White Dwarf Atmospheres and Circumstellar Environments

Taking a global perspective, this book provides a concise overview of drylands, including their physical, biological, temporal, and human components. Examines the physical systems occurring in desert environments, including climate, hydrology, past and present lakes, weathering, hillslopes, geomorphic surfaces, water as a geomorphic agent, and aeolian processes Offers an accessible introduction to the physical, biological, temporal, and human components of drylands Investigates the nature, environmental requirements, and essential geomorphic roles of plants and animals in this stressful biological environment Highlights the impact of human population growth on climate, desertification, water resources, and dust storm activity Includes an examination of surface/atmosphere interactions and the impact of ENSO events.

The coastal zone is one of the most dynamic environments on our planet and is much affected by global change, especially sea-level rise. Coastal environments harbour valuable ecosystems, but they are also hugely important from a societal point of view. This book, which draws on the expertise of 21 leading international coastal scientists, represents an up-to-date account of coastal environments and past, present and future impacts of global change. The first chapter of the book outlines key principles that underpin coastal systems and their behaviour. This is followed by a discussion of key processes, including sea level change, sedimentation, storms, waves and tides, that drive coastal change. The main part of the book consists of a discussion of the main coastal environments (beaches, dunes, barriers, salt marshes, tidal flats, estuaries, coral reefs, deltas, rocky and glaciated coasts and coastal groundwater), and how these are affected by global change. The final chapter highlights strategies for coping with coastal change. Readership: final year undergraduate and postgraduate-level students on coastal courses in a wide range subjects, including geography, environmental management, geology, oceanography and coastal/civil engineering. The book will also be a valuable resource for researchers and applied scientists dealing with coastal environments. Additional resources for this book can be found at: www.wiley.com/go/masselink/coastal

This timely book presents new research results on high-energy particle physics related to solar flares, covering the theory and applications of the reconnection process in a clear and comprehensible way. It investigates particle kinetics and dynamics in flaring atmospheres and their diagnostics from spectral observations, while providing an analysis of the observation data and techniques and comparing various models. Written by an internationally acclaimed expert, this is vital reading for all solar, astro-, and plasma physicists working in the field.

Today construction industry is being asked more and more to protect the quality of the countryside and to help enhance our natural environment. The industry is subject to a complex and wide-ranging regulatory framework; it now needs to understand its responsibilities and take them seriously. Paul Rees provides here an authoritative guide, outlining wildlife and nature conservation law in the UK – including our European and international commitments, and giving clear explanations to a potentially costly area of law in a style accessible to the non-legal market. This comprehensive manual offers information and guidance for building surveyors, environmental managers, engineers and planners on: – the legal and planning issues around biodiversity, nature conservation and construction – how ecosystems work and why certain species and habitats need protection – where to go for the relevant legislation and appropriate organisations for help and advice. UK and European case law demonstrates how the law has functioned in particular instances, and case studies illustrate how companies have adapted to fulfil their legal obligations. These are key features of the book and provide information on important legal precedents as well as demonstrating current industry best practice.

This book brings together a group of international specialists to explore the current state of the art and future potential for encouraging, developing and implementing smart and sustainable built environment strategies. It covers a broad spectrum of issues, ranging from technological advancement, through the assessment of past experiences, to communication and education requirements and future strategies. provides a snapshot of current methods and technologies for developing smart and sustainable built environment strategies over 30 fully refereed chapters from international experts addresses the particular requirements and problems of difference areas and climatic regions

The Times (Obituaries, 4 August 2008) reported that “John Thornes was one of the most eminent and influential physical geographers of his generation.” John’s keen interest in understanding landform processes and evolution was furthered through a variety of methods and informed across a range of disciplinary boundaries. In particular he pushed for better integration of monitoring, theoretical and simulation modelling, field and laboratory experimentation and remote sensing techniques. Although dominated by an interest in the Mediterranean region and problems of land degradation, his research activities ranged across a number of time scales and with other environmental perspectives. This collection of papers reflects this wide range of John’s interests through the recent work of scientists and professionals most strongly influenced by his rigorous training or leadership. The thematic focus of the book, which runs through all of the main contributions, is the integration of different methodologies and the application of this approach to improved understanding of natural systems and the development of appropriate strategies for environmental and resource management. Short overviews of John’s contributions to geomorphological research are also presented to provide context for the origins of this book.

