Geotechnical and Geophysical Site Characterization collects the papers presented at the Third International Conference on Site Characterization (ISCa (TM)3) that took place in Taipei from April 1-4, 2008. The subjects covered include new developments in mechanical in-situ testing and interpretation techniques, statistical analysis of test data, geo-environmental site characterization, soil sampling methods, multi-dimensional geophysical imaging techniques, residual/unsaturated soil characterization, and case histories that involve major construction projects or disaster investigations. Over 200 papers, twelve keynote lectures and the third Mitchell lecture were presented at the conference. Geotechnical and Geophysical Site Characterization provides a wealth of valuable information for practicing engineers as well as researchers worldwide.

Economic geography has long been a key branch of human geography as a whole, but in recent years the subject has undergone considerable theoretical, empirical and public growth. It has become a highly vibrant sphere of academic enquiry amongst the social sciences, and an increasingly prominent arena of political discourse and policy action. Reflecting this, Economic Geography: Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences is a comprehensive five-volume set covering the following key areas: the evolving project of economic geography realms of wealth creation in a globalizing economy changing worlds of work and welfare the cultural economy regulating the economic landscape. With a new introduction by the editors, this fascinating collection captures the essential elements involved in the intellectual development of the field, making it an indispensable resource for both student and scholar alike.

Ireland offers a concise synthesis of globalization's dramatic impact on Ireland. In the past fifteen years, Ireland has transformed from a sleepy and depressed European backwater to the emerald tiger, a country with a booming economy based on knowledge and high tech industries. Not long ago it was one of the poorest and most traditional countries in Europe, yet now it is one of the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan. Using a number of case studies of Ireland's transition, Tom Inglis explains what this means for traditional Irish culture and society and offers an incisive social portrait of globalizing Ireland. Books in Globalzing Regions series look at how nations and regions across the world are navigating the tumultuous currents of globalization. Concise, descriptive, interdisciplinary, and theoretically informed, they serve as ideal introductions to the peoples and places of our increasingly globalized world.

The perceptibly changing climate has resulted in more precipitation in a small number of short periods. As most urban water management systems were developed at a time when precipitation was distributed more evenly throughout the year, they cannot deal properly with the new circumstances, and high groundwater levels and excess water are the result. In practice, many urban dwellers are consequently confronted with flooded cellars and inaccessible urban infrastructure. To solve these phenomena in the future, a major part of the urban water programmes for the next few decades consists of restructuring and transformation of the existing urban areas, in which water management is considered as an integral part of urban renewal activities and in which its capacity is compliant with the urban area scale. With an integral approach, this book treats the relation of urbanism and water management in Dutch water cities. It also treats the financial aspects of the adjustment of existing water systems to meet the changes in the urban hydrological cycle. It presents the typology of typical current and future Dutch water cities, their urban function and the ecological and technical aspects. Separate chapters deal with the transformation of the historical city, the consolidation of the inter-war city and the restructuring of the post-war city to meet future conditions. The final chapter presents a comparison of the Dutch situation with South Korean (Seoul), Japanese (Tokyo) and German (Ruhr area) urban areas.

As demonstrated in New Orleans, the vast human and financial costs of natural and human-induced disasters are often needlessly high as a result of poor planning and response stemming from inadequate disaster policy. This new handbook, from two top global authorities in the field, shows how to construct a coherent, relevant and effective policy framework. It is a vital read for all disaster policy makers, planners, managers and governments. From the Asian tsunami to hurricanes Katrina and Rita to the recent earthquake in Pakistan, disasters both natural and human-induced are leading to spiralling costs in terms of human lives, the destruction of homes, businesses, public buildings and infrastructure and the resulting financial and human crises that inevitably follow in the wake of such catastrophes. Yet the failures in planning for, and responding to, such disasters can often be traced to poor disaster policies that are unsuited to the emerging scales of the problems they confront and the lack of institutional capacity to implement plans and manage disasters when they happen.This handbook, written by two top authorities on disaster policy and management, seeks to overcome this mismatch and to guide the examination and development of a policy and institutional framework and associated strategies. In particular, for the first time it brings together into a coherent framework the insights of public policy, institutional design and emergency and disaster management, stressing the cognate nature of policy and institutional challenges between disasters and sustainability. This is indispensable reading for all disaster planners, policy makers and managers across the world seeking to improve the quality, robustness and capacity of their disaster management.

