, and Prospects is the product of a Colloquium that was organized in September 1997 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Montreal Protocol. Contributions have been gathered from researchers and practitioners in the field, including some of the very same scientists whose work awakened the international community to the seriousness of the danger that humanity now faces. Other contributors include the scholars and diplomats who wrote and negotiated the text of the Protocol and its amendments, and the key figures who have been influential in convincing industry to support the process.

This volume covers the interdisciplinary field of disaster mitigatition against earthquakes with special emphasis on prevention of total collapse of existing low rise buildings towards reduction of life losses and economical assets. Rehabilitation of thousands of low-rise buildings in many big cities located in earthquake prone areas, is practically impossible even though there are experimentally and analytically approved intervention techniques to protect these existing buildings. It is simply not possible to find a proper way and proper amount of financial support to do this job. It will be more realistic to change the target to be achieved in a relatively short time, especially if time shortage starts to become the most critical issue. The new target can be specified as the prevention of total collapse of low-rise low-cost existing buildings, at least to save as much lives and property as possible. Simple prescriptive techniques, which can be implemented by the building owners, should be prepared. The cost of the improvement techniques, all kinds of legal, economical and social issues for convincing people, and promotions such as tax exemptions should be discussed in detail. Writers of all chapters are leading researchers and engineers working in the field of structural and earthquake engineering. The book will start with an introduction chapter written by Prof. Helmut Krawinkler of Stanford University. In this chapter, past and present of studies towards seismically safe design and construction will be introduced, as well as potential future trends in structural and earthquake engineering. In other chapters, different subjects will be presented under three main titles, namely; determination of seismic risks, seismic safety assessment of existing buildings, and measures for prevention of total collapse.

From the beginning of agriculture until about 1950, increased food production came almost entirely from expanding the cropland base. Since 1950, however, the yield per unit of land area for major crops has increased dramatically. Much of the increase in yields was because of increased inputs of energy. Between 1950 and 1985, the farm tractor fleet quadrupled, world irrigated area tripled, and use of fertilizer increased ninefold. Between 1950 and 1985, the total energy used in world agriculture increased 6. 9 times. Irrigation played a particularly important role in the rapid increase in food production between 1950 and 1985. The world's irrigated land in 1950 totaled 94 million hectares but increased to 140 million by 1960, to 198 million by 1970, and to 271 million hectares in 1985. However, the current rate of expansion has slowed to less than 1 % per year. The world population continues to increase and agricultural production by the year 2000 will have to be 50 to 60% greater than in 1980 to meet demands. This continued demand for food and fiber, coupled with the sharp decline in the growth rate of irrigation development, means that much of the additional agricultural production in future years must come from cultivated land that is not irrigated. Agricultural production will be expanded in the arid and semiarid regions because these regions make up vast areas in developing countries where populations are rapidly rising.

Comets are always very impressive phenomena. Their appearances at regular, but mostly irregular, times excite people who see them. Astronomers have the obvious advantage of being able to see more of comets, and to study them. Their enthusiasm is reflected in the 50 papers in this book, written by more than 90 experts. The reviews in this book clearly describe a landmark in the history of cometary studies. Knowledge gathered up to and including Comet Halley are presented in two volumes. The first volume is about general aspects of observing and studying comets, where they originate and how their evolution develops. The second volume goes into the details of what a comet is: the nucleus, the coma, cometary dust, plasmas and magnetic fields. The book ends with a reflection by Fred Whipple about Comets in the Post-Halley Era. The book discusses all aspects of comets and is therefore suitable for use in graduate level courses. All astronomers and geophysicists interested in comets will find very useful and well-presented information in this book.

"Models are often the only way of interpreting measurements to in vestigate long-range transport, and this is the reason for the emphasis on them in many research programs". B. E. A. Fisher: "A review of the processes and models of long-range transport of air pollutants", Atmospheric Environment, 17(1983), p. 1865. Mathematical models are (potentially, at least) powerful means in the efforts to study transboundary transport of air pollutants, source-receptor relationships and efficient ways of reducing the air pollution to acceptable levels. A mathematical model is a complicated matter, the development of which is based on the use of (i) various mechanisms describing mathematically the physical and chemical properties of the studied phenomena, (ii) different mathematical tools (first and foremost, partial differenti al equations), (iii) various numerical methods, (iv) computers (especially, high-speed computers), (v) statistical approaches, (vi) fast and efficient visualization and animation techniques, (vii) fast methods for manipulation with huge sets of data (input data, intermediate data and output data).

