The impact of environmental variability on ecological systems is an issue that has been at the forefront of ecological research for many years. Research is taking place on many fronts, including theoretical mathematical based analyses, natural ecosystem observation and experimentation.This book brings together contributions from these three fronts to provide readers with a comprehensive look at the challenges for ecological systems and ecological research alike.

This book is a collection of the articles presented at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW 979859) held in St. Petersburg, from the 15-18 November 2003 in the Hermitage Museum. The title of the workshop was "The impact of the environment on Human Migration in Eurasia." More than 40 scientists from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Poland, Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Belgium, Finland, Lithuania and Latvia took part. The themes of the workshop focused on the origin, development, interactions, and migrations of prehistoric and ancient populations, specifically the Scythians, in Eurasia and their relationships with the environment of the time. The discussion of these questions necessitated the participation of specialists from a wide range of academic fields. Beyond any doubt, the environment played an important role in the life of ancient nomadic populations, forming the basis of their economies and influencing various aspects of their mode of life. In this respect, the collaboration of specialists in the Humanities and Science is essential for the solution of scientific questions concerning these peoples. Over the past few years, a large amount of new proxy data related to environmental changes during the Pleistocene and the Holocene and their impact on human life has become available. Our discussion was predominantly limited to environmental changes related to the Holocene. In st this period of about 10000 years, the main focus was on the 1 millennium BC.

The Cold War Era left the major participants, the United States and the former Soviet Union (FSU), with large legacies in terms of both contamination and potential accidents. Facility contamination and environmental degradation, as well as the accident vulnerable facilities and equipment, are a result of weapons development, testing, and production. Although the countries face similar issues from similar activities, important differences in waste management practices make the potential environmental and health risks of more immediate concern in the FSU and Eastern Europe. In the West, most nuclear and chemical waste is stored in known contained locations, while in the East, much of the equivalent material is unconfined, contaminating the environment. In the past decade, the U.S. started to address and remediate these Cold War legacies. Costs have been very high, and the projected cost estimates for total cleanup are still increasing. Currently in Russia, the resources for starting such major activities continue to be unavailable."

Ecotoxicology is a relatively new scientific discipline. Indeed, it might be argued that it is only during the last 5-10 years that it has come to merit being regarded as a true science, rather than a collection of procedures for protecting the environment through management and monitoring of pollutant discharges into the environment. The term 'ecotoxicology' was first coined in the late sixties by Prof. Truhaut, a toxicologist who had the vision to recognize the importance of investigating the fate and effects of chemicals in ecosystems. At that time, ecotoxicology was considered a sub-discipline of medical toxicology. Subsequently, several attempts have been made to portray ecotoxicology in a more realistic light. Notably, both Moriarty (1988) and F. Ramade (1987) emphasized in their books the broad basis of ecotoxicology, encompassing chemical and radiation effects on all components of ecosystems. In doing so, they and others have shifted concern from direct chemical toxicity to humans, to the far more subtle effects that pollutant chemicals exert on natural biota. Such effects potentially threaten the existence of all life on earth. Although I have identified the sixties as the era when ecotoxicology was first conceived as a coherent subject area, it is important to acknowledge that studies that would now be regarded as ecotoxicological are much older.

This book is a collection of the articles presented at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW 979859) held in St. Petersburg, from the 15-18 November 2003 in the Hermitage Museum. The title of the workshop was "The impact of the environment on Human Migration in Eurasia." More than 40 scientists from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Poland, Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Belgium, Finland, Lithuania and Latvia took part. The themes of the workshop focused on the origin, development, interactions, and migrations of prehistoric and ancient populations, specifically the Scythians, in Eurasia and their relationships with the environment of the time. The discussion of these questions necessitated the participation of specialists from a wide range of academic fields. Beyond any doubt, the environment played an important role in the life of ancient nomadic populations, forming the basis of their economies and influencing various aspects of their mode of life. In this respect, the collaboration of specialists in the Humanities and Science is essential for the solution of scientific questions concerning these peoples. Over the past few years, a large amount of new proxy data related to environmental changes during the Pleistocene and the Holocene and their impact on human life has become available. Our discussion was predominantly limited to environmental changes related to the Holocene. In st this period of about 10000 years, the main focus was on the 1 millennium BC.

This book is a collection of papers presented at the 9th International Conference of Military Geoscience that was held in 2011. The conference included discussion on a diverse range of geosciences, including military history, military geology, teaching geology from a military prospective, geological influence on the battlefield, and environmental and cultural issues related to management of military lands. Geology and geography have played a significant role in military history, from providing the stone for primitive tools and weapons, to the utilization of terrain in offensive and defensive strategies. Specific to this volume, deserts comprise nearly a third of the Earth's surface and have been the site of numerous battles where the dust, heat, and a lack of food and water have provided challenges to military leaders and warriors. This book examines the role of deserts in past and modern warfare, the problems and challenges in managing military lands in desert regions, and how desert environmental conditions can impact military equipment and personnel. This proceedings volume should be of interest to scholars, professionals, and those interested in military history, warfare, geology, geography, cultural resources, general science, and military operations.

