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Books > Earth & environment > The environment
The advances in microsystems offer new opportunities and
capabilities to develop systems for biomedical applications, such
as diagnostics and therapy. There is a need for a comprehensive
treatment of microsystems and in particular for an understanding of
performance limits associated with the shrinking scale of
microsystems. The new edition of Microsystems for Bioelectronics
addresses those needs and represents a major revision, expansion
and advancement of the previous edition. This book considers
physical principles and trends in extremely scaled autonomous
microsystems such as integrated intelligent sensor systems, with a
focus on energy minimization. It explores the implications of
energy minimization on device and system architecture. It further
details behavior of electronic components and its implications on
system-level scaling and performance limits. In particular,
fundamental scaling limits for energy sourcing, sensing, memory,
computation and communication subsystems are developed and new
applications such as optical, magnetic and mechanical sensors are
presented. The new edition of this well-proven book with its unique
focus and interdisciplinary approach shows the complexities of the
next generation of nanoelectronic microsystems in a simple and
illuminating view, and is aimed for a broad audience within the
engineering and biomedical community.
NB: Due to the inadvertent assignment of a previously used ISBN,
this book was originally published under an incorrect identifying
number. The book has now been given its own unique ISBN and is
otherwise identical in every way to the original publication.
Feeding Everyone No Matter What presents a scientific approach to
the practicalities of planning for long-term interruption to food
production. The primary historic solution developed over the last
several decades is increased food storage. However, storing up
enough food to feed everyone would take a significant amount of
time and would increase the price of food, killing additional
people due to inadequate global access to affordable food. Humanity
is far from doomed, however, in these situations - there are
solutions. This book provides an order of magnitude technical
analysis comparing caloric requirements of all humans for five
years with conversion of existing vegetation and fossil fuels to
edible food. It presents mechanisms for global-scale conversion
including: natural gas-digesting bacteria, extracting food from
leaves, and conversion of fiber by enzymes, mushroom or bacteria
growth, or a two-step process involving partial decomposition of
fiber by fungi and/or bacteria and feeding them to animals such as
beetles, ruminants (cows, deer, etc), rats and chickens. It
includes an analysis to determine the ramp rates for each option
and the results show that careful planning and global cooperation
could ensure the bulk of humanity and biodiversity could be
maintained in even in the most extreme circumstances.
The authors and editors of this book challenge traditional
assumptions about economic growth, and develop the elements of a
reoriented macroeconomics that takes account both of environmental
impacts and social equity. Policies including carbon trading,
revenue recycling, and reorientation of private and social
investment are analyzed, providing insight into new paths for
economic development with flat or negative carbon emissions. These
issues will be crucial to macroeconomic and development policies in
the twenty-first century.What are the likely economic effects of
climate change? What are the costs of substantial action to avert
climate change? What economic policies can be effective in
responding to climate change? The debate has broad implications for
public policy. However, it also raises fundamental questions about
economic analysis itself, and moves issues of environmental policy
from the microeconomic to the macroeconomic level. Taking global
climate change seriously requires a re-examination of macroeconomic
goals. Economic growth has been closely linked to expanded use of
energy, primarily fossil fuels. The assumption of continuing
economic growth, in turn, leads economists to discount future
costs, including the generational impacts of climate change.
Challenging conventional concepts of growth implies different
development paths both for rich and poor nations. This volume
brings together contributions from scholars around the world to
address these issues. Scholars, researchers and students of
economics and development studies along with policymakers and
non-governmental organizations will find this insightful book of
great interest.
In Silver by Fire, Silver by Mercury: A Chemical History of Silver
Refining in New Spain and Mexico, 16th to 19th Centuries, Saul
Guerrero combines historical research with geology and chemistry to
refute the current prevailing narrative of a primitive effort
dominated by mercury and its copious emissions to the air. Based on
quantitative historical data, visual records and geochemical
fundamentals, Guerrero analyses the chemical and economic reasons
why two refining processes had to share production, creating along
the way major innovations in the chemical recipes, milling
equipment, mercury recycling practice, and industrial architecture
and operations. Their main environmental impact was lead fume and
the depletion of woodlands from smelting, and the transformation of
mercury into calomel during the patio process.
This innovative book sets out to rethink corporate social
responsibility (CSR) in global value chains. Peter Lund-Thomsen
considers how CSR is often framed and promoted by key actors in the
Global North, the home of many large retailers and brands, in ways
that overlook the unique challenges and broader circumstances faced
by suppliers and countries in the Global South. He instead proposes
that CSR must be understood as an evolving, context-dependent, and
contested term that can best be viewed through multiple
perspectives. Developing an integrated analytical model of buyer,
supplier, and worker perspectives on CSR in global value chains,
the book draws out future research and policy implications of this
analysis in the areas of governance, human rights, the circular
economy, and climate change. This book will be a critical resource
for scholars and students with an interest in corporate social
responsibility, critical management studies, management and
sustainability, and responsible consumption and production.
Practitioners and policy makers in business, government,
international organizations, and NGOs will also benefit from the
book's re-evaluation of CSR in global value chains.
Central Asian countries play a geostrategic role in world economy
and politics. As a result, efforts are being made to establish an
effective channel of communication between academic and research
institutions, policymakers, government agencies, and individuals
concerned with the complexities of Asian business, information
technologies, sustainable development, and globalization.
