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Books > Earth & environment > Geography
Australia's varied grasslands have suffered massive losses and
changes since European settlement, and those changes continue under
increasingly intensive human pressures for development and
agricultural production. The values of native grasslands for
conservation of endemic native biodiversity, both flora and fauna,
have led to strong interests in the protection of remaining
fragments, especially near urban centres, and documentation of the
insects and other inhabitants of grasslands spanning tropical to
cool temperate parts of the country. Attention to conservation of
grassland insects in Australia is relatively recent, but it is
increasingly apparent that grasslands harbour many localised and
ecologically specialised endemic species. Their conservation
necessarily advances from very incomplete documentation, and draws
heavily on lessons from the far better-documented grasslands
elsewhere, most notably in the northern hemisphere, and undertaken
over far longer periods. From those cases, and the extensive
background to grassland management to harmonise conservation with
production and amenity values through honing use of processes such
as grazing, mowing and fire, the needs and priorities for Australia
can become clearer, together with needs for grassland restoration
at a variety of scales. This book is a broad overview of
conservation needs of grassland insects in Australia, drawing on
the background provided elsewhere in the world on the responses to
disturbances, and the ecological importance, of some key insect
groups (notably Orthoptera, Hemiptera and Lepidoptera) to suggest
how insect conservation in native, pastoral and urban grasslands
may be advanced. The substantial references given for each chapter
facilitate entry for non-entomologist grassland managers and
stewards to appreciate the diversity and importance of Australia's
grassland insects, their vulnerabilities to changes, and the
possibilities for conserving them and the wider ecological roles in
which they participate.
In this study of Kuzguncuk, known as one of Istanbul's historically
most tolerant, multiethnic neighborhoods, Amy Mills is animated by
a single question: what does it mean to live in a place that once
was--but no longer is--ethnically and religiously diverse?
"Turkification" drove out most of Kuzguncuk's minority Greeks,
Armenians, and Jews in the mid-twentieth century, but they left
behind potent vestiges of their presence in the cityscape. Mills
analyzes these places in a street-by-street ethnographic tour. She
looks at how memory is conveyed and contested in Kuzguncuk's built
environment, whether through the popular television programs filmed
on location there or in the cross-class alliance that sprung up to
advocate the preservation of an old market garden. Overall, she
finds that the neighborhood's landscape not only connotes feelings
of "belonging and familiarity" connected to a "narrative of
historic multiethnic harmony" but also makes these ideas appear to
be uncontestably real, or true. The resulting nostalgia bolsters a
version of Turkish nationalism that seems cosmopolitan and benign.
This study of memories of interethnic relationships in a local
place examines why the cultural memory of tolerance has become so
popular and raises questions regarding the nature and meaning of
cosmopolitanism in the contemporary Middle East.
A major contribution to urban studies, human geography, and Middle
East studies, "Streets of Memory "is imbued with a sense of genuine
connection to Istanbul and the people who live there.
A one-of-a-kind introduction to the major issues and controversies
dominating the heated debate over U.S. forest policy today. Forest
Conservation Policy: A Reference Handbook chronicles the dramatic
history, current status, and global influence of U.S. forest
policy. Beginning with the foundations of early forest law during
the colonial period through the rise of the Conservation Movement
in the wake of 19th century massive forest exploitation, this
reference also discusses the environmental challenges that have
rewritten recent U.S. forest policy and explores future policy
directions. What are the effects of forest destruction on
biological diversity? Has the sustainable forest management
movement been effective? Given the fact that individual landowners
control the greatest share of U.S. forestland, how are forests on
private lands regulated? Students and concerned citizens alike will
discover answers to these and other critical questions regarding
what is left of the nation's dwindling forests. Subject-indexed
description of the major issues dominating the current debates over
the future of forest policy Exhaustive references to government and
nongovernment forestry organizations at both the national and
regional levels
This book provides empirically driven discussions and
investigations in the relevance of Actor Network Theory (ANT) and
its theoretical concepts. As our civilization evolves from a human
to a technologically driven society, new socio-technical network of
actors - in society, industry and government are emerging by the
day. These networks of actors collaborate to produce contemporary
goods and services; handle production processes; manage risks;
develop social and commercial networks; develop policies; manage
complexities; and create a new way of life. This book provides
unique conceptual tools needed to analyze such processes,
highlighting the effectiveness of ANT in fostering collaborations
between governments, organizations and society.
