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Books > Earth & environment > The environment
When it comes to any current scientific debate, there are more than two sides to every story. Controversies in Science and Technology, Volume 4 analyzes controversial topics in science and technology-infrastructure, ecosystem management, food security, and plastics and health-from multiple points of view. The editors have compiled thought-provoking essays from a variety of experts from academia and beyond, creating a volume that addresses many of the issues surrounding these scientific debates. Part I of the volume discusses infrastructure, and the real meaning behind the term in today's society. Essays address the central issues that motivate current discussion about infrastructure, including writing on the vulnerability to disasters. Part II, titled "Food Policy," will focus on the challenges of feeding an ever-growing world and the costs of not doing so. Part III features essays on chemicals and environmental health, and works to define "safety" as it relates to today's scientific community. The book's final section examines ecosystem management. In the end, Kleinman, Cloud-Hansen, and Handelsman provide a multifaceted volume that will be appropriate for anyone hoping to understand arguments surrounding several of today's most important scientific controversies
Hazardous Gases: Risk Assessment on Environment and Human Health examines all relevant routes of exposure, inhalation, skin absorption and ingestion, and control measures of specifics hazardous gases resulting from workplace exposure from industrial processes, traffic fumes, and the degradation of waste materials and how they impacts the health and environment of workers. The book examines the risk assessment and effect of poisonous gases on the environment human health. It also covers necessary emergency guidelines, safety measures, physiological impact, hazard control measures, handling and storage of hazardous gases. Each chapter is formatted to include an introduction, historical background, physicochemical properties, physiological role discussing mechanisms of toxicity, its effect on human health as well as environment, followed by case studies and recent research on toxic gases. Hazardous Gases: Risk Assessment on Environment and Human Health is a helpful resource for academics and researchers in toxicology, occupational health and safety, and environmental sciences as well as those in the field who work to assess and mitigate the impact of toxic gases on the work environment and the health of the workforce.
The structure of sedimentary basins of the Russian Arctic Seas is studied and illustrated by a number of maps, cross-sections and geophysical models. The calculated density models of the Earth crust illustrate the deep structure of the main blocks of the crust. Five major gas-condensate and gas fields are discovered here: three (Shtokman, Ludlov, Ledovoe) in the Barents and two (Leningrad and Rusanov) in the Kara Sea. Geological and geophysical characteristics of the Russian Arctic Sea sedimentary basins allow an estimation of their hydrocarbon potential by comparison with the known world analogues. Total potential resources of giant deposits of hydrocarbons in Russian Arctic Seas are estimated at 470 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The richest resources are the Kara Sea and Laptev Sea. Less rich is Barents Sea. The relatively smaller contribution to the overall estimation of the resources makes the resources of East-Siberian Sea and Chukchi Sea. Development the energy capacity of the continental shelf of
Russia can play a stabilizing role in the dynamics of oil and gas
production in the period 2010-2020. A key role in developing the
capacity of the Arctic shelf oil and gas play is the innovative
technology in exploration, production and management of the
relevant investment projects. World offshore experience indicates
that the combination of these factors is achieved through the
formation of international firms and organizations.
This book features oyster beds as a political and environmental battleground. In ""The Oyster Question"", Christine Keiner applies perspectives of environmental, agricultural, political, and social history to examine the decline of Maryland's iconic Chesapeake Bay oyster industry. Oystermen have held on to traditional ways of life and some continue to use preindustrial methods, tonging oysters by hand from small boats. Others use more intensive tools, and thus it is commonly believed that a lack of regulation enabled oystermen to exploit the bay to the point of ruin. But Keiner offers an opposing view in which state officials, scientists, and oystermen created a regulated commons that sustained tidewater communities for decades. Not until the 1980s did a confluence of natural and unnatural disasters weaken the bay's resilience enough to endanger the oyster resource. Keiner examines conflicts that pitted scientists in favor of privatization against watermen who used their power in the statehouse to stave off the forces of rural change. Her study breaks new ground regarding the evolution of environmental politics at the state rather than federal level. ""The Oyster Question"" concludes with the impassioned ongoing debate over introducing nonnative oysters to the Chesapeake Bay and how that proposal might affect the struggling watermen and their identity as the last hunter-gatherers of the industrialized world.
Biodiversity has been a key concept in international conservation since the 1980s, yet historians have paid little attention to its origins. Uncovering its roots in tropical fieldwork and the southward expansion of U.S. empire at the turn of the twentieth century, Megan Raby details how ecologists took advantage of growing U.S. landholdings in the circum-Caribbean by establishing permanent field stations for long-term, basic tropical research. From these outposts of U.S. science, a growing community of American ""tropical biologists"" developed both the key scientific concepts and the values embedded in the modern discourse of biodiversity. Considering U.S. biological fieldwork from the era of the Spanish-American War through the anticolonial movements of the 1960s and 1970s, this study combines the history of science, environmental history, and the history of U.S.-Caribbean and Latin American relations. In doing so, Raby sheds new light on the origins of contemporary scientific and environmentalist thought and brings to the forefront a surprisingly neglected history of twentieth-century U.S. science and empire.
