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Elsevier Science

  • 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.
  • Spectral Analysis in Geophysics

    • 1st Edition
    • B.M. Båth
    • English
  • Advances in Standards and Methodology in Spectrophotometry

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 2
    • C. Burgess + 1 more
    • English
    These conference proceedings form a worthy contribution to the literature on spectrometry reviving the tradition begun at the U.S. National Bureau of Standards conferences in the 1970's of holding interdisciplinary conferences on advances in the standardisation and methodology of spectrometry. The papers and poster abstracts presented in this volume maintain the high professional standards of these earlier NBS conferences, providing a basis for further progress in this discipline.
  • Trace Elements in Plants

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 6
    • M.Ya. Shkolnik
    • English
    Trace element science has undergone some dramatic changes in recent years and considerable discoveries have been made in the wide field of botany. This monograph reviews and summarizes the advances made in trace element research in botanical geography, taxonomy, phytocenology, geochemical ecology, morphology, anatomy, embryology and genetics.After a discussion of some general aspects of trace elements, the author makes a detailed critical analysis of their physiological role - a role that is not only of theoretical importance but one that can also provide a basis for the development of a rational system of plant nutrition. Various aspects of the problems dealt with, therefore, bear on practical issues in agriculture.
  • The Principles of Ion-Selective Electrodes and of Membrane Transport

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 2
    • W.E. Morf
    • English
    The Principles of Ion Selective Electrodes and of Membrane Transport is a collection of research works on the theory, principles, and fundamentals of ion-selective electrodes and of membrane transport. This book is organized into two parts encompassing 15 chapters that highlight the application of the membrane model. Part A is a general discussion of membrane potentials and membrane transport. This part describes the formulations of the interfacial potential contribution due to phase boundaries. This part also explores the diffusion potential, the nonideality of diffusion layers or membrane phases, the liquid-junction potential arising in conventional potentiometric measuring cells. Other topics covered in this part include the practical solution for the membrane potential; the ion-transport and the electrical properties of bulk membranes; and the characteristics of lipid bilayer membranes. Part B considers the fundamentals of ion-selective electrodes. This part begins with discussions of the principles, response behavior, ion selectivity, and detection limits of solid-state membrane electrodes. This part also examines several important extensions and modifications of the Sandblom-Eisenman-Wa... theory; the characteristics of neutral carrier membrane electrodes; and the theory of glass electrodes.
  • Tree Crop Physiology

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 18
    • A.S. Raghavendra + 1 more
    • English
    This book is the result of a recommendation from the plenary session of ``TREE-PHYSINDIA-82'... an international symposium held at the Rubber Research Institute of India, Kottayam, that a publication be brought out presenting information on the methodology adopted for various physiological studies in tree crops. Containing reviews on general physiology as well as detailed information on certain selected tree crops, the choice of topics emphasizes many aspects of tree physiology. The contributed articles in Part A provide an insight into different approaches to studying the physiology of tree crops, with an emphasis on methodology. Part B provides case-histories of physiological investigations on selected economically important tropical tree crops. The volume will provide a valuable source of information and stimulus to scientists involved in the work of tree physiology.
  • Chromosome Engineering in Plants

    Genetics, Breeding, Evolution
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 2B
    • P.K. Gupta + 1 more
    • English
    This two-volume work surveys the entire range of general aspects of chromosome research in plants. The first volume covers cytogenetics of cereals and millets with more than one chapter being devoted to the same crop to give a detailed treatment to an up-to-date status of chromosome research. This second volume deals with cytogenetics of plant materials including legumes, vegetable and oil crops, sugar crops, forage crops: fibre crops, medicinal crops and ornamentals. The book will be useful both as a reference work and a teaching aid to satisfy a wide range of workers. Every chapter has been written by an expert who has been involved in chromosome research on a particular plant material for many years so that the treatment is authoritative and up-to-date in most cases.
  • Design of Underground Hard-Coal Mines

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 3
    • J. Pazdziora
    • English
    The escalating worldwide demand for energy has had the effect, among other things, of promoting the development of coal mining. In some countries specialist design offices were set up and students trained as specialists in mine design and construction. Poland, a country having mining traditions stretching over many centuries, is a good example, and has gained a place in the forefront, not only as a coal producer and exporter, but also as an originator and exporter of technical mining know-how. The author of this book has himself had 25 years of practical experience in mine design, in the supervision of mining investment implementation both at home and abroad, and also in directing the activities of the Chief Mine Design and Studies Office in Poland, plus more than 20 years' teaching experience in the training of mining engineers, in particular as head of the Mine Design Department of the Mining Faculty at the Silesian Polytechnic University in Gliwice. This vast wealth of experience has prompted him to write the present book which discusses the basic problems met with in the design of underground hard-coal mines.The author's primary aim has been to deal with all those questions in mine design which have not yet been answered in mining textbooks and which, from his own personal experience, he considers to be of importance. Accordingly, he presents the general principles governing the design of new mines and the reconstruction of working mines, the development of mining regions, the design of coal-preparation plant, and energy economy in mines. Making use of the broad experience gained by the Polish mining industry in the implementation of mining investment projects, he has quoted several examples of technical and organizational solutions which effectively shorten the mine construction cycle.The book is addressed chiefly to investors and engineers engaged in preparing plans for the development of mining regions, for the construction of new mines, and the reconstruction of existing mines and preparation plants, as well as to students in mining departments of technical schools and universities. The information offered here is of great practical value and may well stimulate the development of new ideas for design and implementation concepts.
  • Agriculture in Dry Lands

    Principles and Practice
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 26
    • I. Arnon
    • English
    Throughout history, man has, by over-use, consistently reduced the productive capacity of dry lands. This degradation of one-third of the land area of the globe is, unfortunately, increasing. In recent years, world interest has turned to the problems of pollution of the environment and the impending food shortage as world population grows explosively. Thus the attention of international and other agricultural bodies has turned to the need for preserving and developing more effectively the agricultural potential of these areas.This book provides a comprehensive review of present knowledge of the agriculture of dry lands, with special emphasis on measures for conserving their natural resources. Management practices are described which aim at optimizing productivity of rainfed and irrigated agriculture without adverse effects on sustainability. Land use in the dry regions, and its evolution throughout history is described and analysed, and the lessons to be learnt from destructive technologies are stressed. In particular, current proposals for an alternative agriculture are discussed and their justification is questioned. This is a generalist work, which specialists can also find interesting, not only in their own discipline but as a concise way of acquainting themselves with the state-of-the-art in associated fields. Increasing specialisation with each discipline using its own vocabulary leads inevitably to communication problems, and the need for multi-disciplinary teams makes inter-discipline communication indispensible.