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BRICS Countries: Challenges and Opportunities
by Yiping Li Hirok Chaudhuri Otto Corrêa Rotunno Filho Natalia Guseva Faizal BuxThis book provides a detailed study and assessment of water resources management andpollution control in different BRICS countries. The regions involved areBrazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. This book gives importantinsight into how future sustainability depends on the development of effectivewater governance mechanisms at the level of countries. According to theregional characteristics from different aspects it cuts into the waterenvironment problems and studies in different ways, which is multifaceted andtargeted. Using case studies that include environmentally integrated basinexperiments (eibex) of Brazil, groundwater overflow zone of India, semi-aridriver basin of South Africa and so on, this volume provides criticalinformation for researchers and policymakers.
BRICS Innovative Competitiveness Report 2017 (Research Series on the Chinese Dream and China’s Development Path)
by Xinli Zhao Minrong Li Maoxing Huang Alexander SokolovThe Report predicts that the coming five years will witness the five countries keep improving in national innovative competitiveness, with China and Russia maintaining their strong growth momentum, India growing at a moderate rate, and Brazil and South Africa gradually picking up speed and climbing out of the trough. It estimates that the five countries’ national innovative competitiveness will be keeping steady growth by 2030. The General Reports part presents a comprehensive analysis of the current status and achievements of STI cooperation between China and other BRICS countries and proposes priority areas of BRICS STI cooperation to provide valuable decision inputs for the BRICS countries to accelerate the improvement of their national innovative competitiveness. The Country Reports part respectively analyzes and makes predictions on the national innovative competitiveness of the BRICS countries based on a survey of their STI development and STI cooperation within the BRICS framework. The Thematic Reports part focuses on four thematic areas closely related to STI, i.e. digital economy, financial inclusion, energy, and agriculture, and offers detailed analysis of the STI development and potential of the countries in relevant areas, providing additional inputs for a further understanding of the national innovative competitiveness of the BRICS countries.
Bridges of the World
by Giancarlo Ascari Pia ValentinisFifty bridges from all over the world to be crossed on foot or with one's imagination. Throughout history bridges have been used as a way to link people, places and cultures. Whether a natural arch or a man-made feat of engineering, bridges can be both beautiful and functional, each in a unique relationship with the land around it. And the stories that accompany these bridges are just as fascinating: the legends, anecdotes and the inspirational lives of those who designed, built and crossed them.This book celebrates some of the world's best bridges of all description: great icons such as the Tower Bridge in London, the Charles Bridge in Prague and the Golden Gate in San Francisco; a precarious thread stretched between the Twin Towers by an acrobat; treasures destroyed and rebuilt, like the Mostar Bridge in Herzegovina; and a streak of frozen snow between the crevasses of a glacier.
Bridges to Global Ethics: Geoethics at the Confluence of Humanities and Sciences (SpringerBriefs in Geoethics)
by Giuseppe Di Capua Luiz OosterbeekThis book contributes to the current discussion on geoethics and global ethics within the geoscience and humanities communities. It provides new content and insights into developing convergent human actions in response to global anthropogenic changes, based on perspectives that make it possible to combine geoscience knowledge with humanities and social sciences approaches. Selected authors present their reflections, findings and insights regarding the vision of geoethics (ethics of responsibility towards the Earth) as global ethics from philosophical, humanities and social sciences perspectives. In addition, they discuss ethical frameworks from diverse cultural traditions, searching for points of intersection with geoethics. The goal: for global environmental problems to be managed via multi-perspective approaches that can more effectively accommodate complexity. Combining the strengths of the geosciences, humanities and social sciences can pave the way for a paradigm shift in how human societies develop adaptive, sustainable responses to environmental changes and societal inequalities.
Bridging Divides: Maritime Canals as Invasion Corridors (Monographiae Biologicae #83)
by Stephan Gollasch Bella S. Galil Andrew N. CohenMaritime canals dissolve natural barriers to the dispersal of marine organisms, providing novel opportunities for natural dispersal, as well as for shipping-mediated transport. This book is the first to assess the impacts of the world’s three principal maritime canals – the Kiel, the Panama, the Suez – as invasion corridors for alien biota. These three canals differ in their hydrological regimes, the types of biotas they connect, and in their permeability to invasions.
