Ideal for anyone interested in environmental issues, this dictionary draws together information from a variety of sources to better facilitate understanding of this wide-ranging subject. Detailed explanations help to promote clearer communication between professionals and provide a standardized reference point for technical translation, a quick-reference guide for researchers and professionals, and an invaluable knowledge base for cross-disciplinary readers from the fields of health, politics, economics and engineering.

A comprehensive collection of contributions from the Middle East and Japan, dealing with pressing problems concerning sustainability in arid zones, this time with the accent on environmental science and engineering. The symposium brought together researchers and field engineers who discussed issues such as sulphur utilization in agriculture and construction engineering, renewable energy sources, and hazardous and waste-water treatment technologies. At a broader level, compliance with the Kyoto Protocol was on the agenda, with lively debate on global warming issues, which are of particular relevance to the ecology of arid lands.

Time domain electrometry (TDE) is a general term which includes time domain reflectrometry and time domain transmissiometry. It is a commercially-viable technique for leak detection, contaminant monitoring, and moisture content determination in contaminant transport modelling. Under demographic pressure, contaminated sites are increasingly being re-developed for domestic and industrial use; and this presents an urgent need for reliable, non-intrusive and integrated methods of subsurface characterization, detection and monitoring of organic and inorganic pollutants, soil moisture content and salinity. This book provides an overview of the potential application of TDE in geoenvironmental engineering and describes the geophysical methods used.

There are many urgent problems in arid land hydrogeology and it is these issues which are tackled in this volume on desert environments. The UAE-Japan symposia provide a venue for the exchange of expertise, confronting such problems as purification, usage and management of groundwater, the assessment and protection of sustainable water resources, and soil enhancement techniques for moisture control in arid lands. The hope is that a better understanding of dryland environment, combined with innovative solutions and technologies, will contribute to the greening of desert lands.

The papers in this volume cover topics in the field of geoengineering in arid lands. Topics include: coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical processes in geomechanics; sediment formation in marine environment; soil stability and stabilization techniques; and unsaturated soil behaviour and modelling.