Tree Kangaroos: Science and Conservation, a volume in the Biodiversity of the World: Conservation from Genes to Landscapes series, provides an overview of tree kangaroo species and their relationship with humans. This exciting, interdisciplinary work on tree kangaroo science and conservation is divided into six major sections: (1) tree kangaroo evolution, genetics, taxonomy, ecology, behavior, and conservation status; (2) current and emerging threats to the species; (3) conservation programs in Australia and New Guinea with an emphasis on the human aspect of conservation; (4) the role of zoos in conservation solutions; (5) techniques and technologies to study this elusive marsupial; and (6) what is needed to keep tree kangaroos and their landscapes healthy in the future. The series on Biodiversity of the World: Conservation from Genes to Landscapes includes titles focused on specific species or taxa across disciplinary boundaries and spatial scales-from genes to landscapes. Volumes are edited and written by prominent scholars and practitioners to illuminate and advance biodiversity science and conservation.
In 1994, a wildfire on Colorado's Storm King Mountain was wrongly identified at the outset as occurring in South Canyon. This unintentional, seemingly minor human error was the first in a string of mistakes that would be compounded into one of the greatest tragedies in the annals of firefighting. Before it was done, fourteen courageous firefighters--men and women, hotshots, smoke jumpers, and helicopter crew--would lose their lives battling the deadly so-called South Canyon blaze. John N. Maclean's award-winning national bestseller Fire on the Mountain is a stunning reconstruction of the killer conflagration and its aftermath--a page-turning true adventure of nature at its most unforgiving, and a powerful, indelible portrait of a unique breed of heroes who regularly and without question place their lives on the line.
There is widespread agreement that climate change is a serious problem. If we fail to regulate greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, or use alternative strategies for addressing the problem, the damages could be significant, and perhaps catastrophic. After several international meetings in which nation-states have tried unsuccessfully to address the climate change problem, there is a sense of frustration and urgency: frustration at the slow pace at which countries are moving toward an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; urgency because of the growing evidence that climate change is a serious problem that should be addressed globally and quickly. This book takes a close look at the fundamental political and economic processes driving climate change policy. It identifies institutional arrangements and policies that are needed to design more effective climate change policy. It also examines ethical and distributional arguments that are critical in understanding and framing the climate debate. The book is built around a conference honouring Tom Schelling that took place at the Sustainable Consumption Institute at The University of Manchester. Each chapter represents a significant contribution to the literature on the political economy of climate change.
Praise for the First Edition " . . . an excellent addition to an upper-level undergraduate
course on environmental statistics, and . . . a 'must-have' desk
reference for environmental practitioners dealing with censored
datasets." Statistical Methods for Censored Environmental Data Using Minitab(R) and R, Second Edition introduces and explains methods for analyzing and interpreting censored data in the environmental sciences. Adapting survival analysis techniques from other fields, the book translates well-established methods from other disciplines into new solutions for environmental studies. This new edition applies methods of survival analysis, including methods for interval-censored data to the interpretation of low-level contaminants in environmental sciences and occupational health. Now incorporating the freely available R software as well as Minitab(R) into the discussed analyses, the book features newly developed and updated material including: A new chapter on multivariate methods for censored data Use of interval-censored methods for treating true nondetects as lower than and separate from values between the detection and quantitation limits ("remarked data") A section on summing data with nondetects A newly written introduction that discusses invasive data, showing why substitution methods fail Expanded coverage of graphical methods for censored data The author writes in a style that focuses on applications rather than derivations, with chapters organized by key objectives such as computing intervals, comparing groups, and correlation. Examples accompany each procedure, utilizing real-world data that can be analyzed using the Minitab(R) and R software macros available on the book's related website, and extensive references direct readers to authoritative literature from the environmental sciences. Statistics for Censored Environmental Data Using Minitab(R) and R, Second Edition is an excellent book for courses on environmental statistics at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels. The book also serves as a valuable reference for?environmental professionals, biologists, and ecologists who focus on the water sciences, air quality, and soil science.
Flooding claims many lives worldwide each year. In addition, many more lives are affected by homelessness, disease and crop failures as a result of floods' destructiveness. The number of recent flood events coupled with climate change predictions and urban development, suggest that these statistics are likely to worsen in the future. Flooding in populated areas can cause substantial property damage as well as threaten human life. Apart from the obvious physical damage to buildings, contents and loss of life, there other more indirect losses that are often overlooked. These intangible impacts are generally associated with disruption to normal life as well as longer term health issues, including stress-related illness. The conference papers cover the following topics: Flood Risk Management; Flood Risk Vulnerability; Emergency Preparedness and Response; Flood Forecasting; Flood Case Studies; Responses to Reduce Vulnerability to Flooding.
