Innovation in Energy Security and Long-Term Energy Efficiency Ⅱ
The sustainable development of our planet depends on the use of energy. The increasing world population inevitably causes an increase in the demand for energy, which, on the one hand, threatens us with the potential to encounter a shortage of energy supply, and, on the other hand, causes the deterioration of the environment.Therefore, our task is to reduce this demand through different innovative solutions (i.e., both technological and social). Social marketing and economic policies can also play their role by affecting the behavior of households and companies and by causing behavioral change oriented to energy stewardship, with an overall switch to renewable energy resources. This reprint provides a platform for the exchange of a wide range of ideas, which, ultimately, would facilitate driving societies toward long-term energy efficiency.
Strategic Opportunism: What Works in Africa
This open access book. provides a synthesis of six projects, across ten countries, each of which have been sustained for two or more decades, and which illustrate how success can be achieved regardless of systems of governance, of a nation's wealth, or of culture. Detailed narratives are presented on the key personalities that have conceived, conducted and concluded long-term projects: personal stories of vision, failure, frustration and persistence ultimately leading to success.The case studies vary widely in their geography and goals. The single-handed commitment to re-discover the last surviving populations of Giant Sable in the miombo woodlands of central Angola, through the capture, translocation and establishment of robust breeding herds of this magnificent antelope, contrasts with the massively funded, three-decade programme with over one hundred participants that reversed the annual loss to predation by feral cats of 455 000 seabirds from a sub-Antarctic island. Similarly, the foresight of Zimbabwean and Namibian ecologists to place rural communities at the centre of conservation programmes by giving value to wildlife populations and benefits to local people, transformed a land degradation problem to a socio-ecological solution. Across ten countries, building capacity in botanical collection, documentation and herbarium management expanded into a global project to place the knowledge base of Africa's flora onto an electronic data system accessible to researchers and conservation planners in even the most remote corners of the continent. None of these projects enjoyed immediate results. Each required leadership skills that combined vision, a generosity of spirit, fortuitous timing and the exploitation of unexpected opportunities.
Poison Powder
In 1975 workers at Life Science Products, a small makeshift pesticide factory in Hopewell, Virginia, became ill after exposure to Kepone, the brand name for the pesticide chlordecone. They made the poison under contract for a much larger Hopewell company, Allied Chemical. Life Science workers had been breathing in the dust for more than a year. Ingestion of the chemical made their bodies seize and shake. News of ill workers eventually led to thediscovery of widespread environmental contamination of the nearby James River and the landscape of the small, working-class city. Not only had Life Science dumped the chemical, but so had Allied when the company manufactured it in the 1960s and early 1970s. The resulting toxic impact was not only on the city of Hopewell but also on the faraway fields where Kepone was used as an insecticide. Aspects of this environmental tragedy are all too common: corporate avarice, ignorance, and regulatory failure combined with race and geography to determine toxicity and shape the response. But the Kepone story also contains some surprising medical, legal, and political moments amid the disaster. With Poison Powder, Gregory S. Wilson explores the conditions that put the Kepone factory and the workers there in the first place and the effects of the poison on the people and natural world long after 1975. Although the manufacture and use of Kepone is now banned by the Environmental Protection Agency, organochlorines have long half-lives, and these toxic compounds and their residues still remain in the environment.
Eat, Poop, Die
NAMED A TOP-TEN BEST BOOK OF 2023 BY SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN A "fascinating" exploration (Elizabeth Kolbert) of how ecosystems are sculpted and sustained by animals eating, pooping, and dying--and how these fundamental functions could help save us from climate catastrophe. If forests are the lungs of the planet, then animals migrating across oceans, streams, and mountains--eating, pooping, and dying along the way--are its heart and arteries, pumping nitrogen and phosphorus from deep-sea gorges up to mountain peaks, from the Arctic to the Caribbean. Without this conveyor belt of crucial, life-sustaining nutrients, the world would look very different. The dynamics that shape our physical world--atmospheric chemistry, geothermal forces, plate tectonics, and erosion through wind and rain--have been explored for decades. But the effects on local ecosystems of less glamorous forces--rotting carcasses and deposited feces--as well as their impact on the global climate cycle, have been largely overlooked. The simple truth is that pooping and peeing are daily rituals for almost all animals, the ellipses of ecology that flow through life. We eat, we poop, and we die. From the volcanoes of Iceland to the tropical waters of Hawaii, the great plains of the American heartland, and beyond, Eat, Poop, Die, "compulsively readable" (Shelby Van Pelt), takes readers on an exhilarating and enlightening global adventure, revealing the remarkable ways in which the most basic biological activities of animals make and remake the world--and how a deeper understanding of these cycles provides us with opportunities to undo the environmental damage humanity has wrought on the planet we call home.
