![]() |
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
|
Your cart is empty |
||
|
Books > Earth & environment > The environment > General
In recent years, India's ''sacred groves,'' small forests or stands of trees set aside for a deity's exclusive use, have attracted the attention of NGOs, botanists, specialists in traditional medicine and anthropologists. Environmentalists disillusioned by the failures of massive state-sponsored solutions to ecological problems have hailed them as an exemplary form of traditional community resource management. For, in spite of pressures to utilize their trees for fodder, housing and firewood, the religious taboos surrounding sacred groves have led to the conservation of pockets of abundant flora in areas otherwise denuded by deforestation. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu over seven years, Eliza F. Kent offers a compelling examination of the religious and social context in which sacred groves take on meaning for the villagers who maintain them, and shows how they have become objects of fascination and hope for Indian environmentalists. Sacred Groves and Local Gods traces a journey through Tamil Nadu, exploring how the localized meanings attached to forested shrines are changing under the impact of globalization and economic liberalization. Confounding simplistic representations of sacred groves as sites of a primitive form of nature worship, the book shows how local practices and beliefs regarding sacred groves are at once more imaginative, dynamic, and pragmatic than previously thought. Kent argues that rather than being ancient in origin, as previously asserted by scholars, the religious beliefs, practices, and iconography found in sacred groves suggest origins in the politically de-centered eighteenth century, when the Tamil country was effectively ruled by local chieftains. She analyzes two projects undertaken by environmentalists that seek to harness the traditions surrounding sacred groves in the service of forest restoration and environmental education.
This book highlights major quantitative and qualitative methods and approaches used in the field of urban analysis. The respective chapters cover the background and relevance of various approaches to urban studies and offer guidance on implementing specific methodologies. Each chapter also provides links to real-world examples. The book is unique in its focus on Australian examples and subject matter, presented by recognized experts in the field.
-Step-by-step exercises and tutorials thoroughly explain hand-drafting and drafting with the visualization programs Vectorworks and Sketchup. -Written to complement a regular 14-or15-week semester course. -The primary focus of the book is how to construct a drawing, providing in-depth coverage fundamentals for hand drafting and visualization software.
"Smart, fierce, and poignant: perhaps the most exciting novel yet by this very talented writer." Mohsin Hamid, author of Exit West and The Reluctant Fundamentalist A Young Pakistani photographer and his American born Pakistani-German lover travel from California to Pakistan in an attempt to exorcize their pasts, in order to build their shared future. Up in the glaciers of Northern Pakistan, a tragedy at a mountain lake entwines the fates of the two lovers with the people they encounter there: Miryam, a nomad, travelling with her family into the mountains to escape persecution, and Irfan, haunted by ghosts and hoping that the mountains may offer him a reprieve from his troubles. An expansive look at the intersection of cultures and what happens at those intersections, Thinner Than Skin is a powerful and moving read.
From Morocco to Iran and the Black Sea to the Red, Water on Sand rewrites the history of the Middle East and North Africa from the Little Ice Age to the Cold War. As the first holistic environmental history of the region over the last half millennium, it shows the intimate connections between peoples and environments and how these relationships shaped political, economic, and social history in startling and unforeseen ways. Nearly all political powers in the region based their rule on the management and control of natural resources, and nearly all individuals were in constant communion with the natural world. To grasp how these multiple histories were central to the pasts of the Middle East and North Africa, the chapters in this book evidence the power of environmental history to open up new avenues of historical research and understanding. Water on Sand furthermore traces how the Middle East and North Africa deeply affected the global histories of climate, disease, trade, energy, environmental politics, ecological manipulation, and much more. Lying at the intersection of three continents and as many seas, the Middle East has obviously been central to world history for millennia. Studying the ecological implications of these global connections, both for the region itself and for the rest of the world, helps to bring the Middle East and North Africa into global history and to show how the region must be an essential part of any understanding of the environments of Eurasia over the last five hundred years. Deeply researched, globally comparative, and highly provocative, Water on Sand represents both a new kind of Middle Eastern history and a new kind of environmental history.
