The discerning open-minded reader, prepared to forego the geocentric paradigm of most human philosophy and science, will be carried away by this text which offers a cosmic perspective of the evolution of life on our planet, of the history and future of mankind, as well as of meaning in the universe.

The possibility of a more advanced civilization than our own provides a cosmic perspective on developments on our earth. The text reproaches earthly scientists, philosophers and religious thinkers for their geocentric approach: they tend to accept this earth as the centre of the universe. But like Galileo we should all be open to the new and unexpected.

This text is challenging and thought-provoking with an unusual perspective.

This book presents a comprehensive approach to address the need to improve the design of tailings dams, their management and the regulation of tailings management facilities to reduce, and eventually eliminate, the risk of such facilities failing. The scope of the challenge is well documented in the report by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and GRID Arendal entitled "Mine Tailings Storage: Safety Is No Accident," which was released in October 2017. The report recommends that "Regulators, industry and communities should adopt a shared, zero-failure objective to tailings storage facilities..." and identifies several areas where further improvements are required. In this context, the application of cutting-edge risk-assessment methodologies and risk-management practices can contribute to a significant reduction and eventual elimination of dam failures through Risk Informed Decision Making. As such, the book focuses on identifying and describing the risk-assessment approaches and risk-management practices that need to be implemented in order to develop a way forward to achieve socially acceptable levels of tailings dam risk.

The book presents the state-of-the-art document describing the knowledge, data, cost-effectiveness and technologies employed to manage the waste in several countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordon, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, and Yemen. It covers diverse topics including the status of the waste in the region, solid waste management, solid waste recovery and disposal, the use of the agricultural waste in feeding poultry, sludge disposal and management, wastewater treatment and energy production. Also, the book explains how waste management systems are becoming more complex in many countries with the move from landfill-based to resource recovery-based solutions following the setting of international and national targets to divert waste from landfill and to increase recycling and recovery rates. Besides, this book also evaluates the environmental legislation in the selected countries and suggests new performance enhancements. This book is of interest to environmental professionals including scientists and policymakers in the Middle East, North Africa, and areas with similar features.

This book investigates geological CO2 storage and its role in greenhouse gas emissions reduction, enhanced oil recovery, and environmentally responsible use of fossil fuels. Written for energy/environmental regulators at every level of government (federal, state, etc.), scientists/academics, representatives from the power and fossil energy sectors, NGOs, and other interested parties, this book uses the characterization of the Rock Springs Uplift site in Wyoming as an integrated case study to illustrate the application of geological CO2 storage science, principles, and theory in a real-world scenario.

"Porous Models for Wave-seabed Interactions" discusses the Phenomenon of wave-seabed interactions, which is a vital issue for coastal and geotechnical engineers involved in the design of foundations for marine structures such as pipelines, breakwaters, platforms, etc. The most important sections of this book will be the fully detailed theoretical models of wave-seabed interaction problem, which are particularly useful for postgraduate students and junior researchers entering the discipline of marine geotechnics and offshore engineering. This book also converts the research outcomes of theoretical studies to engineering applications that will provide front-line engineers with practical and effective tools in the assessment of seabed instability in engineering design.

Prof. Dong-Sheng Jeng works at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China.

This book gives a general picture of research-driven activities related to location and map-based services. The interdisciplinary character of the topic leads to a variety of contributions with backgrounds from academia to business and from computer science to geodesy. While cartography is aiming at efficient communication of spatial information, the development and availability of technologies like mobile networking, mobile devices or short-range sensors lead to interesting new possibilities of achieving this aim. By trying to make use of the available technologies, a variety of related disciplines looks specifically at user-centered and context-aware system development, especially in wayfinding and navigation systems.

In tropical latitudes, monsoons trigger regimes of strong seasonal rainfall over the continents. Over the West African region, the rainfall has shown a strong variability from interannual to decadal time scales. The atmospheric response to global sea surface temperatures is the leading cause of rainfall variability in the West African Sahel. This thesis explores changes in the leading ocean forcing of Sahelian rainfall interannual variability. It anaylzes the dynamical mechanisms at work to explain the non-stationary sea surface temperature-forced response of anomalous rainfall. The underlying multidecadal sea surface temperature background is raised as a key factor that favors some interannual teleconnections and inhibits others. Results of this thesis are relevant for improving the seasonal predictability of summer rainfall in the Sahel.

The debate on how mankind should respond to climate change is diverse, as the appropriate strategy depends on global as well as local circumstances.

As scientists are denied the possibility of conducting experiments with the real climate, only climate models can give insights into man-induced climate change, by experimenting with digital climates under varying conditions and by extrapolating past and future states into the future.

But the nature of models is a purely representational one. A model is good if it is believed to represent the relevant processes of a natural system well. However, a model and its results, in particular in the case of climate models which interconnect countless hypotheses, is only to some extent testable, although an advanced infrastructure of evaluation strategies has been developed involving strategies of model intercomparison, ensemble prognoses, uncertainty metrics on the system and component levels. The complexity of climate models goes hand in hand with uncertainties, but uncertainty is in conflict with socio-political expectations. However, certain predictions belong to the realm of desires and ideals rather than to applied science. Today s attempt to define and classify uncertainty in terms of likelihood and confidence reflect this awareness of uncertainty as an integral part of human knowledge, in particular on knowledge about possible future developments. The contributions in this book give a first hand insight into scientific strategies in dealing with uncertainty by using simulation models and into social, political and economical requirements in future projections on climate change. Do these strategies and requirements meet each other or fail?