Business Transitions: A Path to Sustainability
This open access book represents a journey documenting the development of tools and methodologies over 3 decades and asks where the future lies. It further develops seminal work carried out under the auspices of the Capacity building in Sustainability and Environmental Management (CapSEM) project co-funded by the EU Erasmus programme from 2016-2019 as well as research projects such as IGLO-MP2020, SUSPRO, and SISVI. It gathers existing paradigms of environmental management within the relevant frameworks which have driven the way in which this discipline has developed. It seeks to both challenge and support the way in which business sectors have approached this previously, with a more holistic and overarching model being provided, moving through four very distinct levels. It therefore provides not only a different approach, but a different way of thinking. Systems thinking is characterized by four levels: Process, Product Value Chain, Organisational and Systemic which combinesMaterial Flow Analysis (MFA), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Industrial Ecology (IE) principles. In its practical application, Corporate Social Responsibility, for example, thus becomes an integral part of a much wider business strategy and impacts on all business activity, not added value for its own sake, but a valuable component in a wider toolbox as a fundamental part of any business strategy and plan, changing, flexing and developing over the years. The book is divided into 4 parts: moving from context and background, to the theoretical model or toolbox, onto its practical application in case studies and culminates in looking at the future and potential developments. It represents the multi-disciplined collaboration at NTNU and beyond, exemplifying its use in a wealth of business sectors and a range of stakeholders from construction to textiles to wind power as outlined in the European Circular Action Plan.
Capital and Inequality in Rural Papua New Guinea
That large-scale capital drives inequality in states like Papua New Guinea is clear enough; how it does so is less clear. This edited collection presents studies of the local contexts of capital-intensive projects in the mining, oil and gas, and agro-industry sectors in rural and semi-rural parts of Papua New Guinea; it asks what is involved when large-scale capital and its agents begin to become significant nodes in hitherto more local social networks. Its contributors describe the processes initiated by the (planned) presence of extractive industries that tend to reinforce already existing inequalities, or to create and socially entrench novel inequalities. The studies largely focus on the beginnings of such transformations, when hopes for social improvement are highest and economic inequalities still incipient. They show how those hopes, and the encompassing socio-political transformations characteristic of this phase, act to produce far-reaching impacts on ways of life, setting precedents for and embedding the social distribution of gains and losses. The chapters address a range of settings: the PNG Liquid Natural Gas pipeline; newly established eucalyptus and oil palm plantations; a planned copper-gold mine; and one in which rumours of development diffuse through a rural social network as yet unaffected by any actual or planned capital investments. The analyses all demonstrate that questions around land, leadership and information are central to the current and future social profile of local inequality in all its facets.
Ecosystem Restoration Through Managing Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes (Sepls)
This open access book is a compilation of case studies that provide useful knowledge and lessons that derive from on-the-ground activities and contribute to policy recommendations, focusing on the relevance of social-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS) to ecosystem restoration. Building on the concept of SEPLS, the Satoyama Initiative promotes landscape approaches as integrative area-based strategies to bring together diverse stakeholders aiming to balance multiple objectives, including conservation and development, for the benefit of biodiversity and human well-being. Many of the SEPLS case studies from the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI) offer rich evidence to help guide restoration efforts while advancing relevant knowledge and practices. The book highlights how the efforts in managing SEPLS can contribute to ecosystem restoration and sustainable development, looking at the strategies and approaches by which multiple stakeholders express, negotiate, and embrace their plural value perspectives of nature to restore ecosystems within a landscape or seascape. It begins with an introductory chapter followed by twelve case studies and a synthesis clarifying the relevance of the case study findings to policy and academic discussions. This book will be of interest to scholars, policymakers and professionals in the field related to sustainable development, especially on SDGs 15 and 17.
Ecosystem Restoration Through Managing Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes (Sepls)
This open access book is a compilation of case studies that provide useful knowledge and lessons that derive from on-the-ground activities and contribute to policy recommendations, focusing on the relevance of social-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS) to ecosystem restoration. Building on the concept of SEPLS, the Satoyama Initiative promotes landscape approaches as integrative area-based strategies to bring together diverse stakeholders aiming to balance multiple objectives, including conservation and development, for the benefit of biodiversity and human well-being. Many of the SEPLS case studies from the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI) offer rich evidence to help guide restoration efforts while advancing relevant knowledge and practices. The book highlights how the efforts in managing SEPLS can contribute to ecosystem restoration and sustainable development, looking at the strategies and approaches by which multiple stakeholders express, negotiate, and embrace their plural value perspectives of nature to restore ecosystems within a landscape or seascape. It begins with an introductory chapter followed by twelve case studies and a synthesis clarifying the relevance of the case study findings to policy and academic discussions. This book will be of interest to scholars, policymakers and professionals in the field related to sustainable development, especially on SDGs 15 and 17.