For several decades Peter Friend has been one of the leading figures in sedimentary geology and throughout that time he has helped scores of other people by supervising doctoral students, collaborating with colleagues, especially in developing countries, and selflessly sharing ideas with fellow geologists. This collection of papers is a survey of the research frontier in basin dynamics, a field Peter Friend helped initiate, and a token of thanks from people who have benefited from an association with Peter during their careers. The papers in this book fall into four themes – Tectonics and sedimentation, Landscape evolution and provenance, Depositional systems and Fluvial sedimentation – which reflect Peter’s research interests and are all important areas of current research in sedimentary geology. There are both case studies and review articles on these themes which reflect recent work, but the collection can also be considered to be a ‘sampler’ of sedimentary geology for anyone with broad interests in the Earth sciences.

This book provides a cross-disciplinary reference to speech in mobile and pervasive environments Speech in Mobile and Pervasive Environments addresses the issues related to speech processing on resource-constrained mobile devices. These include speech recognition in noisy environments, specialised hardware for speech recognition and synthesis, the use of context to enhance recognition and user experience, and the emerging software standards required for interoperability. This book takes a multi-disciplinary look at these matters, while offering an insight into the opportunities and challenges of speech processing in mobile environs. In developing regions, speech-on-mobile is set to play a momentous role, socially and economically; the authors discuss how voice-based solutions and applications offer a compelling and natural solution in this setting. Key Features Provides a holistic overview of all speech technology related topics in the context of mobility Brings together the latest research in a logically connected way in a single volume Covers hardware, embedded recognition and synthesis, distributed speech recognition, software technologies, contextual interfaces Discusses multimodal dialogue systems and their evaluation Introduces speech in mobile and pervasive environments for developing regions This book provides a comprehensive overview for beginners and experts alike. It can be used as a textbook for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in electrical engineering and computer science. Students, practitioners or researchers in the areas of mobile computing, speech processing, voice applications, human-computer interfaces, and information and communication technologies will also find this reference insightful. For experts in the above domains, this book complements their strengths. In addition, the book will serve as a guide to practitioners working in telecom-related industries.

Learn to correct icing and pollution problems in electrical line insulation Written by prominent experts in the field, this book takes an in-depth look at the issues of electrical insulators for icing and polluted environments. It shows: Engineers and environmental specialists how to carry out appropriate insulator contamination measurements, understand how these readings change with time and weather, and work out how the readings compare with the upper limits set by insulator dimensions in their existing stations Design engineers how to assess the likely maximum pollution and icing limits at a substation or along an overhead line, and then select insulators that have appropriate withstand margins Regulators why modest ice accretion at a moderate 0oC temperature on one occasion can qualify as a major reliability event day, while many similar days pass each winter without power system problems Educators why the ice surface flashover is well behaved compared to the conventional pollution flashover, making it much more suitable for demonstrations, modeling, and analysis The book is complemented with case studies and design equations to help readers identify the most appropriate insulators, bushings, and maintenance plans for their local conditions. Additionally, readers may download supplemental materials supporting evaluation of local climate and contamination. Insulators for Icing and Polluted Environments is indispensable reading for any professional who needs reliable electrical supply from networks exposed to sources of wetting and pollution. It also serves as an excellent introduction to the subjects of high-voltage surface flashover, environmental electrochemistry, and insulation coordination for researchers, professors, and students.

This book provides a comprehensive coverage of the major topics within undergraduate study programmes in geosciences, environmental science, physical geography, natural hazards and ecology. This text introduces students to the Earth's four key interdependent systems: the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere, focussing on their key components, interactions between them and environmental change. Topics covered include: An earth systems model; components systems and processes: atmospheric systems; oceanography, endogenic geological systems and exogenic geological systems, biogeography and, aspects of the Earth's Record. The impact of climate and environmental change is discussed in a final chapter which draws together Earth's systems and their evolution and looks ahead to future earth changes and environments and various time periods in the geological record. Throughout the book geological case studies are used in addition to the modern processes.