This volume contains 40 selected full-text contributions from the Sixth European Conference on Geostatistics for Environmental Applications, geoENV IV, held in Rhodes, Greece, October 25-26, 2006. The objective of the editors was to compile a set of papers from which the reader could perceive how geostatistics is applied within the environmental sciences. A few selected theoretical contributions are also included.

One of the most significant developments in archaeology in recent years is the emergence of its environmental branch: the study of humans interactions with their natural surroundings over long periods and of organic remains instead of the artifacts and household items generally associated with sites. With the current attention paid to human responsibility for environmental change, this innovative field is recognized by scientists, conservation and heritage managers and policymakers worldwide. In this context comes Environmental Archaeology by Elizabeth Reitz and Myra Shackley, updating the seminal 1981 text Environmental Archaeology by Myra Shackley. Rigorously detailed yet concise and accessible, this volume surveys the complex and technical field of environmental archaeology for researchers interested in the causes, consequences and potential future impact of environmental change and archaeology. Its coverage acknowledges the multiple disciplines involved in the field, expanding the possibilities for using environmental data from archaeological sites in enriching related disciplines and improving communication among them. Introductory chapters explain the processes involved in the formation of sites, introduce research designs and field methods and walk the reader through biological classifications before focusing on the various levels of biotic and abiotic materials found at sites, including: Sediments and soils. Viruses, bacteria, archaea, protists and fungi. Bryophytes and vascular plants. Wood, charcoal, stems, leaves and roots. Spores, pollen and other microbotanical remains. Arthropods, molluscs, echinoderms and vertebrates.Stable isotopes, elements and biomolecules. The updated Environmental Archaeology is a major addition to the resource library of archaeologists, environmentalists, historians, researchers, policymakers anyone involved in studying, managing or preserving historical sites. The updated Environmental Archaeology is a major addition to the resource library of archaeologists, environmentalists, historians, researchers, policymakers anyone involved in studying, managing, or preserving historical sites.

The main objective of politicians is to maximise economic growth, which heavily drives political policy and decision-making. Critics of the maximisation of growth as the central aim of economic policy have argued that growth in itself is not necessarily a good thing, particularly for the environment; however, what would replace the system and how it would be measured are questions that have been rarely answered satisfactorily. First published in 1991, this book was the first to lay out an entirely new set of practical proposals for developing new economic measurement tools, with the aim of being sustainable, 'green' and human-centred. Victor Anderson proposes that a whole set of indicators, rather than a single one, should play all the roles that GNP (Gross National Product) is responsible for. With a detailed overview of the central debates between the advocates and opponents of continued economic growth and an analysis of the various proposals for modification, this title will be of particular value to students interested in the diversity of measurement tools and the notion that economies should also be evaluated by their social and environmental consequences.

Water Resource Modeling and Computational Technologies, Seventh Edition provides the reader with a comprehensive overview of the applications that computational techniques have in various sectors of water resource engineering. The book explores applications of recent modeling and computational techniques in various sectors of water resource engineering, including hydroinformatics, irrigation engineering, climate change, hydrologic forecasting, floods, droughts, image processing, GIS, water quality, aquifer mapping, basin scale modeling, computational fluid dynamics, numerical modeling of surges and groundwater flow, river engineering, optimal reservoir operation, multipurpose projects, and water resource management. As such, this is a must read for hydrologists, civil engineers and water resource managers.

It is clear that our society must become a more sustainable one. To that end, we must change both our production and our consumption patterns. Some argue that this implies the abolition of democratic processes, and thus of citizens' participation in environmental policy. Others argue the opposite: the only way to avoid impending environmental disaster is by engaging in common deliberation and contemplation. Is participation, then, a negative force or not?

This volume is one of the first coordinated attempts to study the relationship between democratic, participatory forms of decision making and the quality of environmental decisions. The central question is how can the normatively desirable practice of participatory decision making be combined with an effective approach to environmental issues?

Guided by a theoretical introduction by the editors, the 15 chapters deal with topics ranging from the scale of environmental problems, local agenda 21, infrastructural decisions, strategic planning, to environmental policy in developing countries. Three chapters are devoted to each of these broad themes. Each presents either a theoretical or an empirical argument about the central research question, shedding light on such issues as the measurement of decision quality, participation techniques, and the link between participation and decision quality, drawing on experience gained in Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Africa. The introductions to the individual parts of the book have been collectively written by the contributors, who represent a range of professional disciplines, including political science, public policy and planning.