Technological Solutions for Sustainable Business Practice in Asia
provides an in-depth analysis on Asian economy, business, and
management with a clear international and interdisciplinary
approach. This comprehensive resource is beneficial for academics,
PhD students, policymakers, and government officials.
There are many factors to be considered when examining the current
state of environmental problems in the modern world. By addressing
these causes, the preservation of ecosystems and environmental
resources can be maintained. Environmental Issues Surrounding Human
Overpopulation is an authoritative reference source for the latest
scholarly research on the depletion of natural resources due to
overpopulation and presents insights on how these environmental
threats can be addressed. Highlighting technological, economic, and
social perspectives, this book is ideally designed for
policymakers, researchers, academics, students, and practitioners
interested in better understanding the current state of the global
environment.
The author examines natural disasters around the Pacific Rim
throughout history together with scientific data context to produce
enlightening-and highly readable-entries. On March 11, 2011, a
magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off Japan's coast, triggering a
powerful tsunami. The massive destruction that resulted proved that
not even sophisticated, industrialized nations are immune from
nature's fury. Written to take some of the mystery out of the
earth's behavior, this encyclopedia chronicles major natural
disasters that have occurred around the Pacific Rim, an area
nicknamed the "Ring of Fire" because of the volatile earth that
lies above and below. The encyclopedia offers descriptions of
deadly earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis through time.
The entries provide in-depth information that promotes an
understanding of the structure of the earth and earth processes and
shares the insights of scientists whose work helps clarify the
causes and effects of these cataclysmic events. At the same time,
the work examines how the people and cultures of the Pacific Rim
view this active part of the earth, how they live with the threat
of disaster, and how they have been affected by major events that
have occurred. Readers will come away with a holistic view of what
is known, how this knowledge was gained, and what its implications
may be. Features approximately 100 alphabetically arranged entries
with insights into specific disasters, technology, key geographic
features of the area, significant people, cultural beliefs, and
more Includes a general introduction and overview of the geography
and tectonic activity in the Pacific Rim countries Offers both
historical and scientific information Explains complex natural
phenomena and scientific concepts using nontechnical language and
clear illustrations Provides relevant cross-references to related
topics as well as to articles, books, and websites that offer
further information
This important book provides a comprehensive analysis of
technological change and environmental policy within the oil and
gas industry. It identifies and measures the impact of
technological change, both in market and environmental output
sectors and takes steps to identify key causal relationships. The
author focuses on the design and implementation of environmental
policies that encourage technological progress in the face of the
depletion of natural resources and the increasing stringency of
environmental regulations. Detailed policy scenarios provide
quantitative assessments indicating the significance of the
potential benefits of technological change and well-designed
environmental policy. With a sophisticated description of
innovations within the oil and gas industry, this book will be of
great interest to postgraduate students in economics, as well as in
public policy, business administration and engineering. It will
also appeal to practitioners in the energy industry and energy and
environmental policymakers as it demonstrates how successful market
and environmental policies can contribute to efficiency by
encouraging, rather than inhibiting, technological innovation.
Recent major earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, floods and other
natural phenomena have resulted in huge losses in terms of human
life and property destruction. A new range of human-made disasters
have afflicted humanity in modern times; terrorist activities have
been added to more classical disasters such as those due to the
failure of industrial installations. It is important to understand
the nature of these global risks to be able to develop strategies
to prepare for these events and plan effective responses in terms
of disaster management and the associated human health impacts. The
selected papers contained in this book have been written by
academics and professionals and represent some of the latest
developments in the field.
This book is an examination of a neglected form of scientific
corruption - corruption by political attachment to noble causes. We
are used to hearing that economic interests have corrupted
scientific findings, but the possibility that science might be
corrupted by noble causes is largely overlooked. This book shows
that this danger is real, that values can often lead to poor
science, and that we are more likely to accept lower quality
science when it lends support to our political preferences. Using
the examples of biodiversity and climate science and the attack on
Lomborg's The Skeptical Environmentalist on these two issues,
Aynsley Kellow reveals how the reliance of environmental science on
mathematical models and the infusion of values into its conduct
have produced a preference for virtual over observational data. It
argues that both sides of politics are capable of exerting such an
influence, but suggests some reasons why those on the political
Left seem to be more prone to do so at present, to the detriment of
public policy. Science and Public Policy is a unique and
challenging book. It does not argue that any one political
persuasion exerts a corrupting influence on science policy, instead
it makes extensive use of peer-reviewed literature to explore
scientific controversies and the role of politics in them. This
fascinating book will appeal to high-level general readers as well
as to scholars and researchers at all levels of academe working in
environmental politics and policy; and science policy.
A series of interviews with Noam Chomsky, the world's greatest living
public intellectual, about the pressing issues of our time
In this illuminating collection of interviews, Noam Chomsky shares his
insights on the pressing challenges facing humanity. A Liveable Future
is Possible addresses artificial intelligence and the potential for
such programs to surpass humans in cognitive awareness; what lies ahead
for a world engulfed in a deadly climate crisis; the rise of
neo-fascism internationally, and why we should organize across borders
to confront it and the striking similarities between Trump and Biden's
foreign policies.
Noam Chomsky has been an incomparable model of moral clarity and
intellectual courage during his many decades as a scholar, political
activist and social critic. A Liveable Future Is Possible is not only
an urgent and informative book, it is a call-to-action for those hoping
to help carry the torch of one of history’s greatest minds.
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