Business Transitions: A Path to Sustainability
This open access book represents a journey documenting the development of tools and methodologies over 3 decades and asks where the future lies. It further develops seminal work carried out under the auspices of the Capacity building in Sustainability and Environmental Management (CapSEM) project co-funded by the EU Erasmus programme from 2016-2019 as well as research projects such as IGLO-MP2020, SUSPRO, and SISVI. It gathers existing paradigms of environmental management within the relevant frameworks which have driven the way in which this discipline has developed. It seeks to both challenge and support the way in which business sectors have approached this previously, with a more holistic and overarching model being provided, moving through four very distinct levels. It therefore provides not only a different approach, but a different way of thinking. Systems thinking is characterized by four levels: Process, Product Value Chain, Organisational and Systemic which combinesMaterial Flow Analysis (MFA), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Industrial Ecology (IE) principles. In its practical application, Corporate Social Responsibility, for example, thus becomes an integral part of a much wider business strategy and impacts on all business activity, not added value for its own sake, but a valuable component in a wider toolbox as a fundamental part of any business strategy and plan, changing, flexing and developing over the years. The book is divided into 4 parts: moving from context and background, to the theoretical model or toolbox, onto its practical application in case studies and culminates in looking at the future and potential developments. It represents the multi-disciplined collaboration at NTNU and beyond, exemplifying its use in a wealth of business sectors and a range of stakeholders from construction to textiles to wind power as outlined in the European Circular Action Plan.
Environmental Impacts of Mining
This second edition examines the problems facing the mining industry, and offers practical case studies, as well as new solutions for environmental restoration and remediation. New topics include bioremediation technology, mountaintop surface coal mining, reclamation procedures, environmental impacts of gold mining, mining in different countries worldwide, and the resulting environmental problems. The book is considered a "must have" book for environmental engineers and professionals in the mining industry, geologists, hydrologists, hazardous waste professionals, and academics.
Natural HDAC Inhibitors for Epigenetic Combating of Cancer Progression
Natural HDAC Inhibitors for Epigenetic Combating of Cancer Progression deals only with HDAC inhibitors from natural origins including bacteria, fungi, marine organisms and, notably, from diverse plant sources. This book is unique in the sense that it is the only book that discusses wholly and solely HDAC inhibitors of natural origin in the context of cancer chemotherapy. Another peculiar feature of this book is that it debates futuristic nanotechnology approaches for escalating the aqueous solubility, cancer cell uptake, bioavailability and other favourable pharmacological parameters, including the cytotoxicity of natural HDAC inhibitors against cancer cells. The major features of this book encompass General compendium of HDAC inhibitors with deep emphasis on the toxicity issues of synthetic HDAC inhibitors Various groups of natural HDAC inhibitors, their representatives and premier sources Cyclic tetrapeptides of natural origin and their importance as cancer chemotherapeutic agents Hydroxamates and depsipeptides from natural sources and their promising role in cancer therapy Natural flavonoids, their HDAC inhibitory tendency and marvellous anticancer activity Non-flavonoid natural HDAC inhibitors and their pleasing cytotoxic effects towards cancer models Combined therapy involving natural flavonoids with other anticancer molecules for synergistic and additive benefits against cancer models Non-flavonoid HDAC inhibitors and conventional drugs in collaborative mode against aggressive malignancies Nanotechnology-based delivery of natural HDAC inhibitors for greater therapeutic efficacy over traditional combinatorial therapy This book is highly beneficial to university professors and research scholars working on epigenetic therapeutics in general, and natural HDAC inhibitors in particular. This book is equally important to medical oncologists, biochemistry as well as pharmacy candidates and students of master's and undergraduate level with a desire to do a doctorate on HDACs, natural HDAC inhibitors, HDAC inhibitor (natural)-based combinatorial chemotherapy and delivery of these inhibitors selectively to tumour sites through revolutionary nanotechnological tactics.
Climate Change Adaptations in Dryland Agriculture in Semi-Arid Areas
This book highlights the approaches for achieving trans-disciplinary research integration for "semi-arid dryland agriculture systems" under changing climates, while also identifying the elements of a collaborative research agenda that are needed to advance global food security. The book emphasizes climate change being a reality and how drylands are bearing the brunt in diverse ways. The major impact of dryland agriculture is on communities that need to: avoid the short- and long-term impacts of the changing climate; adapt strategies that can minimize these impacts; and be able to mitigate climate change, for which they need climate smart interventions. These interventions are only realized through knowledge and experience sharing among stakeholders from different sectors and backgrounds. It is in this context that the publication was seen as a necessity in order to bring together ideas that will transform lives and build adaptation capacities, thereby providing the much-needed products in communities leading to development
Off-Gas Purification
When doing in the off-gas purification business you will pretty soon register that you do not act in an isolated box. You have to make yourself familiar with the interplay of your emission problem and the environment, and you have to apply a broad view of the subject. We can hardly make a forecast on your first steps in this business, except that we want you to succeed. Therefore, we want to offer engineers and graduate students the basic tools for discussing air pollution problems and for deducing strategies for process and equipment design in off-gas purification, covering the whole span from the basics to dedusting, absorption, adsorption and redox processes. The didactic concept of the work is to attract students with a 'learning by doing' strategy. We discuss the problems, the solver strategies and the solvers. The problem solver proposals address a multitude of pollution control technologies. The work is a compact off-gas purification guide for practitioners and students by presenting basics as well as numerous applications with many examples and problems with solutions.
