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Elsevier

Books in Environmental sciences

The Environmental Sciences titles present critical research and insights into the complex interactions within natural ecosystems, climate systems, and human impacts on the environment. Covering areas such as biodiversity, sustainability, climate change, and resource management, these titles support scientific discovery and practical solutions for addressing today’s most pressing environmental challenges. This collection is essential for researchers, policymakers, and students dedicated to advancing environmental understanding and stewardship

  • Modelling the Flying Bird

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 5
    • C.J. Pennycuick
    • English
    This book outlines the principles of flight, of birds in particular. It describes a way of simplifying the mechanics of flight into a practical computer program, which will predict in some detail what any bird, real or hypothetical, can and cannot do. The Flight program, presented on the companion website, generates performance curves for flapping and gliding flight, and simulations of long-distance migration and accounts successfully for the consumption of muscles and other tissues during migratory flights. The program is effectively a working model of a flying bird (or bat or pterosaur) and is the skeleton around which the book is built. The book provides a wider background and then explains how Flight works and shows how to set up and test hypotheses generated by the program.The book and the program are based on adapting the conventional (and well-tested) thinking of aeronautical engineers to the biological problems of bird flight. Their primary aim is to convince biologists that this is the appropriate way to handle problems that involve flight, to make the engineering background accessible to biologists, and to provide a tool kit in the shape of the Flight program, which they can use to solve practical problems involving bird flight and migration. In addition, the book will be readily accessible to engineers who want to know how birds work, and should be of interest to the ever-growing community working on flapping "micro air vehicles" (MAVs). The program can be used to predict the flight performance and capabilities of reconstructed fossil birds and pterosaurs, flying in ancient atmospheres that differ from present conditions, and also, of course, to predict and account for the results of experiments and observations on living birds and bats.

  • Hierarchical Modeling and Inference in Ecology

    The Analysis of Data from Populations, Metapopulations and Communities
    • 1st Edition
    • J. Andrew Royle + 1 more
    • English
    A guide to data collection, modeling and inference strategies for biological survey data using Bayesian and classical statistical methods.This book describes a general and flexible framework for modeling and inference in ecological systems based on hierarchical models, with a strict focus on the use of probability models and parametric inference. Hierarchical models represent a paradigm shift in the application of statistics to ecological inference problems because they combine explicit models of ecological system structure or dynamics with models of how ecological systems are observed. The principles of hierarchical modeling are developed and applied to problems in population, metapopulation, community, and metacommunity systems. The book provides the first synthetic treatment of many recent methodological advances in ecological modeling and unifies disparate methods and procedures.The authors apply principles of hierarchical modeling to ecological problems, including * occurrence or occupancy models for estimating species distribution* abundance models based on many sampling protocols, including distance sampling* capture-recapture models with individual effects* spatial capture-recapture models based on camera trapping and related methods* population and metapopulation dynamic models* models of biodiversity, community structure and dynamics

  • Systems Science and Modeling for Ecological Economics

    • 1st Edition
    • Alexey A. Voinov
    • English
    Modeling is a key component to sciences from mathematics to life science, including environmental and ecological studies. By looking at the underlying concepts of the software, we can make sure that we build mathematically feasible models and that we get the most out of the data and information that we have. Systems Science and Modeling for Ecological Economics shows how models can be analyzed using simple math and software to generate meaningful qualitative descriptions of system dynamics. This book shows that even without a full analytical, mathematically rigorous analysis of the equations, there may be ways to derive some qualitative understanding of the general behavior of a system. By relating some of the modeling approaches and systems theory to real-world examples the book illustrates how these approaches can help understand concepts such as sustainability, peak oil, adaptive management, optimal harvest and other practical applications.

  • Explosion and Blast-Related Injuries

    Effects of Explosion and Blast from Military Operations and Acts of Terrorism
    • 1st Edition
    • Nabil M. Elsayed Ph.D. + 1 more
    • English
    Explosion and Blast-Related Injuries is an authoritative text that brings together diverse knowledge gained from both the experience of clinicians treating blast casualties and the insights of scientists obtained from research and modeling of blast exposures. By providing information on explosion and blast injury patterns, as well as the mechanism of blast-induced injuries, it is a useful reference for both physicians and researchers. With contributions by experts from around the globe, the book covers topics such as the epidemiology of blast and explosion injury, pathology and pathophysiology, and the modeling and mechanism of injury. Finally, this book might stimulate additional studies into ways to improve our current mass casualty response systems.

  • Advances in Parasitology

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 66
    • English
    First published in 1963, Advances in Parasitology contains comprehensive and up-to-date reviews in all areas of interest in contemporary parasitology. Advances in Parasitology includes medical studies on parasites of major influence, such as Plasmodium falciparum and trypanosomes. The series also contains reviews of more traditional areas, such as zoology, taxonomy, and life history, which shape current thinking and applications. Eclectic volumes are supplemented by thematic volumes on various topics including Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems in Epidemiology and The Evolution of Parasitism--A phylogenetic perspective.

