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Environmental History of the Rhine-Meuse Delta : An ecological story on evolving human–environmental relations coping with climate change and sea-level rise
This book presents the environmental history of the Delta of the lowland rivers Rhine and Meuse, an ecological story on evolving human–environmental relations coping with climate change and sea-level rise. It offers a combination of in-depth ecology and environmental history, dealing with exploitation of land and water, the use of everything nature provided, the development of fisheries and agriculture, changes in biodiversity of higher plants, fish, birds, mammals and invasive exotics. It is the first comprehensive book written in English on the integrated environmental history of the Delta, from prehistoric times up to the present day. It covers the l- acy of human intervention, the inescapable fate of reclaimed, nevertheless subs- ing and sinking polders, ‘bathtubs’ attacked by numerous floods, reclaimed in the Middle Ages and unwittingly exposed to the rising sea level and the increasing amplitude between high and low water in the rivers. The river channels, constricted and regulated between embankments, lost their flood plains, silted up, degraded and incised. Cultivation of raised bog deposits led to oxidation and compacting of peat and clay, resulting in progressive subsidence and flooding; arable land had to be changed into grassland and wetland. For millennia muscular strength and wind and water powers moulded the country into its basic form. From 1800 onwards, acceleration and scaling up by steam power and electricity, and exponential popu- tion growth, resulted in the erection of human structures ‘fixed forever’, and severe pressure on the environment.
Environmental Governance of the Baltic Sea
This edited volume presents a comprehensive and coherent interdisciplinary analysis of challenges and possibilities for sustainable governance of the Baltic Sea ecosystem by combining knowledge and approaches from natural and social sciences. Focusing on the Ecosystem Approach to Management (EAM) and associated multi-level, multi-sector and multi-actor challenges, the book provides up-to-date descriptions and analyses of environmental governance structures and processes at the macro-regional Baltic Sea level.
Environmental Effects of Afforestation in North-Western Europe : From Field Observations to Decision Support
Recognising the need for effective decision making in relation to land-use change, this timely book develops a series of tools for estimating the environmental impacts of afforestation. It also presents guidelines and decision support systems (DSS) to enable both policy makers and forest managers to maximize the benefits and minimize the adverse effects of afforestation. This book will provide a valuable resource for both graduate students and researchers in forest, environmental and biological sciences, as well as for landscape planners and policy makers involved in afforestation projects at local, regional and international levels.
Environmental Crises
This book studies the art and science of analyzing, assessing and anticipating environmental change. Among the issues considered are the observational evidence, statistical analysis and dynamic modeling as well as visioning of not-implausible changes in the environment, the changing public perception of the environment, functions of the environment and its use. Coverage also reviews a series of four prominent cases, namely climate change, the emissions of gasoline lead into the atmosphere and water bodies, fisheries policies and the management of marine oil pollution.
Environmental Chemistry : Green Chemistry and Pollutants in Ecosystems
Environmental chemistry is a new, fast developing science aimed at deciphering fundamental mechanisms ruling the behaviour of pollutants in ecosystems. Applying this knowledge to current environmental issues leads to the remediation of environmental media, and to new, low energy, low emission, sustainable processes. This book describes the state-of-the-art advances regarding the pollution of water, soils, atmosphere, food and living organisms by toxic metals, fossil fuels, pesticides and other organic pollutants. Furthermore, the eco-toxicology section presents novel bio-assays to assess the toxicity of various pollutants such as dioxins and endocrine disrupters within complex media. The green chemistry section highlights novel chemical reactions based upon environmentally friendly conditions. The analytical chemistry section describes very sensitive methods which trace the fate of pollutants in complex ecosystems.
Environmental and Resource Valuation with Revealed Preferences : A Theoretical Guide to Empirical Models
Environmental and Resource Valuation with Revealed Preferences: A Theoretical Guide to Empirical Models provides a systematic review of those economic approaches for valuing the environment and natural resources that use information on what people do, not what they say.