Integral Transforms of Geophysical Fields serve as one of the major tools for processing and interpreting geophysical data. In this book the authors present a unified treatment of this theory, ranging from the techniques of the transfor- mation of 2-D and 3-D potential fields to the theory of se- paration and migration of electromagnetic and seismic fields. Of interest primarily to scientists and post-gradu- ate students engaged in gravimetrics, but also useful to geophysicists and researchers in mathematical physics.

The chapters in this section place the problems of vegetation and climate interactions in semi-arid regions into the context which recur throughout the book. First, Verstraete and Schwartz review desertification as a process of global change evaluating both the human and climatic factors. The theme of human impact and land management is discussed further by Roberts whose review focuses on semi-arid land-use planning. In the third and final chapter in this section we return to the meteorological theme. Nicholls reviews the effects of El Nino/Southern Oscillation on Australian vegetation stressing, in particular, the interaction between plants and their climatic environment. Vegetatio 91: 3-13, 1991. 3 A. Henderson-Sellers and A. J. Pitman (eds). Vegetation and climate interactions in semi-arid regions. (c) 1991 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Desertification and global change 2 M. M. Verstraete! & S. A. Schwartz ! Institute for Remote Sensing Applications, CEC Joint Research Centre, Ispra Establishment, TP 440, 1-21020 Ispra (Varese), Italy; 2 Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI48109-2143, USA Accepted 24. 8. 1990 Abstract Arid and semiarid regions cover one third of the continental areas on Earth. These regions are very sensitive to a variety of physical, chemical and biological degradation processes collectively called desertification.

During the past several years I have been engaged in applied research related to the stability analysis of slopes. This research was supported by the Institute for Mining and Minerals Research, University of Kentucky, in response to the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, which requires stability analysis for refuse dams, hollow fills, and spoil banks created by surface mining. The results of the research have been published in several journals and reports and also presented in a number of short courses. Both the sim plified and the computerized methods of stability analysis, as developed from this research, have been widely used by practicing engineers throughout Ken tucky for the application of mining permits. The large number of out-of-state participants in the short courses indicates that the methods developed have widespread applications. This book is a practical treatise on the stability analysis of earth slopes. Special emphasis is placed on the utility and application of stablity formulas, charts, and computer programs developed recently by the author for the analy sis of human-created slopes. These analyses can be used for the design of new slopes and the assessment of remedial measures on existing slopes. To make the book more complete as a treatise on slope stability analysis, other methods of stability analysis, in addition to those developed by the author, are briefly discussed. It is hoped that this book will be a useful reference, class room text, and users' manual for people interested in learning about stability analysis."

The connections between economics, planning, and the environment are receiv ing increased attention among scholars and policy makers in many countries. The common denominator among these three variables is the earth's life support sys tems, the ecosystems on which the world depends. When we describe our physi cal surroundings as a collection of possible uses, we are establishing linkages between economics, planning, and the environment. Because possible alternative uses compete with each other, and conflicts arise over scarce land resources, the varying environmental impacts of alternative uses are major concerns for the cur rent as well as the next generation. How to achieve sustainable development is the pressing question for today's environmental professionals. Environmental planners and engineers help us study the implications of our choices, and new technologies and techniques that improve the practice of environmental planning should enhance our ability to protect our future. The depletion of the earth's natural resources and loss of biodiversity, the deg radation of air, land, and water quality, the accumulation of greenhouse gases leading to changes in our climate, and the depletion of the ozone layer comprise only a partial list of environmental issues that concern our policy makers. To sup port their decisions, environmental planning must be a multidimensional and multidisciplinary activity that incorporates social, economic, political, geograph ical, and technical factors. Solutions for problems in these areas frequently re quire not only numerical analyses but also heuristic analyses, which in turn depend on the intuitive judgements of planners and engineers."

For a long period Soil Mechanics has remained at the semi-empirica stage, and only a few decades ago it has shown a tendency to become a fundamental science. However, this evolution is taking place slowly; in spite of the efforts of numerous research scientists, the very complex rheological laws of soils are still not well known. Even if these laws were elucidated, it would take a long time still to deduce simple rules from them for reliable and convenient use in current practical engineer- ing. In the pursuit of these distant aims - and of others more imme- diate - fundamental research and applied research are very active, both in Rheology and Soil Mechanics. The complexity of the problems to be solved should incite the laboratory researchers and the engineers to a continuous collaboration. Everyone acknowledges the advantage of these connections although aware of the difficulty of realizing this wish. However, contacts are being made little by little between the repre- sentatives of the different branches of Rheology and Soil Mechanics, to the great benefit of science. The bureau of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM), aware of the importance of these two associat- ed fields of mechanics, considered it possible to accelerate the natural and necessary processus of their interpenetration by organizing in Grenoble, from 1st to 8th April 1964 an International Symposium on Rheology and Soil Mechanics.