This book is written primarily for Earth scientists faced with problems in thermo mechanics such as the flow and evolution of ice-sheets, convection currents in the mantle, isostatic rebound, folding of strata or collapse of cavities in salt domes. Failure, faults, seismic waves and all processes involving inertial terms will not be dealt with. In general such scientists (graduate students beginning a Ph. D. for instance) have too small a background'in continuum mechanics and in numerical computation to model conveniently these problems, which are not elementary at all. Most of them are not linear, and therefore seldom dealt with in treatises. If the study of reality were clearly cut into two successive steps: first to make a physical model, setting up a well-posed problem in thermo-mechanics, and second to solve it, the obvious solution would be to find a specialist in computational mechanics who could spend enough time on a problem which, although maybe crucial for on-going fundamental research, has little practical interest in general, and cannot be considered properly as a noteworthy progress in Mechanics. But this is not the way Science develops. There is a continuous dialectic between the building up of a model and its mathematical treatment. The model should be simple enough to be tractable, but not oversimplified. Its sensitivity to the different components it is made of should be investigated, and more thought is needed when the results contradict hard facts."

Contingent valuation is one of the means of incorporating socio-environmental considerations in cost benefit analysis. The authors of this book have examined environmental valuation methods through the lens of cost benefit analysis focused on three case studies in Japan: public parks, a bay wetland, and a recreational theme park. With implications for the world at large, the findings presented here serve as a valuable source of information on Japanese behavior regarding the valuation of environmental goods. New, alternative approaches and guidelines for cost benefit analysis in the public and private spheres also are discussed. This volume makes an important addition to the library of all researchers and other scientists in the fields of environmental science and environmental economics.

Because of its history and location, Eritrea is an ideal example for a study of the sustainability of traditional rural communities and the impact of local and external actors on them. This book provides a lucid account of the pillage of rural sustainability under modern hegemonic conditions. It traces the manner in which the imprints left by European rule were accentuated during Ethiopian control. These legacies continue to haunt rural communities after independence in the shape of resource shortages, the dominance of western civilization, and the modernization-based policies of the ruling Eritrean class which originated under European rule.

1. 1. Greenhouse gas emissions and climate change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1. 1. 1. Emissions and concentrations of greenhouse gases 3 1. 1. 2. Impact of increasing greenhouse gases concentration 4 1. 2. Options to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 5 1. 2. 1. Carbon dioxide removal 8 1. 3. Scope of the thesis 10 1. 4. Outline of the thesis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 1. 4. 1. General evaluation method. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 1. 4. 2. Some notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 II. Simulation and optimization of carbon dioxide recovery from the flue gases of a coal-fired power plant using amines 14 Abstract 19 2. 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 2. 2. The chemical absorption process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 2. 2. 1. General process description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 2. 2. 2. Types of absorbent 23 2. 2. 3. Effects of flue gas contaminants 24 2. 3. Simulation of the scrubber in ASPEN PLUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 2. 3. 1. ASPEN PLUS for flow sheet simulation 26 2. 3. 2. Simulation of the performance for the base-case design . . 26 the scrubber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 2. 3. 3. Optimization of 2. 3. 4. Design and results 32 2. 3. 5. Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 2. 4. Integration of the scrubber in the power plant 35 2. 4. 1. Power loss caused by steam extraction 36 2. 4. 2. Power saved by avoiding preheating boiler feed water . . . 38 2. 4. 3. Power consumption by the carbon dioxide scrubber . . . . . 38 2. 4. 4. Power consumption for carbon dioxide compression . . . . . 38 2. 4. 5. Calculation of plant efficiency losses " . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 2. 5.

Earth scientists and geotechnical engineers are increasingly challenged to solve environmental problems related to waste disposal facilities and cleanup of contaminated sites. The effort has given rise to a new discipline of specialists in the field of environmental geotechnology. To be effective, environmental geotechnologists must not only be armed with the traditional knowledge of fields such as geology and civil engineering, but also be knowledgeable of principles of hydrogeology, chemistry, and biological processes. In addition, the environmental geotechnologist must be completely up to date on the often complex cadre of local and national regulations, must comprehend the often complex legal issues and sometimes mind-boggling financial impli cations of a project, and must be able to communicate effectively with a host of other technical specialists, regulatory officials, attorneys, local land owners, journalists, and others. The field of environmental geo technology will no doubt continue to offer unique challenges. The purpose of this book is to summarize the current state of practice in the field of environmental geotechnology. Part One covers broadly applicable principles such as hydrogeology, geochemistry, and con taminant transport in soil and rock. Part Two describes in detail the underlying principles for design and construction of new waste disposal facilities. Part Three covers techniques for site remediation. Finally, Part Four addresses the methodologies for monitoring. The topics of 'waste disposal' and 'site remediation' are extra ordinarily broad."