Environmental and Microbial Relationships
After the publication of Volume IV in 1997, the introduction of molecular methods into ecology led to significant new findings. Emphasizing these advances, the chapters for the second edition have been completely updated and revised. This volume provides insight into current research on fungal populations and communities. It focuses on fungal responses to the physical environment, interactions with other fungi, microorganisms and invertebrates, the role of fungi in ecosystem processes such as decomposition and nutrient cycling, and aspects of biogeography and conservation. Several chapters deal with various applications in, e.g. biological pest control, natural products discovery, and the degradation of toxic organic compounds. This is an invaluable source of information both for scientists who wish to update their knowledge of current progress and for graduate students interested in obtaining a first overview of this field of research.
Entropy Methods for the Boltzmann Equation : Lectures from a Special Semester at the Centre Émile Borel, Institut H. Poincaré, Paris, 2001
Entropy and entropy production have recently become mathematical tools for kinetic and hydrodynamic limits, when deriving the macroscopic behaviour of systems from the interaction dynamics of their many microscopic elementary constituents at the atomic or molecular level. During a special semester on Hydrodynamic Limits at the Centre Émile Borel in Paris, 2001 two of the research courses were held by C. Villani and F. Rezakhanlou. Both illustrate the major role of entropy and entropy production in a mutual and complementary manner and have been written up and updated for joint publication. Villani describes the mathematical theory of convergence to equilibrium for the Boltzmann equation and its relation to various problems and fields, including information theory, logarithmic Sobolev inequalities and fluid mechanics. Rezakhanlou discusses four conjectures for the kinetic behaviour of the hard sphere models and formulates four stochastic variations of this model, also reviewing known results for these.
Entomology
The author’s long-held belief that an introductory entomology course should present a balanced treatment of the subject is reflected in the continued arrangement of the book in four sections: Evolution and Diversity, Anatomy and Physiology, Reproduction and Development, and Ecology. For the third edition, all chapters have been updated. This includes not only the addition of new information and concepts but also the reduction or exclusion of material no longer considered "mainstream", so as to keep the book at a reasonable size.
Entertainment computing – ICEC 2007 ; 6th International Conference, Shanghai, China, September 15-17, 2007, Proceedings
This book are organized in topical sections on augmented, virtual and mixed reality, computer games, image processing, mesh and modeling, digital storytelling and interactive systems, sound, music and creative environments, video processing, rendering, computer animation and networks, game based interfaces, as well as robots and cyber pets.
Enterprise Risk Management Models
Offers a comprehensive guide to several aspects of risk, including information systems, disaster management, supply chain and disaster management perspectives. A major portion of the book is devoted to presenting a number of operations research models that have been (or could be) applied to enterprise supply risk management, especially from the supply chain perspective.
Enterprise ontology : Theory and methodology
Such a theory and a matching methodology, which has passed the test of practical experience, constitute the contents of this book. The enterprise ontology, as developed by Dietz, is the starting point for profoundly understanding the organization of an enterprise and subsequently for analyzing, (re)designing, and (re)engineering it. The approach covers numerous issues in an integrated way: business processes, in- and outsourcing, information systems, management control, staffing etc.
Enterprise Management with SAP SEM™
In order to make strategy happen there is a need for powerful management information systems. SAP focuses on the application of modern business administration concepts, e.g. Value Based Management, the Balanced Scorecard, the Management Cockpit or flexible planning methods. The book describes the methodology and implementation of a powerful tool for enterprise management. Practical examples show how SAP Strategic Enterprise Management/Business Analytics (SAP SEM/BA) can help to improve cross functional planning, reporting and analyzing. SAP SEM/BA is a leading edge IT-solution for top management and related departments in large enterprises and groups. It demonstrates the state of the art of modern management information and decision support systems.