  • Responsible Care

    A New Strategy for Pollution Prevention and Waste Reduction Through Environment Management
    • 1st Edition
    • Nicholas Cheremisinoff + 2 more
    • English
    Environmental regulations provide protection to the public, workers and the environment. To protect themselves from long-term liabilities, however, companies have to do more than just comply with the basic responsibilities. This handbook is designed to introduce terminology, methodology, tools, procedures and practical guidance for incorporating efficient pollution prevention strategies into the overall business plan. It is a company’s responsibility to protect and control its management of waste and pollution, and a company that fails to do so will ultimately inflict a negative impact on its bottom line, especially in financial performance. Responsible Care delivers critical guidelines and rules of thumb required for industrial managers to improve their companies’ profitability through waste reduction, cleaner production technologies and sound management practices.

  • Cleanup of Chemical and Explosive Munitions

    Locating, Identifying the contaminants, and Planning for Environmental Cleanup of Land and Sea Military Ranges and Dumpsites
    • 1st Edition
    • Richard Albright
    • English
    Unexploded military ordnance and toxic chemicals, some dating back to World War I, are a worldwide concern, especially at closed military bases that will be redeveloped for housing or civilian use. In Europe and Asia, many munitions sites are former battlegrounds; in Russia and its former territories, sites are used for storage and waste disposal. Experts estimate that the United States alone could spend between $50 and 250 billion dollars to cleanup these sites, many of which are in high-population density, residential areas. You might live near one such site right now. This book gives detailed instructions for cleaning up military ordnance sites, and lists of explosives, chemical warfare materials and breakdown products that the soil and groundwater must be tested for. Also included are archival studies; remote sensing techniques; geophysical techniques; safety issues; a chemical weapons, explosives and ordnance primer; known and unknown range lists; and a case study of documents written for cleaning up one of the worst examples yet: Spring Valley in the District of Columbia. It disproves myths, common misconceptions and lies, and explains what, how, and where to look for munitions and their residual contamination.

  • U-Th Series Nuclides in Aquatic Systems

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 13
    • English
    Major advancement in the U-Th measurement techniques since the 1990's have resulted in new opportunities for the use of these nuclides to probe into aquatic processes in greater detail. U-Th Series Nuclides in Aquatic Systems provides state-of-the-art reviews on the applications of U-Th series nuclides to "time" and "tag" in a variety of processes occurring in aquatic systems.

  • Fluorine and Health

    Molecular Imaging, Biomedical Materials and Pharmaceuticals
    • 1st Edition
    • Alain Tressaud + 1 more
    • English
    Fluorine and Health presents a critical multidisciplinary overview on the contribution of fluorinated compounds to resolve the important global issue of medicinal monitoring and health care. The involved subjects are organized in three thematic parts devoted to Molecular Imaging, Biomedical Materials and Pharmaceuticals. Initially the key-position of partially fluorinated low molecular weight compounds labelled either with the natural 19F-isotope for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) or labelled with the radioactive [18F]-isotope for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is highlighted. Both non-invasive methods belong to the most challenging in vivo imaging techniques in oncology, neurology and in cardiology for the diagnosis of diseases having the highest mortality in the industrialized countries. The manifold facets of fluorinated biomaterials range from inorganic ceramics to perfluorinated organic molecules. Liquid perfluorocarbons are suitable for oxygen transport and as potential respiratory gas carriers, while fluorinated polymers are connected to the pathology of blood vessels. Another important issue concerns the application of highly fluorinated liquids in ophthalmology. Moreover, fluorine is an essential trace element in bone mineral, dentine and tooth enamel and is applied for the prophylaxis and treatment of dental caries. The various origins of human exposure to fluoride species is detailed to promote a better understanding of the effect of fluoride species on living organisms.Medicinall... relevant fluorinated molecules and their interactions with native proteins are the main focus of the third part. New molecules fluorinated in strategic position are crucial for the development of pharmaceuticals with desired action and optimal pharmacological profile. Among the hundreds of marketed active drug components there are more than 150 fluorinated compounds. The chapters will illustrate how the presence of fluorine atoms alters properties of bioactive compounds at various biochemical steps, and possibly facilitate its emergence as pharmaceuticals. Finally the synthetic potential of a fluorinase, the first C-F bond forming enzyme, is summarized.

  • Oceans and Human Health

    Risks and Remedies from the Seas
    • 1st Edition
    • Patrick J. Walsh + 4 more
    • English
    Oceans and Human Health highlights an unprecedented collaboration of environmental scientists, ecologists and physicians working together on this important new discipline, to the benefit of human health and ocean environmental integrity alike. Oceanography, toxicology, natural products chemistry, environmental microbiology, comparative animal physiology, epidemiology and public health are all long established areas of research in their own right and all contribute data and expertise to an integrated understanding of the ways in which ocean biology and chemistry affect human health for better or worse. This book introduces this topic to researchers and advanced students interested in this emerging field, enabling them to see how their research fits into the broader interactions between the aquatic environment and human health.

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