This book argues that the relationship between cities and climate change is entering a new and more urgent phase. Thirteen contributions from a range of leading scholars explore the need to rethink and reorient urban life in response to climatic change. Split into four parts it begins by asking 'What is climate urbanism?' and exploring key features from different locations and epistemological traditions. The second section examines the transformative potential of climate urbanism to challenge social and environmental injustices within and between cities. In the third part authors interrogate current knowledge paradigms underpinning climate and urban science and how they shape contemporary urban trajectories. The final section focuses on the future, envisaging climate urbanism as a new communal project, and focuses on the role of citizens and non-state actors in driving transformative action. Consolidating debates on climate urbanism, the book highlights the opportunities and tensions of urban environmental policy, providing a framework for researchers and practitioners to respond to the urban challenges of a radically climate-changed world.
Traditional agriculture and emerging biofuels technology produce a
number of wastes and by-products, ranging from corn fiber and
glycerin to animal manure, that have the potential to serve as the
basis for additional sources of bioenergy that includes both liquid
biofuels and biogas. "Biofuels from Agricultural Wastes and Byproducts" is the first
book to focus solely on the production of biofuels primarily from
agricultural waste and by-products. The book is divided roughly
into two sections. The first section looks at liquid biofuel
production from agricultural byproducts, densification of
agricultural residues, and the delivery from farm to processing
plant of waste and byproducts for use in biofuel production. The
second section focuses on anaerobic digestion of food and animal
wastes, microbial diversity, molecular and biochemical aspects of
methanogensis. Together these sections solidify "Biofuels from Agricultural Wastes and Byproducts" as a definitive source of information on the use of agricultural waste and by-products in biofuel production.
Cantley's work offers a unique and critical insight into the emergence of a liminal territory that exists between the real and the virtual that mainstream architecture has yet to exploit. Speculative Coolness surveys and collects a highly experimental architecture/design praxis. This book presents a selected body of his work, showcasing projects which seek to understand and explore the conditions, contexts, and media logics which govern this new territory, and to speculate on the Architecture[s] which it might occupy, and which might occupy it. Featuring both resolved projects and work[s] that are under development, this anthology represents constructs that locate themselves somewhere between architecture and its documentative media. The projects are presented alongside a series of critical essays written by pre-eminent architectural practitioners and theorists. These essays explore the disciplinary, social, and cultural context of the work, serving to underscore the importance of these explorations to the expansion of disciplinary knowledge.
• Documents experiences of site managers in developing countries to improve the research and practice and ultimately safety performance of the construction industry • Essential reading for construction managers, researchers and academics in the field of safety management, infrastructure delivery and project management
Provides an index of ideas, theories, projects, and definitions that string into a methodology for evaluating the contemporary language of architecture. Beautifully designed with text and image spreads, it includes over 160 full colour illustrations. Includes interviews and contributions from Toyo Ito, Anthony Vidler, Ben van Berkel, Sou Fujimoto, Christian Kerez and Greg Lynn.
This book gathers a selection of papers presented at the 4th International Scientific Conference "Environmental Challenges in Civil Engineering", ECCE 2020, , Opole, Poland, held on April 20-22, 2020, in Opole, Poland. The chapters, written by an international group of experts, report on advanced finding in structural material behaviour, and novel construction technologies and procedures, with a focus on strategies to foster sustainable civil engineering. Offering a good balance of theory and practice, and covering both technical, as well as legal and organization aspects in civil engineering and architectural projects, this book offers extensive information on the state-of-the art and a timely snapshot of current challenges in planning construction projects and structural interventions in accordance with the principles of environmental protection
This book presents methods for advancing green IoT sensor networks and IoT devices. Three main methods presented are: a standalone system to support IoT devices that is informed by the amount of energy the solar array system can produce; a model of securing a building's main power supply against unauthorized use; and security of the IoT devices and their networks. For each, the authors outline the methods, presents security and privacy issues, and their solutions. The work suggests a layered approach to expose security issues and challenges at each layer of the IoT architecture and proposes techniques used to mitigate these challenges. Finally, perspectives are drawn and discussed for future directions in securing IoT sensor networks, covering evolving areas such as artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, sensor Internet of People, context-aware sensing, cloud infrastructure, security and privacy, and the Internet of Everything.
The spellbinding new book by the prizewinning writer Kapka Kassabova
tells the story of her time with the last moving pastoralists in
Europe: a gripping portrayal of human-animal interdependence, and a
plea for a different way of living.