Viruses
A comprehensive and richly illustrated introduction to the world of viruses As parasites that are often hundreds of times smaller than bacteria, viruses exist in and on everything, everywhere. Rapidly evolving, they are highly opportunistic and relentlessly efficient. While some viruses are obviously agents of disease, as the COVID-19 pandemic has reminded the world only too well, others can be beneficial, helping to protect their hosts from other microbes, or allowing hosts to function in otherwise impossible ways. In Viruses, virus expert and author Marilyn Roossinck presents a comprehensive and richly illustrated introduction to viruses that reveals their true nature. Using lively text, clear graphics, and beautiful imagery, Viruses examines all the aspects of viruses that are essential for understanding them--their diversity, behaviors, life cycles, and much more. Written in a nontechnical and easy-to-follow style, the book covers what viruses are and where they come from; how they transmit and evolve; the battle between viruses and hosts, including immunity and vaccination; viruses that are good for us; the critical role viruses play in the balance of earth's ecosystems; what makes a virus--including COVID-19 and influenza--become pandemic in plants or animals; and the cutting-edge research that is discovering thousands of new viruses. Each chapter concludes with stunningly illustrated profiles that highlight key viruses. In a world where understanding viruses is more important than ever, Viruses offers a rich and inviting introduction to organisms that, for all the harm they can do, are also essential for the health of animals, plants, and the world we share.
Drinking Water Security in Rural India
This book highlights the multi-pronged strategy for achieving sustainable rural domestic water supply in India. It deepens the understanding of groundwater (predominant source of water supply) behaviour in response to natural processes in different geological settings, analyses the factors influencing the performance of water supply schemes; identifies the conditions under which groundwater-based drinking water sources become sustainable, suggests measures for improving the sustainability of drinking water wells in hard rock regions (covering 2/3rd of India's geographical area), presents a decision-making framework for planning rural water supply schemes in the country for ensuring long-term sustainability, and suggests physical strategies and policy measures for achieving them.The analyses for development and validation of various models that explain groundwater system behaviour and performance of rural water supply schemes are undertaken for different geological settings in Maharashtra, as the state represents a microcosm of the various hydrological, topographical, and geohydrological conditions encountered in the country. The final analysis for proposing nation-wide strategies considers the various hydrological, geological, geohydrological, and topographical and climatic settings and groundwater contamination and pollution in the country.
Sustainable Practices in Italian Businesses
This SpringerBrief describes the development and use of a synthetic indicator to assess different degrees of sustainability adoption by economic sector and businesses size. To make this analysis a theoretical framework which involves variables common to alternative frameworks (specifically ESG, GRI and Istat) is proposed. The empirical analysis focuses on the environmental, social and economic variables of the Italian businesses. In this analysis, all three pillars of sustainability - economic, environmental, and social - are considered. The work begins with a review of business sustainability literature and a look into institutional frameworks for the development and measurement of the phenomena. Connections between businesses and the SDGs are examined and comparison of the classifications of sustainable activities defined by GRI and ESG international standards is used to define a framework to be adopted to analyse ISTAT Business Census. Selected indicator variables are aggregated with a synthetic indicator and the results are presented (this is a new proposal of a synthetic indicator useful for the type of data used and published by ISTAT - Italian National Statistical Institute), discussing pros and cons of using it. This study provides two important innovative contributions. The first one is about how to approach the theoretical framework of businesses sustainability at firms aggregated level. The basic idea to work on a set of variables common to different approaches is interesting from the interpretative point of view. The second one, is about the specific empirical analysis, i.e. the Italian businesses sustainability situation. The investigation based on this new theoretical classification/framework and the new proposed indicator provides some interesting substantive results.
Steering Political Currents
China's industrial policy has reignited the debate about state intervention in domestic economies. Few industries experience the guiding hand of the state as intensively as the Chinese electricity sector; a sector that has undergone radical change due to societal rumblings over the state's hegemony in resource allocation. The term 'smart grid' encom-passes the technical and systemic reforms required for structural change. This study examines the impact of political intervention on power struggles in China's electricity sector through the lens of steering theory. Document analysis and interviews shed light on how steering and counter-steering strategies are developed to influence policy design and its implementation in China's smart grid.
Mine Wastes and Water, Ecological Engineering and Metals Extraction
The book reviews past and present mine waste management processes. It estimates global water consumption by major mining resources per annum. This consumption will lead land use resources (agriculture and water) to collide with mining interests expected in the near future. With the application of novel metal extraction processes and the adoption of ecological engineering as an approach to waste and water management, a reduction in water and land consumption can be achieved. Using these methodologies would make mining more sustainable. Together with ore and metal recycling, mining methods can be brought into the 21st century. The book describes natural weathering processes and the microbiology of extreme environments, also known as mine sites. The role of microbes in weathering and remediation is emphasized, along with case studies of the enhancement of various ecological processes which curtail weathering and transform pollutants, creating ore bodies of the future.This book has been written as an extension to a contribution to the Oxford Research Encyclopedia. It adds depth and many examples from 40 years of multidisciplinary work with experts from geology, hydrogeology, geomicrobiology and algal physiology and chemistry, items too extensive for the Encyclopedia.
