The Technical Paper addresses the issue of freshwater. Sealevel rise is dealt with only insofar as it can lead to impacts on freshwater in coastal areas and beyond. Climate, freshwater, biophysical and socio-economic systems are interconnected in complex ways. Hence, a change in any one of these can induce a change in any other. Freshwater-related issues are critical in determining key regional and sectoral vulnerabilities. Therefore, the relationship between climate change and freshwater resources is of primary concern to human society and also has implications for all living species. -- page vii.
This book focuses on food security and safety issues in Africa, a continent presently challenged with malnutrition and food insecurity. The continuous increase in the human population of Africa will lead to higher food demands, and climate change has already affected food production in most parts of Africa, resulting in drought, reduced crop yields, and loss of livestock and income. For Africa to be food-secure, safe and nutritious food has to be available, well-distributed, and sufficient to meet people’s food requirements. Contributors to Food Security and Safety: African Perspectives offer solutions to the lack of adequate safe and nutritious food in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as highlight the positive efforts being made to address this lack through a holistic approach. The book discusses the various methods used to enhance food security, such as food fortification, fermentation, genetic modification, and plant breeding for improved yield and resistance to diseases. Authors emphasize the importance of hygiene and food safety in food preparation and preservation, and address how the constraints of climate change could be overcome using smart crops. As a comprehensive reference text, Food Security and Safety: African Perspectives seeks to address challenges specific to the African continent while enhancing the global knowledge base around food security, food safety, and food production in an era of rapid climate change.
Submarine mass movements represent major offshore geohazards due to their destructive and tsunami-generation potential. This potential poses a threat to human life as well as to coastal, nearshore and offshore engineering structures. Recent examples of catastrophic submarine landslide events that affected human populations (including tsunamis) are numerous; e.g., Nice airport in 1979, Papua-New Guinea in 1998, Stromboli in 2002, Finneidfjord in 1996, and the 2006 and 2009 failures in the submarine cable network around Taiwan. The Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011 also generated submarine landslides that may have amplified effects of the devastating tsunami. Given that 30% of the World’s population live within 60 km of the coast, the hazard posed by submarine landslides is expected to grow as global sea level rises. This elevated awareness of the need for better understanding of submarine landslides is coupled with great advances in submarine mapping, sampling and monitoring technologies. Laboratory analogue and numerical modeling capabilities have also developed significantly of late. Multibeam sonar, 3D seismic reflection, and remote and autonomous underwater vehicle technologies provide hitherto unparalleled imagery of the geology beneath the oceans, permitting investigation of submarine landslide deposits in great detail. Increased and new access to drilling, coring, in situ measurements and monitoring devices allows for ground-thruth of geophysical data and provides access to samples for geotechnical laboratory experiments and information on in situ strength and effective stress conditions of underwater slopes susceptible to fail. Great advances in numerical simulation techniques of submarine landslide kinematics and tsunami propagation, particularly since the 2004 Sumatra tsunami, have also lead to increased understanding and predictability of submarine landslide consequences. This volume consists of the latest scientific research by international experts in geological, geophysical, engineering and environmental aspects of submarine mass failure, focused on understanding the full spectrum of challenges presented by submarine mass movements and their consequences.
Handling of powders and bulk solids is a critical industrial technology across a broad spectrum of industries, from minerals processing to bulk and fine chemicals, and the food and pharmaceutical industries, yet is rarely found in the curricula of engineering or chemistry departments. With contributions from leading authors in their respective fields, Characterisation of Bulk Solids provides the reader with a sound understanding of the techniques, importance and application of particulate materials characterisation. It covers the fundamental characteristics of individual particles and bulk particulate materials, and includes discussion of a wide range of measurement techniques, and the use of material characteristics in design and industrial practice. The reader will then be in a better position to diagnose solids handling and processing problems in industry, and to deal with experts and equipment suppliers from an informed standpoint. Written for post-graduate engineers, chemical scientists and technologists at all stages of their industrial career, the book will also serve as an ideal primer in any of the specialist areas to inform further study.
Mathematics Across Cultures: A History of Non-Western Mathematics consists of essays dealing with the mathematical knowledge and beliefs of cultures outside the United States and Europe. In addition to articles surveying Islamic, Chinese, Native American, Aboriginal Australian, Inca, Egyptian, and African mathematics, among others, the book includes essays on Rationality, Logic and Mathematics, and the transfer of knowledge from East to West. The essays address the connections between science and culture and relate the mathematical practices to the cultures which produced them. Each essay is well illustrated and contains an extensive bibliography. Because the geographic range is global, the book fills a gap in both the history of science and in cultural studies. It should find a place on the bookshelves of advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and scholars, as well as in libraries serving those groups.
How the latest cutting-edge science offers a fuller picture of life in Rome and antiquity This groundbreaking book provides the first comprehensive look at how the latest advances in the sciences are transforming our understanding of ancient Roman history. Walter Scheidel brings together leading historians, anthropologists, and geneticists at the cutting edge of their fields, who explore novel types of evidence that enable us to reconstruct the realities of life in the Roman world. Contributors discuss climate change and its impact on Roman history, and then cover botanical and animal remains, which cast new light on agricultural and dietary practices. They exploit the rich record of human skeletal material--both bones and teeth—which forms a bio-archive that has preserved vital information about health, nutritional status, diet, disease, working conditions, and migration. Complementing this discussion is an in-depth analysis of trends in human body height, a marker of general well-being. This book also assesses the contribution of genetics to our understanding of the past, demonstrating how ancient DNA is used to track infectious diseases, migration, and the spread of livestock and crops, while the DNA of modern populations helps us reconstruct ancient migrations, especially colonization. Opening a path toward a genuine biohistory of Rome and the wider ancient world, The Science of Roman History offers an accessible introduction to the scientific methods being used in this exciting new area of research, as well as an up-to-date survey of recent findings and a tantalizing glimpse of what the future holds.
This volume addresses the similarities and also the differences in the genomes of soil saprophytes, symbionts, and plant pathogens by using examples of fungal species to illustrate particular principles. It analyzes how the specific interactions with the hosts and the influence of the environment may have shaped genome evolution. The relevance of fungal genetic research and biotechnological applications is shown for areas such as plant pathogenesis, biomass degradation, litter decomposition, nitrogen assimilation, antibiotic production, mycoparasitism, energy, ecology, and also for soil fungi turning to human pathogens. In addition to the model organisms Neurospora and Aspergillus, the following species are covered providing a view of pathogens and mutualists: Trichoderma, Fusarium oxysporum, Cochliobolus heterostrophus, Penicillium chrysogenum, Rhizopus oryzae, Podospora anserina, and species belonging to Agaricomycetes, Archaeorhizomycetes and Magnaporthaceae. Ecology and potential applications have guided the choice of fungal genes to be studied and it will be fascinating to follow the trends of future sequencing projects.