This monograph covers phenomena of deformation and machining of granular media: macroscopic particles of different size, shape, and surface properties which typically exhibit behavior similar to fluids, as well as the behavior of solids under deformation. The book analyses the behavior of granular media in soils, rocks and stones, metals and various synthetic materials, presenting a theoretical description, applications and understanding of basic phenomena in granular matter.

Time is a major factor in Quaternary science. Without a trustworthy chronometer any interpretation of changes in proxy data of stratigraphical origin is on weak ground. In fact, any attempt at a sound reconstruction of timing and rates of past climatic change as well as the response of the biosphere can only be achieved on the basis of a reliable chronology. Moreover, all correlations and comparisons through time on a continental or global scale depend heavily on the reliability of the time-scale used. Therefore the establishment of an absolute time-scale is a fundamental goal. In this contribution we refer to the term "absolute time-scale" as a time-scale consisting of ages determined on the basis of sidereal years. Traditional stratigraphical methods of absolute dating include the Swedish glacial varve chronology, already developed early in this century by De Geer (1912) and since then continuously improved (e.g. Stromberg 1985; Cato 1987). Unfortunately, however, a spatial correlation with other stratigraphies outside Fennoscandia is difficult.

Performance-based Earthquake Engineering has emerged before the turn of the century as the most important development in the field of Earthquake Engineering during the last three decades. It has since then started penetrating codes and standards on seismic assessment and retrofitting and making headway towards seismic design standards for new structures as well. The US have been a leader in Performance-based Earthquake Engineering, but also Europe is a major contributor. Two Workshops on Performance-based Earthquake Engineering, held in Bled (Slovenia) in 1997 and 2004 are considered as milestones. The ACES Workshop in Corfu (Greece) of July 2009 builds on them, attracting as contributors world-leaders in Performance-based Earthquake Engineering from North America, Europe and the Pacific rim (Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan, China). It covers the entire scope of Performance-based Earthquake Engineering: Ground motions for performance-based earthquake engineering; Methodologies for Performance-based seismic design and retrofitting; Implementation of Performance-based seismic design and retrofitting; and Advanced seismic testing for performance-based earthquake engineering. Audience: This volume will be of interest to scientists and advanced practitioners in structural earthquake engineering, geotechnical earthquake engineering, engineering seismology, and experimental dynamics.

This book provides information about microbial mats, from early fossils to modern mats located in marine and terrestrial environments. Microbial mats layered biofilms containing different types of cells are most complex systems in which representatives of various groups of organisms are found together. Among them are cyanobacteria and eukaryotic phototrophs, aerobic heterotrophic and chemoautotrophic bacteria, protozoa, anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria, and other types of microorganisms.

These mats are perfect models for biogeochemical processes, such as the cycles of chemical elements, in which a variety of microorganisms cooperate and interact in complex ways. They are often found under extreme conditions and their study contributes to our understanding of extremophilic life. Moreover, microbial mats are models for Precambrian stromatolites; the study of modern microbial mats may provide information on the processes that may have occurred on Earth when prokaryotic life began to spread."

A workshop was held in June 1994 at the University of Western Ontario, London, concerned with education and training in global environmental change science. It was principally devoted to post-school education from first year university to postgraduate levels. I have arranged the papers and the results of discussions in the following order: Section 1: Introduction These papers set the scene. It begins with one by Beran whose original idea the workshop was. Schneider outlines various ways in which interdisciplinary courses in general and global change science in particular can be set up. Fyfe looks at the wider issues of global change that affect us all. There are then papers which examine major problems (Leal Filho; and Troost) and programmes to meet them (Carter; Fisher). Harger Section 2: Global Change Science Courses These papers are concerned with courses concerned with various aspects of global change courses. They include contributions from nine countries at different levels of secondary and university education. Section 3: Resources for teaching Global Change Science New resources are needed for effective courses, particularly those in which students can participate actively. There are wide selections both in terms of topics and teaching strategies, most of which are interactive. Section 4: Workshop discussions The workshop participants split themselves amongst three groups, one to discuss early undergraduate courses, another with senior undergraduate courses and the third with postgraduate courses. Their discussions are brought together in this section and common themes are identified.

