This work on environmental planning focuses on open-cast mining. It addresses the issues around open-cast mining that are central to the context of social science debate: risk; the division of public and private; environmental protest and politics; and new social movements.

Advances in Marine Biology, Volume 84, the latest release in a series that has been providing in-depth and up-to-date reviews on all aspects of marine biology since 1963, updates on many topics that will appeal to postgraduates and researchers in marine biology, fisheries science, ecology, zoology and biological oceanography.

The Impact of Nanoparticles on Agriculture and Soil, part of the Nanomaterials-Plant Interaction series, contributes the most recent insights into understanding the cellular interactions of nanoparticles in an agricultural setting, focusing on current applications and means of evaluating future prospects. In order to ensure and improve the biosafety of nanoparticles, it is a primary concern to understand cellular bioprocess like nanomaterial's cellular uptake and their influence on cellular structural, functional and genetic components. This book addresses these and other important aspects in detail along with showcasing their applications in the area of agriculture. With an international team of authors, and experienced editors, this book will be valuable to those working to understand and advance nanoscience to benefit agricultural production and human and environmental welfare. In-depth knowledge of these bioprocess will enable researchers to engineer nanomaterials for enhanced biosafety.

Sharks in Mexico: Research and Conservation, Volume 83 in the Advances in Marine Biology series, provides in-depth and up-to-date reviews on all aspects of marine biology that will appeal to postgraduates and researchers in marine biology, fisheries science, ecology, zoology and biological oceanography. New chapters cover The Sharks of Pacific Mexico and their Conservation - Why Should we Care?, Biodiversity and Conservation of Sharks in Pacific Mexico, Shark Ecology, The Role of the Apex Predator and Current Conservation Status, Review of Current Genetic Analyses for Sharks of Pacific Mexico and Conservation Implications, and much more.

Agricultural Extension Reforms in South Asia: Status, Challenges, and Policy Options is based on agricultural extension reforms across five South Asian countries, reflecting past experiences, case studies and experiments. Beginning with an overview of historical trends and recent developments, the book then delves into country-wise reform trajectories and presents several cases testing the effectiveness of different types (public and private) and forms (nutrition extension, livestock extension) of extension systems. Further, the book provides a comprehensive overview of challenges and constraints faced in formulating and implementing reforms, tying the results into a concrete set of lessons and highlighting areas that require further research. In addition, the book discusses how a major aspect of agricultural development is the productivity increase from the knowledge base of farmers, and how translating research results into a knowledge base for farmers requires designing and implementing well-functioning extension programs.

Advances in Ultra-low Emission Control Technologies for Coal-Fired Power Plants discusses the emissions standards of dust, SO2, NOx and mercury pollution, also presenting the key technologies available to control emissions in coal-fired power plants. The practical effects of ultra-low emissions projects included help the reader understand related implications in plants. Emphasis is placed on 300MW subcritical, 600MW subcritical, 660MW supercritical and 1000MW ultra-supercritical coal-fired units. The influence of different pollutant control units, such as wet electrostatic precipitator, desulfurization equipment and the electrostatic precipitator are also analyzed, and the pollutant levels before and after retrofitted ultra-low emissions are compared throughout.

Role of Plant Growth Promoting Microorganisms in Sustainable Agriculture and Nanotechnology explores PGPMs (actinomycetes, bacteria, fungi and cyanobacteria) and their multidimensional roles in agriculture, including their increasing applications in sustainable agriculture. In addition to their traditional understanding and applications in agriculture, PGPMs are increasingly known as a source of nano-particles production that are gaining significant interest in their ability to provide more economically, environmentally friendly and safe technologies to crop growers. The book considers new concepts and current developments in plant growth, thus promoting microorganisms research and evaluating its implications for sustainable productivity. Users will find this to be an invaluable resource for researchers in applied microbial biotechnology, soil science, nano-technology of microbial strains, and industry personnel in these areas.