This book aims to identify the impact of tourism on social and
economic development in the Issyk-Kul region of Kyrgyzstan, and to
predict the development of the tourism industry and identify any
limiting factors for the development of the tourism industry in the
Republic as a whole. The impacts of tourism on the region have been
poorly understood since the country gained independence in 1991,
and so improved methods for identifying and increasing the
contribution of the tourism industry to the economic and social
development of the region are needed. The book assesses the impact
of tourism on the socio-economic situation in the Issyk-Kul region
is assessed on the basis of statistical modelling and GIS mapping,
provides a comparative analysis of the categories and types of
tourism in the regions of the Republic, in particular in the
Issyk-Kul region, and identifies factors that have a negative
impact on the country's tourism potential, as well as the
shortcomings and prospects for future development. The book's
primary audience will be scholars and researchers whose research
focuses on the socio-economic impacts of tourism, as well as
students and planners. It is expected that it will become a source
of information and inspiration for all readers who feel responsible
for initiating sustainable development and sustainable use of
tourism resources in Kyrgyzstan and other countries.
This book is an introduction to a new branch of archaeology that
scrutinises landscapes to find evidence of past human activity.
Such evidence can be hard to detect at ground-level, but may be
visible in remote sensing (RS) imagery from aerial platforms and
satellites. Drawing on examples from around the world as well as
from her own research work on archaeological sites in India
(including Nalanda, Agra, Srirangapatna, Talakadu, and
Mahabalipuram), the author presents a systematic process for
integrating this information with historical spatial records such
as old maps, paintings, and field surveys using Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) to gain new insights into our past.
Further, the book highlights several instances where these insights
are actionable -- they have been used to identify, understand,
conserve, and protect the fragile remnants of our past. This book
will be of particular interest not only to researchers in
archaeology, history, art history, and allied fields, but to
governmental and non-governmental professionals working in cultural
heritage protection and conservation.
The central theme of this book is national land and infrastructure
design in the age of the declining population and the recovery from
the Great East Japan Earthquake in the affected regions in Japan.
Based on the theory of spatial economics and evidence from Japanese
history, the authors show that the growing economy with a
population increase develops into a multi-cored and complex
structure. In the population decline phase, however, such
construction will be destabilized because of agglomeration
economies in the central core. Then, a catastrophic shock that
strikes may provoke the decline of the lower-rank-size provincial
cities and their eventual disappearance if they compete only in
lower prices of staple products. Not only is the practice bad for
the residents; it also leads to lower national welfare resulting
from the loss of diversity and overcrowded big cities. The authors
argue that small local towns can recover and will be sustained if
they will endeavor in innovative production by making good use of
local natural resources and social capital. Under the ongoing
declining population in Japan, an undesirable concentration in
Tokyo will proceed further with increasing social cost and risk.
The recent novel coronavirus pandemic has highlighted that concern.
From an early age, Brice H. Goldsborough exhibited an unending
curiosity about the world around him; he was interested in almost
anything mechanical, was inquisitive about weather patterns, and
yearned to know more about aerodynamics. This lifelong quest for
information led him to found Pioneer Instrument Company in New York
in 1919, a firm that eventually became one of the world's largest
producers of reliable aviation instruments. In this biography,
author Robert Dye, Goldsborough's great-nephew, tells the story of
a man who became an expert in meteorology, navigation, and aircraft
instrument design and changed the course of aviation history. Based
on personal letters, articles, and news clippings, "A Pioneer in
Aviation" follows Goldsborough's life as a teen, his time in the
navy studying electricity, and his accomplishments, such as
establishing China's first offshore radio station and supervising
the construction of Haiti's first radio station. Detailing one of
aviation's unsung heroes, "A Pioneer in Aviation" shows the man who
designed, built, and installed the instrument panel for "The Spirit
of St. Louis" and flew with Charles Lindbergh during September 1927
and how he came to be associated with other great names in aviation
history such as Glenn Curtiss, Clyde Cessna, Walter Beech, and Igor
Sikorsky.
