Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence
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Publisher:
Published: 1994
Total Pages: 652
ISBN-13:
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Central Asia and the Silk Road
Author: Stephan Barisitz
Publisher: Springer
Published: 2017-04-28
Total Pages: 297
ISBN-13: 3319512137
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book offers a comprehensive overview of the pre-modern economic history of Central Asia and the Silk Road, covering several millennia. By analyzing an abundance of sources and materials, it illustrates the repeated economic heydays of the Silk Road, during which it linked the Orient and Occident for many centuries. Nomadic steppe empires frequently dominated Central Asia, molded its economy and influenced trade along the Silk Road. The book assesses the causes and effects of the wide-ranging overland trade booms, while also discussing various internal and external factors that led to the gradual economic decline of Central Asia and eventual demise of the Silk Road. Lastly, it explains how the economic decline gave rise to Chinese and Russian colonialism in the 18th and 19th centuries. Detailed information, e.g. on the Silk Road’s trajectories in various epochs, is offered in the form of numerous newly drafted maps.
Large Asian Lakes in a Changing World
Author: Steffen Mischke
Publisher: Springer Nature
Published: 2020-05-11
Total Pages: 266
ISBN-13: 3030422542
DOWNLOAD EBOOKDescribing the natural state of eight important lakes in Asia and the human impact on these lake ecosystems, this book offers a valuable reference guide. Over the past several decades the Aral Sea, Dead Sea, Lake Balkhash and other major lakes in Asia have undergone significant changes with regard to their size, water level, chemical composition, and flora and fauna. Most of these changes resulted from the loss of water from tributaries (now used for irrigation farming) or increasing consumption in local industries and households. However, significant human impacts may have begun as early as 2000 years ago. In addition to the three lakes mentioned above, Lake Sevan (Armenia), the Caspian Sea (Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan), Lake Issyk-Kul (Kyrgyzstan), and Lake Lop Nur (China) are discussed as the most prominent examples of changing lake ecosystems. In contrast, an example of an almost pristine lake ecosystem is included with the report on Lake Uvs Nuur (Mongolia). For each lake, the book summarizes its origin and early geological history, and reconstructs its natural state and variability on the basis of proxy records from drilled or exposed lake sediments that have accumulated since the last ice age. The frequently observed reductions in lake level and size during most recent decades led often to significant environmental impacts in the respective lake catchments including vegetation deterioration, soil erosion and badland formation, soil salinization or the formation of sinkholes.
Capitalism and Environmental Collapse
Author: Luiz Marques
Publisher: Springer Nature
Published: 2020-08-17
Total Pages: 463
ISBN-13: 3030475271
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book intends to be an alert to the fact that the curve measuring environmental costs against the economic benefits of capitalism has irreversibly entered into a negative phase. The prospect of an environmental collapse has been evidenced by the sciences and the humanities since the 1960s. Today, it imposes its urgency. This collapse differs from past civilizations in that it is neither local nor just civilizational. It is global and occurs at the broadest level of the biosphere, accelerated by the convergence of different socio-environmental crises, such as: Earth energy imbalance, climate change and global warming Sea-level rise Decrease and degradation of forests Collapse of terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity Floods, droughts, wildfires, and extreme weather events Degradation of soils and water resources Increase in pollution caused by fossil fuels and coal Increase in waste production and industrial intoxication The book is divided in two parts. In the first part it presents a comprehensive review of scientific data to show the already visible effects of each of the different environmental crises and its consequences to human life on Earth. In the second part, Luiz Marques critically discusses what he calls the three concentric illusions that prevent us from realizing the gravity of the current socio-environmental crises: the illusion of a sustainable capitalism, the illusion that economic growth is still capable of providing more well-being and the anthropocentric illusion. Finally, Marques argues that "fitting" back into the biosphere will only be possible if we dismantle the expansive socioeconomic gear that has shaped our societies since the 16th century by moving from a Social Contract to a Natural Contract, which takes into account the whole biosphere. According to him, the future society will be post-capitalist or it will not be a complex society, and even perhaps, we must fear, no society at all. “This book is backed up with the latest and best science and has made the complexities understandable for the average reader, all in a context of hope for the future.” - William J. Ripple, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Ecology, Director of the Alliance of World Scientists, Oregon State University
The Seneca Effect
Author: Ugo Bardi
Publisher: Springer
Published: 2017-08-22
Total Pages: 219
ISBN-13: 3319572075
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe essence of this book can be found in a line written by the ancient Roman Stoic Philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca: "Fortune is of sluggish growth, but ruin is rapid". This sentence summarizes the features of the phenomenon that we call "collapse," which is typically sudden and often unexpected, like the proverbial "house of cards." But why are such collapses so common, and what generates them? Several books have been published on the subject, including the well known "Collapse" by Jared Diamond (2005), "The collapse of complex societies" by Joseph Tainter (1998) and "The Tipping Point," by Malcom Gladwell (2000). Why The Seneca Effect? This book is an ambitious attempt to pull these various strands together by describing collapse from a multi-disciplinary viewpoint. The reader will discover how collapse is a collective phenomenon that occurs in what we call today "complex systems," with a special emphasis on system dynamics and the concept of "feedback." From this foundation, Bardi applies the theory to real-world systems, from the mechanics of fracture and the collapse of large structures to financial collapses, famines and population collapses, the fall of entire civilzations, and the most dreadful collapse we can imagine: that of the planetary ecosystem generated by overexploitation and climate change. The final objective of the book is to describe a conclusion that the ancient stoic philosophers had already discovered long ago, but that modern system science has rediscovered today. If you want to avoid collapse you need to embrace change, not fight it. Neither a book about doom and gloom nor a cornucopianist's dream, The Seneca Effect goes to the heart of the challenges that we are facing today, helping us to manage our future rather than be managed by it.