Georges Benko "Societies are much messier than our theories of them" Michael Mann The Sources of Social Power 1 Towards a unified social theory Why are there communication problems between the different disciplines of the social sciences? And why should there be so much misunderstanding? Most probably because the encounter of several disciplines is in fact the encounter of several different histories, and therefore of several different cultures, each interpreting the other according to the code dictated by its own culture. Inevitably geographers view other disciplines through their own cultural filter, and even a benevolent view remains 'ethnocentric'. It was in order to avoid such ethnocentricity that Femand Braudel called for more unity among the social sciences in 1958 : "l wish the social sciences . . . would stop discussing their respective differences so much . . . and instead look for common ground . . . on which to reach their first agreement. Personally I would call these ways : quantification, spatial awareness and 'longue duree'". In its place at the center of the social sciences, geography reduces all social reality to its spatial dimensions. Unfortunately, as a discipline, it considers itself all too often to be in a world of its own. There is a need in France for a figure like Vidal de la Blanche who could refocus attention away from issues of time and space, towards space and social reality. Geographic research will only take a step forward once it learns to address the problems facing all the sciences.

Overland flow modelling has been an active field of research for some years, but developments in numerical methods and computational resources have recently accelerated progress, producing models for different geometries and types of flows, such as simulations of canal and river networks. Flow in canals has traditionally been described using one-dimensional, depth-averaged, shallow water models; but a variety of simulation techniques now facilitate the management of hydrodynamic systems, providing models which incorporate complex geometry and diverse flows. Much effort has gone into elaborating canal operational rules based on decision support systems, with the dual aim of assuring water delivery and meeting flow control constraints. In natural water courses, water management problems are associated with the need to meet quality standards. Numerical modelling of advection-diffusion can be used to manage problems related to the movement of solutes in rivers and aquifers. The analysis of solute transport is used to safeguard the quality of surface and ground water and to help prevent eutrophication. Solute flow through the soil can be dynamically linked to overland flow for hydrological and agricultural applications. Advances in modelling also cast new light on sediment transport in rivers, exploring the complex dynamics of river bed erosion and deposition and assist in thee analysis of river-reservoir systems. All these issues are discussed in Numerical Modelling of Hydrodynamics for Water Resources, which will be useful to civil engineers, applied mathematicians, hydrologists, and physicists.

This book is divided into three parts. The first deals with typical settelements in each of the seven continents, the early stages of settlements, land surveys and general phases of town evolution. The second part discusses changes in site and patter, from Neolithic to modern times. The third part specializes in topographic and functional controls in modern towns. Chapters on Planning, Regional Surveys and Classification of towns close the book. There are about 300 specially drawn plans and diagrams of towns - which should appeal to the sociologist and town planner as well as to every serious student of geography.

This book was first published in 1949.

Most geographical studies of the 'Third World' - or the Global South - focus their attention on the challenge of promoting development and explaining why the Third World is also the Poor World. This text extracts the Global South from the shadow of development and examines people's lives and livelihoods in their own terms. It takes as its point of departure the need to reveal the myriad ways that people 'get by' in the day-to-day sense of the term and how modernization is re-working the human landscape.

An Everyday Geography of the Global South focuses on local spaces, individual experiences, household strategies and the power and role of agency over structure in terms of explanation. Taking a broad perspective of livelihoods, it draws on more than 90 case studies from 36 countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America to examine how people are engaging and living with modernity. This extends from changes in the ways that households operate, to how and why people take on new work and acquire new skills, how migration and mobility are become increasingly common features of existence, and how aspirations and expectations are being reworked under the influence of modernisation.

