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Arid Dune Ecosystems: The Nizzana Sands in the Negev Desert
Sand dune dynamics plays a key role in many arid deserts. This volume provides a synthesis of a specific sand dune ecosystem, the Nizzana site in the Negev Desert. Describing its climate and geophysical/geochemical properties of soils, geological history, flora and fauna, and past/present land-use patterns, it elucidates ecological and geomorphological processes and their interrelations, based on long-term monitoring, in situ experiments and satellite imagery. Particular attention is drawn to the impact of the topsoil biological crust in controlling water availability at local/regional scales. The interdisciplinary approach adopted in this case study offers a good example of a highly complex and dynamic system, which could easily be applied to other sandy ecosystems.
African Cultural Astronomy : Current Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy research in Africa
Astronomy is the science of studying the sky using telescopes and light collectors such as photographic plates or CCD detectors. However, people have always studied the sky and continue to study the sky without the aid of instruments this is the realm of cultural astronomy. This is the first scholarly collection of articles focused on the cultural astronomy of Africans. It weaves together astronomy, anthropology, and Africa. The volume includes African myths and legends about the sky, alignments to celestial bodies found at archaeological sites and at places of worship, rock art with celestial imagery, and scientific thinking revealed in local astronomy traditions including ethnomathematics and the creation of calendars. Authors include astronomers Kim Malville, Johnson Urama, and Thebe Medupe; archaeologist Felix Chami, and geographer Michael Bonine, and many new authors.
A Beginner's Guide to Sketching Buildings & Landscapes : Perspective and Proportions for Drawing Architecture, Gardens and More! (With over 500 illustrations)
Provides dozens of examples showing you how to establish accurate perspective guidelines and proportions for your initial pencil sketches, setting your drawings up to succeed right from the start. If a sketch's perspective and proportions are correct, your finished work will look crisp and beautiful. If not, you'll have a frustrating time trying to correct the problems at a later stage--and the finished work will never look quite right. A Beginner's Guide to Sketching Buildings & Landscapes is here to help you avoid those frustrations and set up your composition for a finished piece that will make you proud. The detailed step-by-step lessons in this indispensable guide teach you how to: Establish a composition's point of view correctly / Locate the horizon line, dividing land and sky / Break down complicated scenes into simple component shapes / Create the right relationship between foreground and background / Express 3D imagery using 2-point and 3-point perspective