In this powerful and passionate critique of the 'war on terror' in
Afghanistan and its extensions into Palestine and Iraq, Derek
Gregory traces the long history of British and American
involvements in the Middle East and shows how colonial power
continues to cast long shadows over our own present.
Argues the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on
September 11 activated a series of political and cultural responses
that were profoundly colonial in nature.
The first analysis of the "war on terror" to connect events in
Afghanistan, Palestine, and Iraq.
Traces the connections between geopolitics and the lives of
ordinary people.
Richly illustrated and packed with empirical detail.
This edited collection explores building construction as an
inspiring, yet often overlooked, place to develop new knowledge
about the development of human societies. Eschewing dominant
engineering and management perspectives on construction, the book
is purposefully broad in its scope, both empirically and
theoretically, as reflecting the rich underexplored potential of
studies of building construction to inform a wide span of
intellectual debates across the social science and humanities. The
seven chapters encompass contributions to theories of:
spatiotemporal organization with wildlife on building sites;
institutional change with building ruins; home with Mexican
self-help housing; place with a suburban housing development;
socio-materiality with the adaptation of a university library;
migrant labour with the Parisian postwar construction boom; and
gender with a female site manager in Sweden. This book seeks to
develop a new critical sub-area for construction studies that
focuses on the actual processes and practices of 'constructing'.
Bringing together diverse members of construction research
communities working in a variety of contexts, it develops empirical
engagements with building work to challenge its marginalization,
relative to architectural studies, to provoke novel understandings
of human history, geography and sociology.
This book offers a systematic and comprehensive introduction to the
Arctic in the era of globalization, or as it is referred to here,
the 'GlobalArctic'. It provides an overview of the current status
of the Arctic as a result of global change, while also considering
the changes in the Arctic that have a global effect. It positions
the Arctic within a broad international context, it addresses four
main themes are discussed: economics and resources; environment and
earth system dynamics; peoples and cultures; and geopolitics and
governance. Gathering together expert authors and building on
long-term research activities, it serves as a valuable reference
for future research endeavors.
The book embarks on the tasks to systematically analyze the macro
background of the spatial patterns of China's urban development,
the theoretical foundations and framework, and its changing
trajectory. From a quantitative perspective, we attempt to evaluate
the rationale behind the spatial patterns of China's urban
development and systematically simulate the various scenarios. From
the simulation results, we propose the optimizing goals,
priorities, models, and strategies for the spatial patterns of
China's urban development. The work in this book attempts to
provide constructive suggestions and potential strategies to
support the effort to optimize the spatial patterns of China's
urban development. It would be a valuable reference for planning
departments, development and reform committees, and science and
technology administrative departments at various governmental
levels. It could also be a valuable addition to graduate students
of urban planning, urban development, urban geography and relevant
disciplines.
Building upon models set forth in Volume I of this work, Harris
turns his attention to populations on the move. Through examples
from literature on migration, the Atlantic slave trade and slave
demography, and urbanization, this study demonstrates how all types
of migration--free and forced, long-distance and local--build up
and are then absorbed into populations according to the same
patterns that characterize populations in general. What causes
these few closely related trends to reappear, Harris argues, is the
way structures of populations alter, according to a standard
absorption of these migrations, and react to other events via
changes in births, deaths, and composition by age and sex. Harris
finds that something fundamental in the process of demographic
renewal consistently imprints a few common shapes upon many kinds
of demographic, as well as social and economic, developments. Fresh
perspectives on the business of the slave trade and the
much-discussed modern shifts from agriculture into other
employments, and from countryside to town or city, illustrate how
ubiquitously and how fundamentally demographically generated trends
shape social and economic movements. A future volume will identify
and explain the origins of such ever-present patterns of change in
the dynamics of fertility, mortality, and demographic renewal.