The debate on how mankind should respond to climate change is diverse, as the appropriate strategy depends on global as well as local circumstances. As scientists are denied the possibility of conducting experiments with the real climate, only climate models can give insights into man-induced climate change, by experimenting with digital climates under varying conditions and by extrapolating past and future states into the future. But the 'nature' of models is a purely representational one. A model is good if it is believed to represent the relevant processes of a natural system well. However, a model and its results, in particular in the case of climate models which interconnect countless hypotheses, is only to some extent testable, although an advanced infrastructure of evaluation strategies has been developed involving strategies of model intercomparison, ensemble prognoses, uncertainty metrics on the system and component levels. The complexity of climate models goes hand in hand with uncertainties, but uncertainty is in conflict with socio-political expectations. However, certain predictions belong to the realm of desires and ideals rather than to applied science. Today's attempt to define and classify uncertainty in terms of likelihood and confidence reflect this awareness of uncertainty as an integral part of human knowledge, in particular on knowledge about possible future developments. The contributions in this book give a first hand insight into scientific strategies in dealing with uncertainty by using simulation models and into social, political and economical requirements in future projections on climate change. Do these strategies and requirements meet each other or fail?

Gabriele Gramelsberger is Principal Investigator of the Collaborative Research Project is Principal Investigator of the Collaborative Research Project

This book presents valuable insights on a vast array of topics in the field of environmental studies. The works published in the book were presented within the scope of the 2013 Sopot Forum of Young Scientists. The Forum is an annual event which provides a platform for young researchers to present their work and exchange ideas with their peers. The aim of the forum is to make science more popular, so the speakers talked about their work in a way that was easily understandable. The book contains actual scientific papers on their own topics of interest. The papers represent different areas of environmental sciences, from biology to physics. The main umbrella topic for this book is "WHERE THE WORLD IS HEADING" and the papers are constructed in such a way as to try to answer this from each contributor's individual perspective.

With the major growth of the world's population over the past century, as well as rapid urbanisation, people increasingly live in crowded cities. This trend is often accompanied by proliferation of poorly built housing, uncontrolled use of land, occupation of unsafe environments and overstretched services. When a natural hazard strikes such a city many people are vulnerable to loss of life and property. This book explores what these people think and feel about the threats that they face. How do they live with perils ranging from earthquakes to monsoons, from floods to hurricanes, in the 21st century? The authors are drawn from a large range of disciplines: Psychology, Engineering, Geography, Anthropology and Urban Planning. They also reflect on how perils are represented in multiple cultures: the United States, Japan, Turkey, Bangladesh, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. The book therefore not only brings to light the ways that different cultures represent natural hazards but also the different ways in which various disciplines write about living with perils in the 21st century. The book is addressed both to researchers and to organizations involved with risk management and risk mitigation.

This book review series presents current trends in modern biotechnology. The aim is to cover all aspects of this interdisciplinary technology where knowledge, methods and expertise are required from chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, genetics, chemical engineering and computer science. Volumes are organized topically and provide a comprehensive discussion of developments in the respective field over the past 3-5 years. The series also discusses new discoveries and applications. Special volumes are dedicated to selected topics which focus on new biotechnological products and new processes for their synthesis and purification. In general, special volumes are edited by well-known guest editors. The series editor and publisher will however always be pleased to receive suggestions and supplementary information. Manuscripts are accepted in English.

"Absoliutno blagopoluchnoe ozero Baikal!" the Russian scientist looking out over the great lake says. "Lake Baikal is Perfect!" And humans can never harm it.
For a man cut loose from his life in the U.S., Lake Baikal-Siberia's sacred inland sea-becomes a place of pilgrimage, the focal point of a 25,000-mile journey by land and sea in search of connection, permanence, restoration and hope.
Following a difficult divorce, veteran environmental journalist Peter Thomson sets off from Boston with his younger brother for one of nature's most remarkable creations, in one of the farthest corners of the planet. Lake Baikal, a gargantuan crack in the Siberian plateau, is the world's largest body of fresh water, its deepest and oldest lake, and a cauldron of evolution, home to hundreds of unique creatures, including the world's only freshwater seal. It's also among the most pristine lakes on earth, with a mythical ability to protect itself from the growing human impact-a "perfect," self-cleansing ecosystem.
A trip halfway around the world by train, cargo ship and rubber raft brings the brothers to a place of sublime beauty, deep history and immense natural power. But at Baikal they also find ominous signs that this perfect piece of nature could yet succumb to the even more powerful forces of human hubris, carelessness and ignorance. They find that despite its isolation, Baikal is connected to everything else on Earth, and that it will need the love and devotion of people around the world to protect it.
On their trek to and from Siberia the author and his brother also encounter a stream of people who are also lonely, displaced and yearning for something beyond the limits of theirown lives, but many of whom are also big-hearted and deeply connected to their own communities and the world around them. What begins as a search for restoration in nature becomes as well a discovery of the restorative power of trust, faith and human connection.

Modern Earth System Monitoring represents a fundamental change in the way scientists study the Earth System. In Oceanography, for the past two centuries, ships have provided the platforms for observing. Expeditions on the continents and Earth's poles are land-based analogues. Fundamental understanding of current systems, climate, natural hazards, and ecosystems has been greatly advanced. While these approaches have been remarkably successful, the need to establish measurements over time can only be made using Earth observations and observatories with exacting standards and continuous data. The 19 peer-reviewed contributions in this volume provide early insights into this emerging view of Earth in both space and time in which change is a critical component of our growing understanding.

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."