Bridging Mathematics, Statistics, Engineering and Technology: Contributions from the Fall 2011 Seminar on Mathematical Sciences and Applications (Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics #24)
by Bourama Toni, Keith Williamson, Nasser Ghariban, Dawit Haile and Zhifu XieThis volume contains the invited contributions from talks delivered in the Fall 2011 series of the Seminar on Mathematical Sciences and Applications 2011 at Virginia State University. Contributors to this volume, who are leading researchers in their fields, present their work in a way to generate genuine interdisciplinary interaction. Thus all articles therein are selective, self-contained, and are pedagogically exposed and help to foster student interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and to stimulate graduate and undergraduate research and collaboration between researchers in different areas. This work is suitable for both students and researchers in a variety of interdisciplinary fields namely, mathematics as it applies to engineering, physical-chemistry, nanotechnology, life sciences, computer science, finance, economics, and game theory.
Bridging the Gap: Lectures on the Foundations of Science (Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science #140)
by G. Corsi Maria Luisa Dalla Chiara Giancarlo GhirardiFoundational questions in logic, mathematics, computer science and physics are constant sources of epistemological debate in contemporary philosophy. To what extent is the transfinite part of mathematics completely trustworthy? Why is there a general `malaise' concerning the logical approach to the foundations of mathematics? What is the role of symmetry in physics? Is it possible to build a coherent worldview compatible with a macroobjectivistic position and based on the quantum picture of the world? What account can be given of opinion change in the light of new evidence? These are some of the questions discussed in this volume, which collects 14 lectures on the foundation of science given at the School of Philosophy of Science, Trieste, October 1989. The volume will be of particular interest to any student or scholar engaged in interdisciplinary research into the foundations of science in the context of contemporary debates.
Bridging the Geographic Information Sciences: International AGILE'2012 Conference, Avignon (France), April, 24-27, 2012 (Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography)
by Jérôme Gensel Didier Josselin Danny VandenbrouckeFor the sixth consecutive year, the AGILE conference promoted the publication a book collecting high-level scientific contributions from unpublished fundamental scientific research. The papers published in the AGILE 2012 LNG&C volume contribute substantially to Geographical Information Science developments and to the success of the 15th AGILE conference (Avignon, France, 24-27April, 2012) under the title ‘Bridging the Geographic Information Sciences’. This year’s conference emphasizes that geoinformation science, geomatics and spatial analysis are fields in which different disciplines, epistemologies and scientific cultures meet. Indeed, the scientific articles published in this volume cover a wide diversity of GIScience related themes, including: Spatio-temporal Data Modelling and Visualisation; Spatial Data Infrastructures; Geo Web Services and Geo Semantic Web; Modelling and Management of Uncertainty; Spatio-temporal Data Quality and Metadata; Mobility of Persons, Objects and Systems, Transports and Flows; Spatial Analysis, Geostatistics, and Geo Information Retrieval; Modelling and Spatial Analysis of Urban Dynamics, Urban GIS; GIS and Spatial Analysis for Global Change Modelling, Impact on Space; and Geographic Information Science: links with other disciplines and people.
Bridging the Time Scales: Molecular Simulations for the Next Decade (Lecture Notes in Physics #605)
by Peter. Nielaba Michel Mareschal Giovanni CiccottiThe behaviour of many complex materials extends over time- and lengthscales well beyond those that can normally be described using standard molecular dynamics or Monte Carlo simulation techniques. As progress is coming more through refined simulation methods than from increased computer power, this volume is intended as both an introduction and a review of all relevant modern methods that will shape molecular simulation in the forthcoming decade. Written as a set of tutorial reviews, the book will be of use to specialists and nonspecialists alike.