The effects of climate change are beginning to impact water
quantity and water quality across the globe. However, there is no
single action or strategy that any government can implement to
ensure a community is resilient to climate change-related extreme
weather events while also protecting the natural system. Instead,
Robert Brears argues, climate resilient water resources management
requires integrated, forward-thinking policies that are not only
adaptable to changing climatic conditions but also seek to maximise
economic and social welfare in an equitable manner while ensuring
the continued health of their ecosystems. This book addresses how
several levels of government in different geographical locations,
with varying climates, incomes, and lifestyles, have implemented a
variety of policies and technologies to ensure communities are
resilient to climatic risks, and how these policies preserve and
enhance the natural system and its associated ecosystem's health.
Written by leading global experts, including pioneers in the field,
the four-volume set on Hyperspectral Remote Sensing of Vegetation,
Second Edition, reviews existing state-of-the-art knowledge,
highlights advances made in different areas, and provides guidance
for the appropriate use of hyperspectral data in the study and
management of agricultural crops and natural vegetation. Volume I,
Fundamentals, Sensor Systems, Spectral Libraries, and Data Mining
for Vegetation introduces the fundamentals of hyperspectral or
imaging spectroscopy data, including hyperspectral data processes,
sensor systems, spectral libraries, and data mining and analysis,
covering both the strengths and limitations of these topics. Volume
II, Hyperspectral Indices and Image Classifications for Agriculture
and Vegetation evaluates the performance of hyperspectral
narrowband or imaging spectroscopy data with specific emphasis on
the uses and applications of hyperspectral narrowband vegetation
indices in characterizing, modeling, mapping, and monitoring
agricultural crops and vegetation. Volume III, Biophysical and
Biochemical Characterization and Plant Species Studies demonstrates
the methods that are developed and used to study terrestrial
vegetation using hyperspectral data. This volume includes extensive
discussions on hyperspectral data processing and how to implement
data processing mechanisms for specific biophysical and biochemical
applications such as crop yield modeling, crop biophysical and
biochemical property characterization, and crop moisture
assessments. Volume IV, Advanced Applications in Remote Sensing of
Agricultural Crops and Natural Vegetation discusses the use of
hyperspectral or imaging spectroscopy data in numerous specific and
advanced applications, such as forest management, precision
farming, managing invasive species, and local to global land cover
change detection.
This book argues that, paradoxically, at their moment of triumph
and fastest growth, cities need nature more than ever. Only if our
urban world is full of biophilic cities will the coming urban
century truly succeed. Cities are quintessentially human, the
perfect forum for interaction, and we are entering what could
justly be called the urban century, the fastest period of urban
growth in human history. Yet a growing body of scientific
literature shows that the constant interaction, the
hyper-connectedness, of cities leads to an urban psychological
penalty. Nature in cities can be solution to this dilemma, allowing
us to have all the benefits of our urban, connected world yet also
have that urban home be a place where humanity can thrive. This
book presents best practices and case studies from biophilic
design, showing how cities around the world are beginning to
incorporate nature into their urban fabric. It will be a valuable
resource for scholars and professionals working in the area of
sustainable cities.
This Handbook is the first volume to comprehensively analyse and
problem-solve how to manage the decline of fossil fuels as the
world tackles climate change and shifts towards a low-carbon energy
transition. The overall findings are straight-forward and
unsurprising: although fossil fuels have powered the
industrialisation of many nations and improved the lives of
hundreds of millions of people, another century dominated by fossil
fuels would be disastrous. Fossil fuels and associated greenhouse
gas emissions must be reduced to a level that avoids rising
temperatures and rising risks in support of a just and sustainable
energy transition. Divided into four sections and 25 contributions
from global leading experts, the chapters span a wide range of
energy technologies and sources including fossil fuels, carbon
mitigation options, renewables, low carbon energy, energy storage,
electric vehicles and energy sectors (electricity, heat and
transport). They cover varied legal jurisdictions and multiple
governance approaches encompassing multi- and inter-disciplinary
technological, environmental, social, economic, political, legal
and policy perspectives with timely case studies from Africa, Asia,
Australia, Europe, North America, South America and the Pacific.
Providing an insightful contribution to the literature and a
much-needed synthesis of the field as a whole, this book will have
great appeal to decision makers, practitioners, students and
scholars in the field of energy transition studies seeking a
comprehensive understanding of the opportunities and challenges in
managing the decline of fossil fuels.
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