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Elsevier Science

Farm Land Erosion
in Temperate Plains Environments and Hills
1st Edition
S. Wicherek
English
During the last twenty years, mutations within agricultural systems in France and Europe have brought on a spectacular worsening of soil erosion and degradation. This volume, contributed to by scientists from 25 countries, discusses how this risk can be evaluated, and which solutions should be adopted without radically disturbing the socio-economic orientation of major agricultural regions. It is an excellent starting point for the development of new research themes, and will be of great value to soil and environmental scientists, and to all those involved in land irrigation and drainage.
Management of Semi-Arid Ecosystems
1st Edition
Volume 7
B.H. Walker
English
Extensive regions of the world have a climate which, whilst permitting development of a continuous vegetative cover, is too dry for successful annual cropping. These are the semi-arid areas where land use is based on the natural vegetation. Easily degraded and difficult to maintain, they are under increasing pressure as expanding human populations move in and endeavour to force a living from them. As a result they contain some of the worst examples of resource degradation.This book examines the problems and opportunities involved in man's use of semi-arid areas. The authors are all actively involved in research and land management in the areas discussed. Each chapter begins with a detailed, up-to-date account of the ecology of the region (its climate, soils, vegetation, fauna and main ecological characteristics). This is followed by a history of land use, problems involved in its management, a review of current research and recommended land use practices. The common features of semi-arid ecosystems are brought together in a final section.
Properties of Polymers
3rd Edition
D.W. van Krevelen
English
Properties of Polymers: Their Correlation with Chemical Structure; Their Numerical Estimation and Prediction from Additive Group Contributions summarizes the latest developments regarding polymers, their properties in relation to chemical structure, and methods for estimating and predicting numerical properties from chemical structure. In particular, it examines polymer electrical properties, magnetic properties, and mechanical properties, as well as their crystallization and environmental behavior and failure. The rheological properties of polymer melts and polymer solutions are also considered. Organized into seven parts encompassing 27 chapters, this book begins with an overview of polymer science and engineering, including the typology of polymers and their properties. It then turns to a discussion of thermophysical properties, from transition temperatures to volumetric and calorimetric properties, along with the cohesive aspects and conformation statistics. It also introduces the reader to the behavior of polymers in electromagnetic and mechanical fields of force. The book covers the quantities that influence the transport of heat, momentum, and matter, particularly heat conductivity, viscosity, and diffusivity; properties that control the chemical stability and breakdown of polymers; and polymer properties as an integral concept, with emphasis on processing and product properties. Readers will find tables that give valuable (numerical) data on polymers and include a survey of the group contributions (increments) of almost every additive function considered. This book is a valuable resource for anyone working on practical problems in the field of polymers, including organic chemists, chemical engineers, polymer processers, polymer technologists, and both graduate and PhD students.
Wetland Modelling
1st Edition
Volume 12
W.J. Mitsch + 2 more
English
The study of wetlands is a relatively new field and the modelling of these systems is still in its formative stages. Nevertheless, the editors felt compelled to assemble this volume as a first statement of the state of the art of modelling approaches for the quantitative study of wetlands. A global approach has been adopted in this book, not only by including a wide geographic distribution of wetlands, but also by including papers on both freshwater and saltwater wetlands. Wetlands are defined as systems intermediate between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and include ecosystems under a wide range of hydrologic and ecologic conditions. The wetland types discussed in this book reflect that heterogeneity, ranging from intermittently flooded wet meadows to permanently flooded shallow reservoirs and lakes. Also included are modelling examples from coastal salt marshes, shallow estuaries, mesotrophic bogs, reedswamps, forested swamps, and regional wetlands. In summary, the book presents ecological modelling as a tool for management of these sensitive ecosystems, and for studying their structure and function. Each chapter has extensive references related to the modelling approach and wetland type discussed. It will be useful for wetland scientists and managers, and could also serve as a supplemental text on courses in wetland ecology.
Fatigue of Composite Materials
1st Edition
Volume 4
K.L. Reifsnider
English
This book provides the first comprehensive review of its kind on the long-term behaviour of composite materials and structures subjected to time variable mechanical, thermal, and chemical influences, a subject of critical importance to the design, development, and certification of high performance engineering structures. Specific topics examined include damage, damage characterization, and damage mechanics; fatigue testing and evaluation; fatigue behaviour of short and long fibre reinforced polymer and metal matrix materials; viscoelastic and moisture effects; delamination; statistical considerations; the modeling of cumulative damage development; and life prediction. The volume provides an extensive presentation of data, discussions, and comparisons on the behaviour of the major types of material systems in current use, as well as extensive analysis and modeling (including the first presentation of work not found elsewhere). The book will be of special interest to engineers concerned with reliability, maintainability, safety, certification, and damage tolerance; to materials developers concerned with making materials for long-term service, especially under severe loads and environments, and to lecturers, students, and researchers involved in material system design, performance, solid mechanics, fatigue, durability, and composite materials. The scope of the work extends from entry level material to the frontiers of the subject.