Business leaders need to embrace sustainability in order to ensure the lasting success of their organizations. Co-authors Suhas Apte and Jagdish Sheth bring their expertise from practice and from academia to illustrate how business leaders can embed sustainability in a truly holistic and transformative way. Through an examination of such companies as Walmart, AT&T, IKEA and the Tata Group, Apte and Sheth have developed a proven and actionable framework rooted in the real world success of these companies. The case studies reveal how business leaders proactively engage, energize and promote market sustainability to all of their stakeholders including customers, employees, suppliers, investors and the government. The Sustainability Edge enables companies to critically engage their stakeholders and influence them to accept sustainability as part of their core mission.
The Arctic: A Barometer of Global Climate Variability provides a comprehensive source of information on all aspects of the Arctic region. Through thorough research, first-hand accounts and case studies, the book details international arctic research initiatives and native environments, including flora and fauna. Sections explore the impact of climate change, the effect of the Arctic on climate change, the environmental issues facing the region and how it is adapting. It is also a must-read source of information for polar scientists, applicable PhD students, early researchers, environmental scholars, and anyone searching for information on any aspect of the Arctic region. Users will find a great resource that brings together all aspects of Arctic research into one concise book.
The issue of sustainability has become a vital discussion in many industries within the public and private sectors. In the business realm, incorporating such practices allows organizations to redesign their operations more effectively. The Handbook of Research on Supply Chain Management for Sustainable Development is a critical scholarly resource that examines academic and corporate interest in sustainability in all facets of business management. Featuring coverage on a wide range of topics such as green supply chains, environmental standards, and production planning, this book is geared toward professionals, researchers, and managers seeking current and relevant research on optimizing supply chains to ensure fair labor practices, lower emissions, and a cleaner environment.
This collection features four peer-reviewed literature reviews on bone health in poultry. The first chapter reviews the literature on genetic mapping of skeletal traits in both broilers and layers, including both the genetics of skeletal defects and bone quality. As the chapter shows, linkage mapping and genome-wide association studies have identified promising candidate genes with potential for breeding more robust birds. The second chapter focuses on bacterial chondronecrosis with osteomyelitis (BCO), one of the most common causes of lameness in broilers. The chapter summarizes the pathogenesis of BCO and reviews the efficacy of probiotics as a prophylactic treatment. The third chapter discusses bone health in laying hens. It reviews bone development, keel and other bone health problems and factors contributing to poor bone health. It also summarises key strategies for improving bone health, including breeding, nutrition, rearing practices and housing. The final chapter assesses the problem of lameness in intensively-reared broiler flocks. The chapter also discusses skin health in broilers. It summarises key risk factors as well as ways of monitoring and reducing the problem, from breeding programmes and enrichment to sequential feeding regimes.
This book presents contemporary case studies on selected Italian food and wine products to explore how traditional production and consumption models address and adapt to the sustainability challenges in the Italian high-excellence agri-food sector. Sustainability in High-Excellence Italian Food and Wine adopts a transaction cost economics approach, which is applied to five case-study chapters, each focusing on a key Italian agri-food product: Parmigiano Reggiano, Mozzarella di Bufala Campana, Amarone wine, Prosecco wine, and Prosciutto di San Daniele. The production and organization of these products face many challenges as they seek to balance competing priorities around economic viability, maintenance of high-quality standards and environmental and social impacts. The book argues that the development of sustainable and quality models requires changes to the structure and organization of the supply chain while also acknowledging that consumers are increasingly demanding authentic, high-excellence products that require reliable labeling systems and designations of origin mechanism. Recommending that hybrid structures, such as cooperatives and consortia, are the most cost-minimizing governance structures for the production, the book highlights that in the case of Italian excellency food, environmental sustainability and economic efficiency are not actually traded off but are reciprocally valorized through the regulation of high-quality standards. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of food and wine excellence products, food systems and supply chains, agricultural production and economics and sustainable consumption.
Most projects in Landscape Ecology, at some point, define a species-habitat association. These models are inherently spatial, dealing with landscapes and their configurations. Whether coding behavioral rules for dispersal of simulated organisms through simulated landscapes, or designing the sampling extent of field surveys and experiments in real landscapes, landscape ecologists must make assumptions about how organisms experience and utilize the landscape. These convenient working postulates allow modelers to project the model in time and space, yet rarely are they explicitly considered. The early years of landscape ecology necessarily focused on the evolution of effective data sources, metrics, and statistical approaches that could truly capture the spatial and temporal patterns and processes of interest. Now that these tools are well established, we reflect on the ecological theories that underpin the assumptions commonly made during species distribution modeling and mapping. This is crucial for applying models to questions of global sustainability. Due to the inherent use of GIS for much of this kind of research, and as several authors research involves the production of multicolored map figures, there would be an 8-page color insert. Additional color figures could be made available through a digital archive, or by cost contributions of the chapter authors. Where applicable, would be relevant chapters GIS data and model code available through a digital archive. The practice of data and code sharing is becoming standard in GIS studies, is an inherent method of this book, and will serve to add additional research value to the book for both academic and practitioner audiences." |
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