Oribatid Mites
Oribatid mites, also called beetle or moss mites, include more than 10,000 named species representing 172 families worldwide. This book provides an identification key to the 96 families, 250 genera and the c.580 described species for Canada and Alaska, a fauna that encompasses more than 50% of Northern Hemisphere genera. It includes known data on the ecology of species, their distribution in the Holarctic region, and relevant literature. Oribatid mites are model arthropods in studies on development, morphology, ecology, physiology, and biomechanics. Growing recognition of the importance of soil systems for agriculture, reclamation, carbon storage and climate mitigation has spurred recent interest in the vast soil biodiversity that provide these ecosystem services. Yet the major barrier to exploring and understanding soil biodiversity is lack of comprehensive and functional taxonomic and ecological treatments of key biotic groups; groups such as the oribatid mites. Oribatid Mites is unparalleled in the comprehensive nature of the information provided. The authors, two leading global experts for this group, hope that readers will come to share their understanding of oribatid mites as part of the charismatic microfauna, the imagery in this book conveying their unique beauty.
Strategic Resilience and Sustainability Planning
The book examines management strategies for developing and implementing strategic resilience and sustainability plans for sustainable and climate-resilient communities and organizations. It examines trends in resilience and sustainability planning, highlighting best practices and case studies. The book explores Quadruple Bottom Line strategies and methods to implement resilience and sustainability-related initiatives in organizations and communities. It also examines diverse perspectives on climate resilience, climate preparedness and readiness, greenhouse gas emission reductions policies, climate adaptation and mitigation, disaster preparedness and readiness, and sustainable energy policies and projects. Additionally, the book offers insights on strategic resilience and sustainability planning during a pandemic as well as private sector perspectives on strategic resilience and sustainability. In chapter one, the author presents expanded definitions of strategic resilience and sustainability as well as mechanisms reshaping communities and organizations. Chapter two examines strategic planning processes for communities and organizations and lays out planning steps. Chapter three offers insights into community and organizational level engagement, looking at internal and external stakeholders, organizers, partners, collaborators, and implementers of distinct stages of strategic resilience and sustainability planning. Chapter four outlines measurements and tactics to track and improve strategic resilience and sustainability reporting mechanisms using the quadruple bottom line strategy. It offers a resilience progress report to ensure accountability, answerability, transparency, and good governance. Chapter five details the implementation of a strategic resilience and sustainability plan, describing programs and initiatives to achieve resilient and sustainable communities and organizations. Chapter six extensively examines the theoretical and practical intersection between climate change, resilience, and sustainability. Chapter seven reviews resources available for strategic resilience and sustainability plans to aid communities and organizations. Chapter eight assesses the current and future state of resilience and sustainability in communities and organizations, including concerns surrounding climate change, pandemics, disaster resilience, and emergency management and preparedness.
Data Science and Human-Environment Systems
Transformation of the Earth's social and ecological systems is occurring at a rate and magnitude unparalleled in human experience. Data science is a revolutionary new way to understand human-environment relationships at the heart of pressing challenges like climate change and sustainable development. However, data science faces serious shortcomings when it comes to human-environment research. There are challenges with social and environmental data, the methods that manipulate and analyze the information, and the theory underlying the data science itself; as well as significant legal, ethical and policy concerns. This timely book offers a comprehensive, balanced, and accessible account of the promise and problems of this work in terms of data, methods, theory, and policy. It demonstrates the need for data scientists to work with human-environment scholars to tackle pressing real-world problems, making it ideal for researchers and graduate students in Earth and environmental science, data science and the environmental social sciences.
Toys and Sustainability
This book presents five interesting chapters dealing with the sustainability of toys. The concept of sustainability has reached all industrial sectors these days and being practiced in almost all the sectors. One of the main sectors where sustainability has to be embedded to the core is the toy sector. Needless to enumerate the importance of sustainability in this sector especially when it comes to usage of chemicals and so on. There are various elements associated with the sustainability of toys and there is a dearth of published literature on this subject.
The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation
The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation shows that we have unwittingly fallen into an existential crisis of our own making. We have allowed large corporations, the military and other vested interests to capture governments and influence public opinion excessively. We have created a god called 'the market' and allowed our most important decisions to be made by this imaginary entity, which is in fact a human system controlled by vested interests. The result has been the exploitation of our life support system, our planet, and most of its inhabitants, to the point of collapse. This book argues that the way out of our black hole is to build social movements to apply overwhelming pressure on government and big business, weaken the power of vested interests and strengthen democratic decision-making. This must be done simultaneously with action on the specific issues of climate, energy, natural resources and social justice, in order to transition to a truly sustainable civilisation.
The Sustainable University of the Future
The Sustainable University of the Future discusses the rapid changes taking place within institutions of higher education--changes that have pushed universities to reconsider their traditional policies and plans. The book, which has its origins in the Qatar University Annual Research Forum and Exhibition (QUARFE) event "University of the Future" examines the many ways universities are trying to keep pace with this transformation, despite regional and international challenges. The book looks at the role of universities in meeting the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the impact of Industry 4.0, the social aspects of University 4.0, and the future of research-based universities. The need to adopt modern programs and tools is stressed, and ways to anticipate and plan for future challenges are explored.