The purpose of this book is to introduce land planners to the principles of remote sensing and to the applications remote sensing has to the land planning process. The potential applications to land planning are many and varied. For example, remote sensing techniques, and aerial photography in particular, can provide planners with an overview of their communities they can obtain in no other way. These same techniques can also provide planners with a whole variety of land resource data and have the capability of updating these data on a syste matic basis. Maps, too, can be produced from a combination of remote sensing and cartographic techniques - engineering maps, topographic maps, property maps, and a host of other thematic maps. These maps and the photos from which they are made can be used by planners to explain proposed land use or zoning changes at public meetings. They may also be introduced as evidence in courts of law if later the results of these changes are contested by individual or groups of landowners. Since land planning tends to be conducted at local levels, the discussion in this book focuses on the uses of aerial photography - the most effective tool for small area analysis. The discussion is also directed at those who are not regular users of remote sensing techniques."

Compatibility, ethics, hearings, record keeping, variances, and appeals. There are so many things board of adjustment members must consider-and so few sources to guide them. This book explains them all. Novice members will gain insight into the board's unique role, while veterans can turn to the tips and strategies that will make their work smoother. With checklists, sample reports, real-world examples, and easy-to-understand prose, the book demystifies waivers, conditional uses, legal issues, and more. It also covers bylaws, record keeping, and day-to-day operations. This is a must-have reference for all board of adjustment members.

One of the greatest challenges facing those concerned with health and environmental risks is how to carry on a useful public dialogue on these subjects. In a democracy, it is the public that ultimately makes the key decisions on how these risks will be controlled. The stakes are too high for us not to do our very best. The importance of this subject is what led the Task Force on Environmental Cancer and Heart and Lung Disease to establish an Interagency Group on Public Education and Communication. This volume captures the essence of the "Workshop on the Role of Government in Health Risk Communication and Public Education" held in January 1987. It also includes some valuable appendixes with practical guides to risk communication. As such, it is an important building block in the effort to improve our collective ability to carry on this critical public dialogue. Lee M. Thomas Administrator, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Chairman, The Task Force on Environmental Cancer and Heart and Lung Disease Preface The Task Force on Environmental Cancer and Heart and Lung Disease is an interagency group established by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977 (P.L. 95-95). Congress mandated the Task Force to recommend research to determine the relationship between environmental pollutants and human disease and to recommend research aimed at reduc ing the incidence of environment-related disease. The Task Force's Project Group on Public Education and Communication focuses on education as a means of reducing or preventing disease."

Proceedings of the Third Annual Conference, Washington, DC, USA, 3-4 December 1986

The first Handbook as part of a new series which is set to define the emerging transdisciplinary field of Workplace Management Truly interdisciplinary and international chapters and authors, the book will appeal to those in real estate, planning, architecture, business, management, facilities management, economics, law, sociology, psychology No other book presents this breadth of interdisciplinary content on Workplace Management

Life in the last quarter of the twentieth century presents a baffling array of complex issues. The benefits of technology are arrayed against the risks and hazards of those same technological marvels (frequently, though not always, arising as side effects or by-products). This confrontation poses very difficult choices for individuals as well as for those charged with making public policy. Some of the most challenging of these issues result because of the ability of technological innovation and deployment to outpace the capacity of institutions to assess and evaluate implications. In many areas, the rate of technological advance has now far outstripped the capabilities of institutional monitoring and control. While there are many instances in which technological advance occurs without adverse consequences (and in fact, yields tremendous benefits), frequently the advent of a major innovation brings a wide array of unforeseen and (to some) undesirable effects. This problem is exacerbated as the interval between the initial development of a technology and its deployment is shortened, since the opportunity for cautious appraisal is decreased.

The Visionary Spirit offers a vision of hope which points to a new era of emancipatory living that Mick Collins calls the Transfromocene Age. In a masterfully crafted manual, Mick Collins draws on the wisdom and knowledge of the imaginal realm, where dreams, myth and synchronicity help us to re-align to the natural world and to our innate wholeness. He describes a transformative process, from the Anthropocene and our current scale of planetary destruction, to a new era of wisdom and balance. Drawing inspiration from diverse fields such as the sacred feminine, indigenous wisdom, daimons and near-death experiences, this book is enlivened by fascinating, real-life stories of people who have engaged in deep processes of psycho-spiritual change. The Visionary Spirit is a radical manifesto for soulful and creative living. At the end of each chapter there is an exercise, providing opportunities for experiential reflection, aiding the reader on their personal journey. This is not just a deep exploration of human transformation, it is a radical proposition for new ways of living creatively, spiritually, harmoniously and responsibly on planet Earth.