Nitrogen Assessment: Pakistan as a Case-Study provides a detailed overview of issues and challenges related to nitrogen use and overuse, thus serving as a reference for researchers in Pakistan and providing important insights for other geographic regions. Excess and inefficient nitrogen use in crops and livestock sectors is polluting our rivers, seas, atmosphere, and ecosystems, contributing to climate change, hampering biodiversity, and contributing to stratospheric ozone depletion. This book covers the importance of nitrogen in relation to food security, human health, and economic stability in South Asia. It also discusses nitrogen status, sources, sinks, and drivers of nitrogen use in Pakistan, focusing on current nitrogen measures and policies. Nitrogen pollution is one of the biggest challenges of 21st Century, and the international scientific community is beginning to recognize the significance of nitrogen pollution and to explore how to combat it. The editors' institution, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, partners with South Asia Nitrogen Hub, which includes about 30 organizations from South Asia and UK working on nitrogen assessment, budgeting, awareness, and policy guidance, as well as possible measures to reduce nitrogen pollution. Nitrogen Assessment: Pakistan as a Case-Study provides an important guide to this work and is written in a way that is accessible to an audience with a wide range of experience from advanced students to seasoned researchers.
This book collects some recent works on the application of dynamic game and control theory to the analysis of environmental problems. This collec tion of papers is not the outcome of a conference or of a workshop. It is rather the result of a careful screening from among a number of contribu tions that we have solicited across the world. In particular, we have been able to attract the work of some of the most prominent scholars in the field of dynamic analyses of the environment. Engineers, mathematicians and economists provide their views and analytical tools to better interpret the interactions between economic and environmental phenomena, thus achiev ing, through this interdisciplinary effort, new and interesting results. The goal of the book is more normative than descriptive. All papers include careful modelling of the dynamics of the main variables involved in the game between nature and economic agents and among economic agents themselves, as well-described in Vrieze's introductory chapter. Fur thermore, all papers use this careful modelling framework to provide policy prescriptions to the public agencies authorized to regulate emission dy namics. Several diverse problems are addressed: from global issues, such as the greenhouse effect or deforestation, to international ones, such as the management of fisheries, to local ones, for example, the control of effluent discharges. Moreover, pollution problems are not the only concern of this book."
With new chapters on electrical system optimization and ISO 50001, this edition also covers the latest updates to codes and standards in the energy industry. Also included are chapters on energy economic analysis, energy auditing, waste heat recovery, utility system optimization, HVAC, cogeneration, control systems, energy management, compressed air system optimization and financing energy projects. Additional topics include emerging technologies such as oxy-fuel combustion, high efficiency burners, enhanced heat exchangers, and ceramic membranes for heat recovery as well as information on how to do an energy analysis of any system; electrical system optimization; state-of-the-art lighting and lighting controls. This reference will guide you step by step in applying the principles of energy engineering and management to the design of electrical, HVAC, utility, process and building systems for both new design and retrofit projects. The text is thoroughly illustrated with tables, graphs, diagrams and sample problems.
The most up-to-date and insightful overview available on the environmental history of the West Coast of the United States, a region of extraordinary physical beauty distinguished by its inhabitants' efforts to both sustain and exploit their natural resources. Part of ABC-CLIO's Nature and Human Societies series, United States West Coast: An Environmental History explores the interplay of ecology, economy, and culture throughout the history of the region of North America where the waters drain to the Pacific Ocean. Synthesizing the most recent and insightful studies on the region, United States West Coast portrays environmental change in the far western United States from the emergence of humans in the Pacific Northwest (about 12,000 years ago), to the rise of European colonial trade networks, to the era of industrialization and urbanization, to present day activism and public policy responses to environmental damage. By investigating how humans interact with their nonhuman surroundings across a specific expanse that encompasses all kinds of landscapes, cultures, and commercial enterprises, this insightful volume shows just how interdependent the relationship between people and their environment is. Over 20 primary sources, revealing cultural understandings of nature and ecological consequences of human action, as well as highlighting controversies concerning environmental change along the U.S. Pacific Coast An up-to-date bibliography of research and publications on the environmental history of the region
This edited book serves as a vital resource on the contributions of microorganisms to advances in nanotechnology, establishing their applications in diverse areas of biomedicine, environment, biocatalysis, food and nutrition, and renewable energy. It documents the impacts of microorganisms in nanotechnology leading to further developments in microbial nanobiotechnology. This book appeals to researchers and scholars of microbiology, biochemistry and nanotechnology.