The Solar Corridor Crop System: Implementation and Impacts presents a case-study format on the planning and implementation of alternative cropping systems designed to maximize incident sunlight and bio-support of all crops in a rotation system. The book describes the basic component of the system, an increased access point of incident sunlight between each row or pairs of rows that enables a more uniform vertical distribution of incident sunlight to chloroplasts within the entire corn leaf canopy. While the production environment and environment specific genetics determine the performance potential of this principle, by maximizing the principles that light is basic to crop yield, a solar corridor ultimately contributes to increased grain yield. Written by experts who were integral in the development of solar corridor systems, and providing real-world examples of the methods, challenges and future prospects, this book will be valuable for those seeking to increase yield-per-acre through both primary and cover-crops.

Small Angle X-Ray and Neutron Scattering with Applications to Geomaterials provides techniques for the analysis of geomaterials, which is of great significance for humans because geomaterials are related to earthquake, resource development, underground spaces, carbon dioxide storage, and more. The book introduces the fundamental theory of small angle X-ray and neutron scattering and covers pore accessibility characterization for natural rocks from four aspects, including quantitative evaluation of pore structure heterogeneity and anisotropy, quantification of pore modification in coals due to pulverization, estimation and modeling of coal pore accessibility, and nanoscale coal deformation and alteration of porosity and pore orientation under uniaxial compression. Finally, interactions between pore structures and fluid behaviors in geomaterials are introduced, along with the connections between small-angle scattering and other techniques (NMR cytophotometry, Transmission Electron Microscopy and synchrotron radiation SAXS and nano-CT) described.