To date, there is no book which takes such an approach to building an understanding of the Global South. In focusing on the Global South but not on development, in beginning with the personal and the everyday, in using the experience of the non-Western world to illuminate and inform mainstream debates in geography, and in beginning from the lived experiences of 'ordinary' people, this book will provide an alternative and different insight into a range of geographical debates. For students, theusefulness of the book will lie in its clarity of argument, its use of detailed case studies to inform and substantiate the general argument and in providing a geography text which engages with the majority world that is the Global South.

Most geographical studies of the 'Third World' - or the Global South - focus their attention on the challenge of promoting development and explaining why the Third World is also the Poor World. This text extracts the Global South from the shadow of development and examines people's lives and livelihoods in their own terms. It takes as its point of departure the need to reveal the myriad ways that people 'get by' in the day-to-day sense of the term and how modernization is re-working the human landscape.

An Everyday Geography of the Global South focuses on local spaces, individual experiences, household strategies and the power and role of agency over structure in terms of explanation. Taking a broad perspective of livelihoods, it draws on more than 90 case studies from 36 countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America to examine how people are engaging and living with modernity. This extends from changes in the ways that households operate, to how and why people take on new work and acquire new skills, how migration and mobility are become increasingly common features of existence, and how aspirations and expectations are being reworked under the influence of modernisation.

To date, there is no book which takes such an approach to building an understanding of the Global South. In focusing on the Global South but not on development, in beginning with the personal and the everyday, in using the experience of the non-Western world to illuminate and inform mainstream debates in geography, and in beginning from the lived experiences of 'ordinary' people, this book will provide an alternative and different insight into a range of geographical debates. For students, theusefulness of the book will lie in its clarity of argument, its use of detailed case studies to inform and substantiate the general argument and in providing a geography text which engages with the majority world that is the Global South.

This book contains a collection of cutting-edge chapters that explore various connections between urban living, sexuality and sexual desire around the world. The key themes featured address a number of topical issues including: the controversies and debates raging around the evolution, defining patterns and appropriate regulation of commercial sex zones and markets in the urban landscape how gay public spaces, districts and 'gay villages' emerged and developed in various towns and cities around the world how changing attitudes to, and the usage of urban sexual spaces, as depicted in iconic television series such as Sex and the City and Queer as Folk, reflect the reality of working women's or gay men's changing life experiences. With detailed case studies, and a strong interdisciplinary appeal, this book will be a valuable reference for postgraduates and advanced students in the fields of cultural studies as well as human, urban and social geography. This book was previously published as a special issue of the journal Urban Studies.

The turn of the century has seen a proliferation of concepts and models in relation to the development of new residential environments in the UK. "Housing Transformations "describes these concepts and models and accounts for their emergence at the present time, at the conjuncture of a particular set of cultural, social, economic and political circumstances. Franklin explains the variety and nature of the built form, and tries to achieve a greater insight into how and why we build places and dwell in spaces that are at once contradictory, confining, liberating and illuminating. The shaping and re-shaping of the built environment derives from the intersection of locality and timing: the structural context, the mediating role of institutions and organizations, and the actions and proclivities of individuals. The author includes numerous case studies to show the background to provide specific examples of contemporary conditions. Housing Transformations will appeal to all those in the built environmentdisciplines, as well as to those in other social science fields with an interest in housing and residential environments.

Since the 1960s, public attention has been drawn increasingly towards the thematic link between historic preservation and urban planning. Nowadays, the organized historic preservation movement in the USA is more than a mere "yearning for history": it represents an active and integral part of urban planning in US cities. In order to approach these planning, economic, and social issues in the field of historic preservation, this book analyzes a variety of interdisciplinary methods, focusing on four selected historic districts within the central business districts of Philadelphia and Boston (in the north) and Charleston and Savannah (in the south).