Environmental Assessment of Patagonia's Water Resources
Foreward DEPETRIS, P.J. Introduction TORRES, A.I., AND CAMPODONICO, V.A. 1 Effects of Multiple Stressors Associated with Land-use Practices in the Percy Corintos Basin (Northwest Chubut): An Ecological Assessment MISERENDINO, M.L., WILLIAMS-SUBIZA, E., MANZO, L.M., HORAK, C.N., BRAND, C., ASSEF, Y.A., AND EPELE, L.B. 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Study Area Description 1.2.1 Esquel Stream 1.2.2 Percy River 1.2.3 Corintos Lower Basin 1.3 Land Use Practices in the Catchment 1.3.1 Esquel Stream-Percy River System: Urbanization Effects 1.3.2 Lower Percy River: Sedimentation and Eutrophication Symptoms 1.3.3 Effects of Agricultural Practices on the Corintos Lower Basin 1.3.4 Environmental and Ecological Functions of Wetlands in the Basin 1.3.5 Water Quality and the Ecological Status of the Aquatic Systems in the Basin 1.4 Mitigation Action and Perspectives 2 The Manso River Drainage System in the Northern Patagonian Andes: Hydrological, Hydrochemical and Nutrient Dynamics LECOMTE, K.L., PASQUINI, A.I., SEP?LVEDA, L.D., TEMPORETTI, P., PEDROZO, F., AND DEPETRIS, P.J. 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Geographical Framework 2.3 Hydroclimatic Overview 2.4 Hydrochemistry and Weathering Signature 2.5 Suspended Sediments and Nutrient Dynamic 2.6 Concluding Summary 3 Geothermal Influence on the Hydrochemistry of Surface Streams in Patagonia Neuquina VILLALBA, E., SANTUCCI, L., BORZI, G., PASQUINI, A.I., P?EZ, G., AND CAROL, E. 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Field Methodology and Laboratory Analysis 3.3 Chemical Characteristics of Streams 3.4 Hydrogeochemical Processes and Geothermal Influence on Streams 3.5 Perspectives and Future Work 4 Hydrogeochemistry of an Acid River and Lake Related to an Active Volcano. The Case of Study: Agrio River - Copahue Volcano in Patagonia, Argentina LLANO, J., LAMBERTI, M.C., SIERRA, D., AND AGUSTO, M. 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Study Area 4.2.1 Geological Setting 4.2.2 The Hydrological System of the Caviahue-Copahue Volcanic Complex 4.3 Methodology 4.4 Results 4.5 Discussion 4.5.1 Major cations 4.5.2 Trace and Rare Earth Elements 4.5.3 Hydroxysulfates Precipitation 4.6 Conclusions 5 Negro River Environmental Assessment ARIAS, A.H., MACCHI, P., ABRAMETTO, M., SOLIMANO, P., MIGUELES, N., RIVAS, F.G., FUNES, A.I., CALABRESE, G., SORICETTI, M., BERNARDIS, A., BAGGIO, R.B., LABAUT, Y., AND MARCOVECCHIO, J.E. 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Persistent Organic Pollutants 5.3 Heavy Metal Pollution 5.3.1 Water 5.3.2 Sediments 5.3.3 Fish 5.4 Freshwater Macroinvertebrates Assemblages 5.5 Introduced species: Status and Potential Problems 5.5.1 Salmonids 5.5.2 Cyprinus carpio 5.5.3 Native species 5.5.3.1 Geotria macrostoma 5.5.3.2 Aplochiton spp. 5.5.3.3 Dyplomistes viedmensis 5.5.4 Environmental Threats for Fish Assemblages 6 Patagonia's Chubut River: Overview of the Main Hydrological and Geochemical Features DEPETRIS, P.J., AND PASQUINI, A.I. 6.1 Introduction 6.1.1 Physiographic and Climatic Features 6.1.2 Geological Setting 6.1.3 Methodology 6.2 Hydrological Aspects 6.3 Geochemical Perspective 6.3.1 Main Characteristics 6.3.2 Provenance of Inorganic Dissolved Phases 6.3.3 The Organic Load 6.4 Sediments 6.4.1 TSS Yield and Transport 6.4.2 The Geochemical Signature of Sediments 6.5 Summary and Final Comments 7 Hydrochemical Characteristics of Mid-Low Sections of North Patagonia Rivers, Argentina V?LEZ-AGUDELO, C., MART?NEZ, D.E., QUIROZ LONDO?O, O.M., AND ESPINOSA, M.A. 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Regional Setting and Previous Studies 7.3 Materials and Methods 7.3.1 Sample Collection and Chemical Analysis 7.3.2 Preprocessing Data and Numerical Methods 7.4 Results 7.4.1 General and Seasonal Variability 7.4.2 Rivers Hydrogeochemistry 7.5 Discussion 7.6 Conclusions 8 Hydrochemistry of Patagonian Wet Meadows (mallines) Under Different Geological Frames ALVAREZ, M.P., CAROL, E., PASQUALE P?REZ, M.P., MELENDI, E., AND VILLALBA, E. 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Wet Meadows
Managing Climate Change and Sustainability Through Behavioural Transformation
This book addresses climate change and sustainability management from a transdisciplinary perspective which encompasses within itself how different humanistic disciplines can culminate with each other to move ahead with the agenda. Issues of adapting to climate change and sustainability management have been gaining global prominence over the past few decades. There have also been volumes of literature that highlight the technical dimensions of climate change and sustainability across regions and cultures. However, they have had limited strength to bring direct and desirable impact in promoting pro-climate action and sustainability behaviour. The major reason for this is limited inclusion of pluralistic perspectives into human cognition and affect, and resultant limited public acceptability. Although behavioural science as a discipline has taken a front seat in promoting behavioural transformation, the book argues that other humanistic fields of understanding like education, art, literature, philosophy, political science, sociology, economics, etc., have to be integrated in order to present a holistic standpoint to sustainability literature.