This book explores the role of railways in developing sustainable low-carbon mobility by analyzing the intermodal relationship between railways and other transport modes. Focusing on geographical and governance perspectives, and taking China as a case study, it analyzes the competition and cooperation between and integration of railways and other transport modes, in order to provide guidance on future sustainable transport development. Firstly, the book examines the contribution of railways to low carbon emissions in China over recent decades by estimating the carbon dioxide emissions from various transport modes in China at national and regional levels using decomposition analysis. It then discusses the current competition and cooperation between railways and other transport modes, as well as their integration and the impact of their relationship on climate change. It also highlights how the competition between railways and other transport modes may change the passenger flows between city pairs and so alter transport carbon emissions and examines how cooperation and integration could improve passengers' travel experience while at the same time reducing carbon emissions. Lastly, it addresses the implications for future sustainable transport development based on institutional analysis. Presenting multidisciplinary, sustainable transport research on the role of railways in reducing carbon emissions, and also offering policy recommendations for developing low-carbon, integrated transport in the future, this book is a valuable reference resource for graduates, researchers, and government managers responsible for transport development, urban planning and environmental policy.
This highly respected and best-selling textbook provides an accessible, engaging and comprehensive introduction to the major topics within physical geography. It focuses on understanding the inter-linkages between processes, places and environments and is comprehensively illustrated to demonstrate how the physical environment works. Now in its fourth edition, the book has been thoroughly updated throughout to contain the latest research. Between them, the contributors have researched in detail every environment on the planet, providing an unrivalled source of rich information from around the world for both undergraduate and postgraduate study in the field of physical geography. An Introduction to Physical Geography and the Environment is accompanied by a rich and extensive range of electronic support resources including updated weblinks relevant for each chapter, an extended and annotated further reading list for each chapter, multiple choice questions, fieldwork exercises and interactive models.
Biological Approaches to Controlling Pollutants, the latest release in the Advances in Pollution Research series, is a comprehensive guide on the most up-to-date biological methods for remediation of pollutants across a variety of industries, with consideration for the advantages, disadvantages and applications of each method. Considering the increasing levels of pollution and contaminated sites worldwide from high population growths and industrial expansion, the most recent advances in biological remediation techniques is an important field of study and one in which researchers need the most cutting-edge methodologies. This book is a necessary read for environmental scientists, along with postgraduates, academics and researchers working in the area of environmental pollution. It will also be of interest to environmental engineers and any other practitioners who need to evaluate the latest advances in biotechnological control of pollutants.
The volumes included in The Collected Documents of The Group of 77 at the United Nations provide a chronological record of events and documents of the Group of 77 since its creation in 1963. The Fourth Volume brings together for the first time a selection of policy statements, common position papers and other major documents by the Group of 77 relating to environment and sustainable development.
This book comprises the proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering 2021. The contents of this volume focus on specialty conferences in construction, environmental, hydrotechnical, materials, structures, transportation engineering, etc. This volume will prove a valuable resource for those in academia and industry.
This book provides a step-by-step methodology and derivation of deep learning algorithms as Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Convolution Neural Network (CNN), especially for estimating parameters, with back-propagation as well as examples with real datasets of hydrometeorology (e.g. streamflow and temperature) and environmental science (e.g. water quality). Deep learning is known as part of machine learning methodology based on the artificial neural network. Increasing data availability and computing power enhance applications of deep learning to hydrometeorological and environmental fields. However, books that specifically focus on applications to these fields are limited. Most of deep learning books demonstrate theoretical backgrounds and mathematics. However, examples with real data and step-by-step explanations to understand the algorithms in hydrometeorology and environmental science are very rare. This book focuses on the explanation of deep learning techniques and their applications to hydrometeorological and environmental studies with real hydrological and environmental data. This book covers the major deep learning algorithms as Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Convolution Neural Network (CNN) as well as the conventional artificial neural network model. |
You may like...
AWS Billing and Cost Management User…
Documentation Team
Hardcover
Mems for Automotive and Aerospace…
Michael Kraft, Neil M. White
Hardcover
R4,041
Discovery Miles 40 410
Semiconductor-Laser Fundamentals…
Weng W. Chow, Stephan W. Koch
Hardcover
R1,543
Discovery Miles 15 430
|