Enterprise Knowledge Infrastructures
Success of an organization is increasingly dependent on its capability to create an environment to improve the productivity of knowledge work. This book focuses on the concepts, models and technologies that are used to design and implement such an environment. It develops the vision of a modular, yet highly integrated enterprise knowledge infrastructure and presents an ideal architecture replete with current technologies and systems. The most important streams of technological development that are covered in the book are computer-supported cooperative work, document and content management, e-learning, enterprise portals, information life cycle management, knowledge management, mobile computing, and the Semantic Web. It includes learning goals, exercises and case examples that help the reader to easily understand and practice the concepts.
Enterprise interoperability III : New challenges and industrial approaches
This book provides knowledge for cost savings and business improvement as well as new technical solutions. Composed of over 50 papers, Enterprise Interoperability III ranges from academic research through case studies to industrial and administrative experience of interoperability.
Enterprise interoperability II : New challenges and approaches
Interoperability: the ability of a system or a product to work with other systems or products without special effort from the user is a key issue in manufacturing and industrial enterprise generally. It is fundamental to the production of goods and services quickly and at low cost at the same time as maintaining levels of quality and customisation. Interoperability is achieved if internal and external collaborators can interact on at least three levels: data, applications and business enterprise (through the architecture of an enterprise model and making allowance for the semantics of both partners). Not only a problem of software and IT technologies, it implies support for communication and transactions between different organisations that must be based on shared business references. Today, a new and important consideration must be taken into account – economic business evaluation and the definition of dissemination policy.
Enterprise interoperability : New challenges and approaches
Interoperability: the ability of a system or a product to work with other systems or products without special effort from the user is a key issue in manufacturing and industrial enterprise generally. It is fundamental to the production of goods and services quickly and at low cost at the same time as maintaining levels of quality and customisation. Interoperability is achieved if internal and external collaborators can interact on at least three levels: data, applications and business enterprise (through the architecture of an enterprise model and making allowance for the semantics of both partners). Not only a problem of software and IT technologies, it implies support for communication and transactions between different organisations that must be based on shared business references. Today, a new and important consideration must be taken into account – economic business evaluation and the definition of dissemination policy.
Enterprise Information Systems VII
The purpose of the 7th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS) was to bring together researchers, engineers and practitioners interested in the advances and business applications of information systems. Five simultaneous tracks have been held, covering different aspects of Enterprise Information Systems Applications, including Enterprise Database Technology, Systems Integration, Artificial Intelligence, Decision Support Systems, Information Systems Analysis and Specification, Internet Computing, Electronic Commerce and Human Factors.
Enterprise Information Systems VI
This book contains the best papers of the Sixth International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS 2004), held in Porto (Portugal) and organized by INSTICC (Institute for Systems and Technologies of Information, Communication and Control) in collaboration with PORTUCALENSE UNIVERSITY, who hosted the event. Following the route started in 1999, ICEIS has become a major point of contact between research scientists, engineers and practitioners on the area of business applications of information systems. This conference has received an increased interest every year, from especially from the international academic community, and it is now one of the world largest conferences in its area. This year, five simultaneous tracks were held, covering different aspects related to enterprise computing, including: “Databases and Information Systems Integration”,
Enterprise Information Systems V
ICEIS focuses on real world applications and aims at bringing together researchers, engineers and practitioners interested in the advances and business applications of information systems. As in previous years, ICEIS’2003 held four simultaneous tracks covering different aspects of enterprise computing: Databases and Information Systems Integration, Artificial Intelligence and Decision Support Systems, Information Systems Analysis and Specification and Software Agents and Internet Computing. Although ICEIS’2003 received 546 paper submissions from over 50 countries, only 80 were accepted as full papers and presented in 30-minutes oral presentations. With an acceptance rate of 15%, these numbers demonstrate the intention of preserving a high quality forum for future editions of this conference. From the articles accepted as long papers for the conference, only 32 were selected for inclusion in this book Additional keynote lectures, tutorials and industrial sessions were also held during ICEIS’2003, and, for the first time this year, the 1st Doctoral Consortium on Enterprise Information Systems gave PhD students an opportunity to present their work to an international audience of experts in the field of information systems.