Coal and Coalbed Gas: Future Directions and Opportunities, Second Edition introduces the latest in coal geology research and the engineering of gas extraction. Importantly, the second edition examines how, over the last 10 years, research has both changed focus and where it is conducted. This shift essentially depicts "a tale of two worlds"—one half (Western Europe, North America) moving away from coal and coalbed gas research and production towards cleaner energy resources, and the other half (Asia–Pacific region, Eastern Europe, South America) increasing both research and usage of coal. These changes are marked by a precipitous fall in coalbed gas production in North America; however, at the same time there has been a significant rise in coal and coalbed gas production in Australia, China, and India. The driver for higher production and its associated research is a quest for affordable energy and economic security that a large resource base brings to any country like Australia’s first large-scale coalbed gas to liquid natural gas projects supplying the demand for cleaner burning LNG to the Asian-Pacific region. Since the last edition of this book, global climate change policies have more forcibly emphasized the impact of methane from coal mines and placed these emissions equal to, or even more harmful than, CO2 emissions from fossil fuels in general. Governmental policies have prioritized capture, use, and storage of CO2, burning coal in new highly efficient low emission power plants, and gas pre-drainage of coal mines. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries and China are also introducing new research into alternative, non-fuel uses for coal, such as carbon fibers, nanocarbons, graphene, soil amendments, and as an unconventional ore for critical elements. New to this edition: Each chapter is substantially changed from the 1st edition including expanded and new literature citations and reviews, important new data and information, new features and materials, as well as re-organized and re-designed themes. Importantly, three new chapters cover global coal endowment and gas potential, groundwater systems related to coalbed gas production and biogenic gas generation as well as the changing landscape of coal and coalbed gas influenced by global climate change and net-zero carbon greenhouse gas emissions. FOREWORD When I reviewed the first edition of this book, my initial thought was, "Do we need another book on coal geology?" and then I read it and realised, "Yes, we need this book" and my students downloaded copies as soon as it was available. So now we come to 2023, and a lot has happened in the past decade. For a different reason we might ask if we still need this book, or even coal geoscientists and engineers, as the world aims for rapid decarbonisation of the energy sector and a reduction of coal as a feedstock for industrial resources, like steel manufacture. Natural gas is earmarked as a transition fuel to enable the shift to renewables. In some basins, the source of that gas is directly from coalbed gas production or from conventional reservoirs that were charged by coal and terrestrial organic source rocks. Although the transition is escalating, there are projections that coal will remain part of our future, even after 2050, and can also provide alternative non-fuel resources (e.g., critical elements and carbon-based nanomaterials). Between now and then, we’d best ensure that we extract and utilise coal and coalbed gas as efficiently and safely as possible, that we mitigate any environmental and social impact of the process, and that we improve our certainty of predicting the behaviour of the material and material impacts. To do this we need to understand coal as a material and the inherent variability of its quality and behaviour as a source rock and host of coalbed gas. One can change the technologies but not the geological ground conditions or coal character of the targeted resource. The authors have taken on this ambitious endeavour during their careers and have attempted to capture their knowledge gained from first-hand experience in countries around the world and comprehensive review of published material, within this book. At least three generations of knowledge are drawn upon here. Tim Moore was a student of both Romeo Flores and his supervisor John Ferm, who was the "Warrior of Gentleness" when it came to coal research, teaching, and supervision. This book also reflects the broad and multidisciplinary aspects of coal geology and coal science and provides the tenets for one to understand different disciplines and how they interact to form an integrated view of the resource—technically, economically, and politically. Each chapter takes the reader through different concepts, first setting the scene by examining the status of coal and coalbed gas in a carbon-conscious world, then looking at the science behind coal as a source of gas and as a reservoir- in its own right. Further reading leads to learning about geological settings and the processes through time that led to present-day endowments around the globe and this theme continues throughout the book with detailed examples from different countries. Personally, I like the emphasis on the depositional environments that lead to peat accumulation and preservation—it’s all about the ingredients—which leads nicely into the world of coal macerals and minerals, and why they matter. Coalification and its role in changing the chemistry and material properties of coal is covered from a reservoir perspective, as is the role of biogenic processes. These have produced some of the enormous gas resources we exploit today and could also provide a future circular economy for neo-biogenic gas. The role of groundwater in this past and potentially future endeavour is presented, along with possible adverse effects where there is unexpected communication with regional and local aquifers and surface assets that detract from environmental and social licence. In addition to describing the geology and engineering technologies required to explore for, access, and utilise these resources, the book also provides insights into geostatistical and economic modelling for reserves estimation and challenges as reservoirs become more geologically and politically complex for extraction and alternatively, for injection and carbon sequestration. The final chapters revisit and integrate concepts presented in the book in order to examine global gas production and the geographic shifts in production and research that have occurred over the past decade(s). The also show how government and the market play a role, and project future trends. The authors provide discussion points for the outlook of coal as a fuel feedstock in a carbon-constrained world and the ongoing search for options and alternative non-fuel uses of coal while highlighting the important role that coal and coalbed gas still play during the transition period and beyond. There is much to learn from this book, which is based on decades of observing and interpreting patterns and trends in coal and coal-bearing basins. There is a growing trend towards using machine learning and artificial intelligence to find patterns in data and provide solutions. I’d suggest that domain intelligence, such as that provided in this book, is critical to supervising this process and is required for understanding and validating the outputs upon which many decisions are made and will continue to be made in the future. So yes, we need this book and I invite you to read, learn, and form your own ideas. If you find any gaps—write about them. Joan S. Esterle Emeritus Professor Vale Chair of Coal Geosciences The University of Queensland, AustraliaMay 2023

Polymer Composite Systems for Pipeline Repair: Design, Manufacture, Application, and Environmental Impacts delivers the latest developments in nanomaterials, specifically polymers and composites that can support pipeline repair in an effective and more environmentally-sound way. Edited by a diverse worldwide group of contributors, the reference touches on design and manufacturing techniques, patch configurations, hybrid pipes used in harsher environments, and damage detection techniques. High temperature, marine, and cold fluids are also included. Rounding out with economic and environmental impact assessments, this book gives today's oil and gas pipeline engineers an impactful and sustainable tool to safely repair pipelines.

The World of Sea Cucumbers: Challenges, Advances, and Innovations provides broad coverage of sea cucumber biology, ecology, fisheries, aquaculture, and trade while also bringing forward novel cultural, socioeconomic and scientific topics related to commercial and non-commercial species worldwide. Written by international experts in their respective fields, the book offers a unique outlook into the fascinating world of sea cucumbers while also providing valuable information to various stakeholders and researchers. Commercial fisheries and aquaculture programs are addressed, especially as they relate to emerging species, but the book also covers novel, understudied or lesser-known biological, ecological, and commercial aspects. The involvement of Indigenous peoples and minorities in various community-level initiatives and on the cultural significance/impact of sea cucumbers in many regions are also examined. Finally, breakthroughs and emerging biotechnologies centered on sea cucumbers are presented.