Material Culture in Europe and China, 1400–1800
Author: S.A.M. Adshead
Publisher: Springer
Published: 1997-09-12
Total Pages: 288
ISBN-13: 1349257621
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book reinterprets the rise of consumerism in terms of interaction between Europe and China 1400-1800. In particular, it examines the intellectual foundations of consumerism in food, dress, shelter, utilities, information and symbolism. It highlights consumerism as an expression of both rationality and freedom and indicates the constructive role it has played in the formation of the modern world. Particular use is made of comparisons between developments in Europe and China to differentiate both.
Cooking through History [2 volumes]
Author: Melanie Byrd
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Published: 2020-12-02
Total Pages: 1137
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFrom the prehistoric era to the present, food culture has helped to define civilizations. This reference surveys food culture and cooking from antiquity to the modern era, providing background information along with menus and recipes. Food culture has been central to world civilizations since prehistory. While early societies were limited in terms of their resources and cooking technology, methods of food preparation have flourished throughout history, with food central to social gatherings, celebrations, religious functions, and other aspects of daily life. This book surveys the history of cooking from the ancient world through the modern era. The first volume looks at the history of cooking from antiquity through the Early Modern era, while the second focuses on the modern world. Each volume includes a chronology, historical introduction, and topical chapters on foodstuffs, food preparation, eating habits, and other subjects. Sections on particular civilizations follow, with each section offering a historical overview, recipes, menus, primary source documents, and suggestions for further reading. The work closes with a selected, general bibliography of resources suitable for student research.
Children's Illustrated Encyclopedia
Author: DK
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2016-07-19
Total Pages: 602
ISBN-13: 1465456643
DOWNLOAD EBOOKOver three million copies and 25 years later, Children's Illustrated Encyclopedia is revised and updated with the latest facts, figures, and technologies. Covering more than 380 topics from dinosaurs to digital technology, this highly visual guide engages young readers with photographic spreads and illustrations annotated with amazing trivia. Featuring full-color photographs, maps, cutaway diagrams, charts, and more, Children's Illustrated Encyclopedia is written in a clear and child-friendly style with updates that include recent space missions, scientific breakthroughs, and the latest significant events. Children's Illustrated Encyclopedia is perfect for reports, homework, and independent research. A great addition to any bookshelf, Children's Illustrated Encyclopedia is the essential book for curious young readers who want to know about everything.
Sensitivity to Change
Author: Emin Özsoy
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Published: 2012-12-06
Total Pages: 520
ISBN-13: 9401157588
DOWNLOAD EBOOKRecent decades have seen a degradation of the environmental quality in semi-enclosed seas, which are particularly sensitive to population pressures due to their naturally low flushing rates related to their geometry. The North Sea, Baltic Sea and the Black Sea are amongst the most seriously threatened seas in the Euro-Asian region. Each semi-enclosed sea has a distinct pattern of circulation, transport, mixing, associated with the particular geometry, topography, boundary processes, interior stratification, atmospheric forcing, ice fonnation, straits / sill controls, and the specific inputs of freshwater, nutrients and pollutants. The workshop investigated the distinctive physical and ecological characteristics of the three seas in a comparative manner, in order to identify the types of driving forces and dynamic controls operating on productivity, nutrient cycling, physical transport and mixing mechanisms. A comparative study of these controlling mechanisms would allow us to better understand ecosystem sensitivity in these different environments. The workshop presentations highlighted the complexity of the semi-enclosed seas related to the interaction amongst the physical, chemical and biological fields, and differences in time and space scales in each of the systems. Further, a strong climate signal exists in these systems, manifest in the interannual, interdecadal and longer term variability. Part of the variability appears connected with background climatic variability.
The Black Sea Encyclopedia
Author: Sergei R. Grinevetsky
Publisher: Springer
Published: 2014-09-30
Total Pages: 885
ISBN-13: 3642552277
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis publication is devoted to the natural feature – the Black Sea and its littoral states. At the same time the Azov Sea is also considered here. This region is the focus of many geopolitical, economic, social and environmental issues that involve not only the countries coming out to the Black and Azov Seas, but other world countries, too. This publication contains over 1500 articles and terms providing descriptions of geographical and oceanographic features, cities, ports, transport routes, marine biological resources, international treaties, national and international programs, research institutions, historical and archaeological monuments, activities of prominent scientists, researchers, travelers, military commanders, etc. who had relation to the Black Sea. It includes a multi-century chronology of the events that became the outstanding milestones in the history of development of the Black Sea – Azov Sea region.