Geochemical Studies
1st Edition
Volume 2
Bozzano G Luisa
English
Geochemical Studies is a collection of papers dealing with ore petrology, particularly on the genesis of ores found in sediments. One paper describes the minor elements in metal deposits in sedimentary rocks, focusing on geochemical work on certain classes of ores in sediments and on the theories of origin of the deposits. With better techniques of microprobe analysis of trace elements, the paper notes that ore deposits in sedimentary rocks can be characterized by their minor element suites. One paper points out that large ore deposits cannot possibly be formed by a migration of substances (known as "negative" diffusion). The paper estimates that the quantities of material that can be accumulated in a sediment horizon with a great affinity for these materials, say in a period of one billion years, will still not be sufficient to produce a large ore deposit. The paper estimates the necessary diffusion coefficients that occur in deep structures, where increased mobilities of various substances occur. Geologists, geochemists, and engineers working with fossil fuels will find the collection highly significant.
Non-Destructive Testing '92
1st Edition
C. Hallai + 1 more
English
A broad spectrum of technical papers on the most diverse nondestructive testing techniques (NDT) and correlated fields are presented in this volume. The main applications and methods of these important quality control techniques are reviewed in depth. Apart from reporting on the improvements and developments of new techniques and the rapid automatization of nondestructive testings, many papers address the environment from the point of view of inspection surveys. The 265 contributions demonstrate that nondestructive testing techniques (NDT) play a vital role, not only in the quality assurance and control of manufactured products, but also as instruments of public, environmental and industrial safety. The quality of the articles in this book attest to the contribution this conference has made in the technical interchange of experience between NDT professionals, and indicate the present accelerated rate of development of ideas and knowledge in this field.
Plant Production and Management under Drought Conditions
1st Edition
Volume 12
J.F. Stone + 1 more
English
For some years, workers have been investigating the possibilities of integrating knowledge from soil and atmospheric sciences, crop physiology, and genetics in order to model crop response to water stress and breed plants for drought resistance.This book turns the theory into practice. Information, gathered from recent symposia and research journals, have been built upon by the authors. Up-to-date practices are cited, new practices devised, and approaches for scientific applications specified. The authors have devised numerous examples and applications for their approaches. Attention has been given to making these approaches credible in the light of economic and energy limitations. Because application of such practice over a wide area requires wide-areal sensing and measurement, recent advances in remote sensing for these purposes are outlined with methodology for practical application.The book will be of interest to a wide readership including crop managers and producers, soil scientists, agricultural micrometeorologists, plant breeders, water managers and stress physiologists.
Pleomorphic Fungi
The Diversity and Its Taxonomic Implications
1st Edition
J. Sugiyama
English
The diversity of propagules, or simply ``pleomorphy'' (or ``pleomorphism''), is a characteristic of most fungi. In recent years, knowledge with respect to pleomorphy and its dramatic examples has increased enormously. Data on teleomorph-anamorph connections and pleoanamorph (synanamorph) connections together with the analysis of conidium ontogeny cannot be ignored in considering the taxonomy of the major groups of higher fungi today. The purpose of this book is to shed light on those aspects mentioned above, to contribute toward a better knowledge and understanding of pleomorphic fungi, and to present modern trends associated with the taxonomy, morphology, and nomenclature of pleomorphic fungi. This publication was inspired by the 1983 Third International Mycological Congress at Tokyo, and although it is not intended as the symposium proceedings, symposium speakers make up the nucleus of the book. It is hoped that this book will aid in the development of current knowledge on fungal systematics and provide a useful reference not only to specialists in systematic mycology, but also to researchers, teachers, and university students broadly interested in pleomorphic fungi.
Evapotranspiration from Plant Communities
1st Edition
Volume 13
M.L. Sharma
English
A change in land use has been found to alter the components of the hydrological cycle through its effects on evapotranspiration. This influences planning and management of water resources. The Workshop, from which this volume was derived, was organized in this context to discuss processes and techniques relevant to estimating evapotranspiration of communities ranging from agricultural to forested lands. Its objectives were to provide a forum for exchange of ideas, to gather up-to-date information on the state of the art, and to identify priority areas for future research.The eighteen papers in this volume have been selected from those presented at the Workshop on the basis of technical quality and subject matter coverage and result in a valuable contribution to our current understanding of evapotranspiration.

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