The increasing production of industrial goods, heat, and energy, as well as traffic, has led to the release of considerable amounts of toxic trace metals to the atmosphere. The result is elevated concentrations of toxic metals in local populations and eco systems. Recently the problem of atmospheric long-range transport of trace metals has also been recognized. Significant amounts of these pollutants are disposed and deposited both on regional and global scales. In the atmosphere they may influence the chemical reactions. Of particular interest is their catalytic effect on the oxidation prosesses taking place in water droplets or on the surface of wet particles (e. g. the oxidation of sulphur dioxide to sulphate), however, the main environmental impact starts when the atmospheric trace metals are deposited on ground and vegetation and subsequently brought into the water circulation. During the later years significant progress has been made in the development of equipment to reduce and control the atmospheric emissions of toxic trace metals. This particularly applies to electrostatic precipitators and wet scrubbers for the collection of fine particles. The main objective of the workshop was to survey present knowledge concerning the sources, atmospheric fluxes, sinks and chemical impact of the atmospheric trace metals, and to review the developments of emission control equipment and the perspectives to reduce the potential risks from toxic metals. During the first two days of the meeting, 15 invited review papers were presented."

Radiative heat transfer is a fundamental factor in the energetics of the terrestrial atmosphere: the system consisting of the atmosphere and the underlying layer is heated by the Sun, and this heating is compensated, on the average, by thermal radia tion. Only over a period of 1-3 days from some specified initial moment can the dynamic processes in the atmosphere be considered to be adiabatic. Global dynamic processes of long duration are regulated by the actual influxes of heat, one of the main ones being the radiative influx. Radiation must be taken into account in long-term, weather forecasting and when considering the global circulation of the atmosphere, the theory of climate, etc. Thus it is necessary to know the albedo of the system, the amount of solar radiation transmitted by the atmosphere, the absorptivity of the atmosphere vis-a-vis solar radiation, and also the effective radiation flux, the divergence of which represents the radiative cooling or heating. All these quantities have to be integrated over the wavelength spectrum of the solar or thermal radiation, and they must be ascertained as functions of the determining factors. The relation ships between the indicated radiation characteristics, the optical quantities directly determining them, the optically active compo nents of the atmosphere, and the meteorological fields will be discussed in this book."

The publication of this first volume on the Quaternary Period in Saudi Arabia marks a significant milestone in the study of this Kingdom's basic geology. It also represents a major achievement in international cooperation in scholarship. The study of the Quaternary Period of Saudi Arabia was first proposed by Austrian scientists and by the officers of the Austrian Academy of Sciences early in 1972. A meeting was arranged between representatives of that Academy and of the University of Petroleum and Minerals, in Vienna, during May and June of that year, and tentative agreement was reached on the details of this cooperative venture. An exchange of letters, 15th June 1972 from the Austrian Academy of Sciences and 21th June 1972 from the Uni versity of Petroleum and Minerals, formally recorded the basis of the agree ment and arranged for the first visit to Saudi Arabia of the initial research team and accompanying officials from Austria. This team was headed by Professor Dr. JOSEF ZOTL, of the Department for Hydrogeology, Technical University of Graz, the initial project director. Many scientists, administrators, and officials have contributed to the success of this fundamental research project. Their number is too extensive to mention in this Foreword, but the principal contributors have been listed in the body of this text in conjunction with the specific areas of investigation in which they participated. The enormous contribution of Professor Dr. ZOTL, however, merits exceptional commendation.

The present work is not exactly a "course," but rather is presented as a monograph in which the author has set forth what are, for the most part, his own results; this is particularly true of Chaps. 7-13. Many of the problems dealt with herein have, since the school year 1975-76, been the subject of a series of graduate lectures at the "Universire des Sciences et Techniques de Lille I" for students preparing for the "Diplome d'Etudes Ap profondies de Mecanique (option fluides)." The writing of this book was thus strongly influenced by the author's own conception of meteorology as a fluid mechanics discipline which is in a privi leged area for the application of singular perturbation techniques. It goes without saying that the modeling of atmospheric flows is a vast and complex problem which is presently the focal point of many research projects. The enonnity of the topic explains why many important questions have not been taken up in this work, even among those which are closely related to the subject treated herein. Nonetheless, the author thought it worthwhile for the development of future research on the modeling of atmospheric flows (from the viewpoint of theoretical fluid mechanics) to bring forth a book specifying the problems which have already been resolved in this field and those which are, as yet, unsolved."

Since this new science is of an unprecedented interdisciplinary nature, the book does not merely take stock of its numerous ingredients, but also delivers their multifaceted integration.
The resulting master paradigm - the co-evolution of nature and anthroposphere within a geo-cybernetic continuum of processes - is based on a structured manifold of partial paradigms with their specific ranges. Most importantly, this serves the scientific foundation of a meaningful, safe and efficient environment and development management for solving the most burning questions concerning humankind and its natural environment.
The more concrete elucidation of the natural and human dimensions, as well as various attempts and instruments of integration are represented in the different parts of the book, while the didactic quality is heightened by many allegoric illustrations.