Random Process Analysis with R
Random process analysis (RPA) is used as a mathematical model in physics, chemistry, biology, computer science, information theory, economics, environmental science, and many other disciplines. Over time, it has become more and more important for the provision of computer code and data sets. This book presents the key concepts, theory, and computer code written in R, helping readers with limited initial knowledge of random processes to become confident in their understanding and application of these principles in their own research. Consistent with modern trends in university education, the authors make readers active learners with hands-on computer experiments in R code directing them through RPA methods and helping them understand the underlying logic. Each subject is illustrated with real data collected in experiments performed by the authors or taken from key literature. As a result, the reader can promptly apply the analysis to their own data, making this book an invaluable resource for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as professionals, in physics, engineering, biophysical and environmental sciences, economics, and social sciences.
Transformation of Business Organization Towards Sustainability
We have entered a new era where business, technologies, communities, and even pandemic deceases cross borders with unprecedented speed and intensity. 2030 Agenda and 17 SDGs reflect the global community's high expectations of finally reversing the destruction of our natural and social habits, and achieving a more balanced and equitable pathways toward well-being of all. However, despite the initial efforts, the world is not on track to achieving the most of the 169 targets that comprise the goals. It is evident that we have a system problem, so we need a system solution. Authors presented a hierarchical system consisting of two-level management systems: first level-unsustainability reduction systems and second level-control system for transformations toward sustainability. The book clearly shows that implementation of systems for unsustainability reduction and for transformations toward sustainability is possible, and that sufficient knowledge is available to get started. It is designed for researchers, practitioners, and politicians.
Handloom Sustainability and Culture
This first of the three volume series highlights the intricate relationship in the handloom industry between its culture and the various areas of sustainability. While there have been major disruptions in this age old industry, this volume presents the luxury and the entrepreneurship aspects to keep the industry moving ahead. The book contains seventeen chapters written by leading experts in the areas and discusses means to revive some of the cultures that are on the verge of closing/shutting down.
Biomes and Climate Change
Does it matter if a tiny plant or animal goes extinct? Will deserts get bigger as Earth gets hotter? Why is climate change bad news for beavers and alligators and fish? The exciting, eye-catching photographs and easy-to-understand sentences in Habitats and Climate Change help young readers learn about the possible devastating effects of climate change on the habitats of plants and animals and people. The book also has a helpful glossary and an index that direct students to the most important terms and topics.
Wildlife and Climate Change
How does climate change affect sea turtles and puffins? Why are polar bears in the Arctic threatened by climate change? How does climate change directly affect animals? The exciting, eye-catching photographs and easy-to-read sentences in Wildlife and Climate Change help young readers learn about the possible devastating effects of climate change on wildlife. The book also has a helpful glossary and an index that direct students to the most important terms and topics.
The First Organism
The dominant theory of evolution springs from Natural Selection, as formulated independently by Charles Darwin. From this theoretical framework, several ideas have been formulated by different scientists. For instance, competition has been the driver of several theories, such as the gene-centered view of evolution. Cooperation has inspired just as many theories, such as group selection. Some have gone ahead to develop other theories to explain sexual selection to establish some modicum of consistency with Natural Selection. However, how do all these theories conform when we consider the lifetime of the very first organism?If competition is a strong force, the first organism has nothing to compete with. If cooperation is also another force, it has nothing to cooperate with. If sexual selection is to be considered, it has nobody to woo or impress. What then did the first organism resort to? This book aims to start a conversation about what the first organism might have looked like, and develop features that might clarify what we already understand, what we need to clarify and what we need to improve about evolution. Using what I consider the 4S's: statistics, symbiosis, self-organization and size, we begin to unpack some similarities and differences that might be elusive but relevant with respect to the first organism. Through this disassembly and synthesis, the reader will get to learn about what I call the theory of Organismal Selection, or OS in short. How this theory would evolve from now is beyond my reach. We can only wait, discuss, analyze, experiment and see.