During the past three decades, urban groundwater has emerged as one of the world's most pressing issues. Explosive population growth, most prevalent in cities, has placed an inordinate demand on groundwater supply, prompting concerns for its long-term sustainability at a time when the quality of available groundwater resources is being increasingly degraded by anthropogenic activity. Cities less reliant on groundwater for potable supply are equally obliged to manage subsurface water with cautious respect since rising groundwater levels can generate a myriad of problems such as unstable land slopes, flooded basements, tunnels and electrical utilities, and the release of polluted water to urban wetlands, springs and streams.Challenges in Urban Groundwater is premised on a growing recognition that most urban groundwater problems are not uniquely associated with any particular region or hydrogeological environment, and much can be learned by understanding the successes and failures of others. It showcases the best urban groundwater papers presented at the International Geological Congress held in Florence, Italy in 2004, and is supplemented by contributions solicited from other world experts active in urban groundwater research. Topics covered range from the urban water balance and rising groundwater levels to groundwater contamination and the role of aquifer modelling.

Collaborative working and partnering between the public and private sectors has been fairly standard practice in some form or other for over 100 years, but it is only in recent years that it has become more prevalent. In the UK, it is little more than 10 years since the most widely known Public Private Partnership, the Private Finance Initiative, was launched and yet it has already been described by some as 'the new economic paradigm'. PFI has now become the preferred method of procurement for many UK Government agencies such as the NHS building programme, whereas other bodies oppose the introduction of the private sector into the provision of traditional public sector services. Although the use of PPPs is the most controversial procurement strategy now used by the UK government, it currently accounts for approximately 11 per cent of government expenditure and there is no doubt that it is here to stay.

Scientific visualization may be defined as the transformation of numerical scientific data into informative graphical displays. The text introduces a nonverbal model to subdisciplines that until now has mostly employed mathematical or verbal-conceptual models. The focus is on how scientific visualization can help revolutionize the manner in which the tendencies for (dis)similar numerical values to cluster together in location on a map are explored and analyzed. In doing so, the concept known as spatial autocorrelation - which characterizes these tendencies - is further demystified.  

This book contains the most recent progress in data assimilation in meteorology, oceanography and hydrology including land surface. It spans both theoretical and applicative aspects with various methodologies such as variational, Kalman filter, ensemble, Monte Carlo and artificial intelligence methods. Besides data assimilation, other important topics are also covered including targeting observation, sensitivity analysis, and parameter estimation. The book will be useful to individual researchers as well as graduate students for a reference in the field of data assimilation.

Terrain has a profound effect upon the strategy and tactics of any military engagement and has consequently played an important role in determining history. In addition, the landscapes of battle, and the geology which underlies them, has helped shape the cultural iconography of battle certainly within the 20th century. In the last few years this has become a fertile topic of scientific and historical exploration and has given rise to a number of conferences and books. The current volume stems from the international Terrain in Military History conference held in association with the Imperial War Museum, London and the Royal Engineers Museum, Chatham, at the University of Greenwich in January 2000. This conference brought together historians, geologists, military enthusiasts and terrain analysts from military, academic and amateur backgrounds with the aim of exploring the application of modem tools of landscape visualisation to understanding historical battlefields. This theme was the subject of a Leverhulme Trust grant (F/345/E) awarded to the University of Greenwich and administered by us in 1998, which aimed to use the tools of modem landscape visualisation in understanding the influence of terrain in the First World War. This volume forms part of the output from this grant and is part of our wider exploration of the role of terrain in military history. Many individuals contributed to the organisation of the original conference and to the production of this volume.

A rich and fascinating exploration of the Volga River and its vital place in Russian history-named a Best Book of 2021 by the Financial Times "A memorable journey into the heart of Russian social, political, and cultural history."-Jennifer Eremeeva, Moscow Times "'Without the Volga, there would be no Russia.' The final words of Janet Hartley's book sound sweeping. But its 400 pages make the case powerfully."-The Economist The longest river in Europe, the Volga stretches more than three and a half thousand km from the heart of Russia to the Caspian Sea, separating west from east. The river has played a crucial role in the history of the peoples who are now a part of the Russian Federation-and has united and divided the land through which it flows. Janet Hartley explores the history of Russia through the Volga from the seventh century to the present day. She looks at it as an artery for trade and as a testing ground for the Russian Empire's control of the borderlands, at how it featured in Russian literature and art, and how it was crucial for the outcome of the Second World War at Stalingrad. This vibrant account unearths what life on the river was really like, telling the story of its diverse people and its vital place in Russian history.