Nano-Biopesticides Today and Future Perspectives is the first single-volume resource to examine the practical development, implementation and implications of combining the environmentally aware use of biopesticides with the potential power of nanotechnology. While biopesticides have been utilized for years, researchers have only recently begun exploring delivery methods that utilize nanotechnology to increase efficacy while limiting the negative impacts traditionally seen through the use of pest control means. Written by a panel of global experts, the book provides a foundation on nano-biopesticide development paths, plant health and nutrition, formulation and means of delivery. Researchers in academic and commercial settings will value this foundational reference of insights within the biopesticide realm.

Pipelines: Emerging Technologies and Design Criteria, the latest release in the Sustainable Oil and Gas Development series, delivers the tools needed to understand more environmentally-friendly design, construction and maintenance of oil and gas pipelines. Designed to introduce ideal solutions and current state-of-the-art practices, the reference includes guidelines on environmental impact assessment and sustainable route design as well as the sustainability of additives and power systems. Material selection, real-time processing of smart well data and remote sensing are also discussed. Rounded out with inspection tools and emerging technology such as novel corrosion protection, this book gives pipeline engineers a guide on safer alternatives and upcoming guidelines in the race to reduce emissions.

Hybrid Enhanced Oil Recovery Using Smart Waterflooding explains the latest technologies used in the integration of low-salinity and smart waterflooding in other EOR processes to reduce risks attributed to numerous difficulties in existing technologies, also introducing the synergetic effects. Covering both lab and field work and the challenges ahead, the book delivers a cutting-edge product for today's reservoir engineers.

This book presents an inclusive, and resilient solution to Africa'ss wide-ranging food security challenges, particularly in fragility, conflict, and violence-affected countries. It assesses the costs and benefits of using two frontier agriculture technologies, insect farming and plant hydroponics, to create a circular food economy in Africa.

The book discusses recent innovation and diversification paths in agri-food, specifically the linkages among food research and innovation, production, consumption, gastronomy, and place branding as well as technology. It also focuses on EU policies and instruments in support of R&I activities in agri-food, and explores agri-food domains within the context of smart specialisation.

Conservation Policies for Agricultural Biodiversity: A Comparative Study of Laws and Policies focuses on the challenge of securing the ecological future of the planet and its inhabitants by exploring the Convention of Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing and WTO laws, such as SPSS, TBT GATT. This book demonstrates how the urgent problem of biodiversity loss can be addressed by challenging notions of national self-interest and security for the purpose of implementing policies that will benefit humanity and, more importantly, ensure the future of our planet.

Genetic Engineering and Genome Editing for Zinc Biofortification of Rice provides the first single-volume, comprehensive resource on genetic engineering approaches, including novel genome editing techniques, that are carried out in rice, a staple crop for much of the world's population. Dietary zinc deficiency can lead to negative health outcomes, including increased risk of stunting, respiratory diseases, diarrhea, mortality during childhood, and preterm births in pregnancy. By providing a complete view of the need for zinc biofortification in rice, sections in this book discuss state-of-the-art scientific advances, and then go further, placing them in their proper scientific, regulatory and socioeconomic contexts. While zinc biofortification can be achieved through conventional breeding, genetic engineering and agronomic practices, this is the first reference to bring all the latest insights and understanding to a comprehensive resource that is based on real-world experience and targeted applications.

Petrophysical Characterization and Fluids Transport in Unconventional Reservoirs presents a comprehensive look at these new methods and technologies for the petrophysical characterization of unconventional reservoirs, including recent theoretical advances and modeling on fluids transport in unconventional reservoirs. The book is a valuable tool for geoscientists and engineers working in academia and industry. Many novel technologies and approaches, including petrophysics, multi-scale modelling, rock reconstruction and upscaling approaches are discussed, along with the challenge of the development of unconventional reservoirs and the mechanism of multi-phase/multi-scale flow and transport in these structures.