Trust and Credit in Organizations and Institutions
This book shows that evolutionary game theory can unravel how mutual cooperation, trust, and credit in a group emerge in organizations and institutions. Some organizations and institutions, such as insurance unions, credit unions, and banks, originated from very simple mutual-aid groups. Members in these early-stage mutual-aid groups help each other, making rules to promote cooperation, and suppressing free riders. Then, they come to "trust" not only each other but also the group they belong to, itself. The division of labor occurs when the society comes to have diversity and complexity in a larger group, and the division of labor also requires mutual cooperation and trust among different social roles. In a larger group, people cannot directly interact with each other, and the reputation of unknown people helps other decide who is a trustworthy person. However, if gossip spreads untruths about a reputation, trust and cooperation are destroyed.Therefore, how to suppress untrue gossip is also important for trust and cooperation in a larger group. If trustworthiness and credibility can be established, these groups are successfully sustainable. Some develop and evolve and then mature into larger organizations and institutions. Finally, these organizations and institutions become what they are now. Therefore, not only cooperation but also trust and credit are keys to understanding these organizations and institutions.The evolution of cooperation, a topic of research in evolutionary ecology and evolutionary game theory, can be applied to understanding how to make institutions and organizations sustainable, trustworthy, and credible. It provides us with the idea that evolutionary game theory is a good mathematical tool to analyze trust and credit. This kind of research can be applied to current hot topics such as microfinance and the sustainable use of ecosystems.
Sustainability with Changing Climate and Extremes
This book focuses on the up-to-date studies on the sustainability with changing climate and extremes. The main contributors discussed the changing climate and extreme events, as well as their impacts on natural and human dimension sustainability, including the incorporated social-ecologic and socioeconomic processes. Special attention is given to four main sections: natural disasters in agriculture; urban/rural ecosystem, tourism, and ecosystem service; extreme climate indices, and newly created dataset for climate change.
Sustainable Renovation of Buildings
The book provides a complete vision about Spanish sustainable renovation of buildings situation at this moment, analysing legal and technological context and opportunities that economic stimulus --by means of direct aids-- and the use of BIM methodologies offers a standardization of high scale interventions.Nowadays, BIM models let us integrate multiple quantitative parameters that can agile the information to interchange between stakeholders. Using this potential to standardize protocols of interventions and share knowledge is necessary to face a high scale intervention that our cities need.Climatic Emergency and socioeconomic crisis caused by recent events --COVID-19 and hydrocarbons crisis-- are the two principal struggles we face as society. European Politics, embodied by National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) developed by each region give the way to the green transition of different productive sectors.Our building stock is responsible for approximately 36% of the CO2 emissions in the European Union. For this reason, these policies focus a large part of their efforts on economically incentivizing a new development model for the building sector that is committed to the large-scale renovation of the existing real estate stock and that, through the reduction of energy demand and of emissions, manage to reduce the environmental impact of these. Next Generation EU is the new recovery instrument that aims to mobilize investments towards strategic sectors for the reorientation of the production model that, among other measures, contributes to decarbonization through the promotion of energy efficiency and the deployment of renewable energies.
Statistical Modeling with R
To date, statistics has tended to be neatly divided into two theoretical approaches or frameworks: frequentist (or classical) and Bayesian. Scientists typically choose the statistical framework to analyse their data depending on the nature and complexity of the problem, and based on their personal views and prior training on probability and uncertainty. Although textbooks and courses should reflect and anticipate this dual reality, they rarely do so. This accessible textbook explains, discusses, and applies both the frequentist and Bayesian theoretical frameworks to fit the different types of statistical models that allow an analysis of the types of data most commonly gathered by life scientists. It presents the material in an informal, approachable, and progressive manner suitable for readers with only a basic knowledge of calculus and statistics. Statistical Modeling with R is aimed at senior undergraduate and graduate students, professional researchers, and practitioners throughout the life sciences, seeking to strengthen their understanding of quantitative methods and to apply them successfully to real world scenarios, whether in the fields of ecology, evolution, environmental studies, or computational biology.
Climatic and Environmental Significance of Wetlands
Wetlands provide a key service in an ecosystem such as providing resilience against drought and diverse habitats that support biodiversity. Because of their ephemeral character and their small size, however, these vulnerable ecosystems are declining rapidly as climate change continues to surge and human activities expand. Rational management of wet ecosystems need accompanying actions covering research, systematic observation, and more. Climatic and Environmental Significance of Wetlands: Case Studies from Eurasia and North Africa produces innovative concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications for ecosystem service valuation, wetland biodiversity conservation, fresh water supply, agricultural production, food security, wetland management, and its impact on biodiversity. It assesses the cumulative risk posed to wetland habitats and species by human activities and explores the consequences for the delivery of ecosystem services and biodiversity at local, regional, and global scales, as well as the impacts of climate change on wetland ecosystems and water resources. Covering topics such as geochemistry, invasive species, and sedimentary change, this premier reference source is an indispensable resource for government officials, engineers, environmental managers, environmentalists, students and educators of higher education, researchers, and academicians.
Drugs And Medicines Of North America
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
The Fitness of the Environment
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Elements of Physiophilosophy
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Sewer Design
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