Bridging Worlds - Building Feminist Geographies: Essays in Honour of Janice Monk (Routledge International Studies of Women and Place)
by Anindita Datta Janet Momsen Ann M. OberhauserThis book marks the 30th anniversary of the IGU Commission on Gender and Geography, honouring the contributions of Janice Monk in establishing the field of feminist geography. The collection is published as part of the series International Studies of Women and Place that Janice Monk co-edited with Janet Momsen for over 30 years. The chapters, from over 45 leading international scholars, encompass key areas Monk has contributed to within feminist geography. The collaborative nature of this project reflects the networks and themes Monk nurtured throughout her long and impactful career. The book provides critical insights to wide-ranging topics that include the development of feminist geography in different global contexts, gendered geographies of work and everyday life, and gender and environmental concerns. Diverse voices and perspectives in this book will serve as invaluable resources for scholars interested in gender and feminist geographies, the history of the IGU Commission on Gender and Geography, career trajectories of women geographers in different parts of the world, gendered geographies of the life course, as well as feminist analyses of environmental issues. The book will be useful to students, educators, and activists in gender studies, development studies, and human geography.
Bridging Worlds - Building Feminist Geographies: Essays in Honour of Janice Monk (Routledge International Studies of Women and Place)
by Anindita Datta Janet Momsen Ann M. OberhauserThis book marks the 30th anniversary of the IGU Commission on Gender and Geography, honouring the contributions of Janice Monk in establishing the field of feminist geography. The collection is published as part of the series International Studies of Women and Place that Janice Monk co-edited with Janet Momsen for over 30 years. The chapters, from over 45 leading international scholars, encompass key areas Monk has contributed to within feminist geography. The collaborative nature of this project reflects the networks and themes Monk nurtured throughout her long and impactful career. The book provides critical insights to wide-ranging topics that include the development of feminist geography in different global contexts, gendered geographies of work and everyday life, and gender and environmental concerns. Diverse voices and perspectives in this book will serve as invaluable resources for scholars interested in gender and feminist geographies, the history of the IGU Commission on Gender and Geography, career trajectories of women geographers in different parts of the world, gendered geographies of the life course, as well as feminist analyses of environmental issues. The book will be useful to students, educators, and activists in gender studies, development studies, and human geography.
Brief Guide - Global Warming, A (Brief Histories)
by Stephen Law Jessica WilsonIt now seems certain that our planet is warming. Is it the result of human activity and if so how do we combat it? This reasoned and reasonable guide helps to clarify the controversial issues and the way forward.An accessible guide to climate change that not only gives reasonable answers to the big questions surrounding the issue, but also takes us inside the corridors of power and the basements of the United Nations, where countries are engaged in a game of climate-change poker. For the individual, wondering whether to sell their seaside property or invest in a small wind-farm, this book offers sensible answers. It gives us the best and worst case scenarios and sets out how we can each address this contentious but vital issue.
A Brief History of Circumnavigators: The Pioneer Voyagers Who Set Off Around The Globe (Brief Histories)
by Mr Derek Wilson"Going round the world" is an idea that has excited people ever since it was realized that the earth was a sphere. The appeal has something to do with encompassing all the known environment and exploring the unknown, not only on the surface of the planet but within the spirit of the explorer. The story of circumnavigation is thus a long saga of human adventure, travel and discovery. Beginning with the fateful day in 1521 when Ferdinand Magellan was speared to death on Mactan and Juan de Elcano took up the challenge of bringing his surviving companions home, the story continues through four centuries crammed with astonishing exploits by men and women of many nations. Some of the names that feature are well-known, others less so.
A Brief History of South American Metatherians: Evolutionary Contexts and Intercontinental Dispersals (Springer Earth System Sciences)
by Francisco Goin Michael Woodburne Ana Natalia Zimicz Gabriel M. Martin Laura ChornogubskyThis book summarizes major aspects of the evolution of South American metatherians, including their epistemologic, phylogenetic, biogeographic, faunal, tectonic, paleoclimatic, and metabolic contexts. A brief overview of the evolution of each major South American lineage ("Ameridelphia", Sparassodonta, Didelphimorphia, Paucituberculata, Microbiotheria, and Polydolopimorphia) is provided. It is argued that due to physiological constraints, metatherian evolution closely followed the conditions imposed by global temperatures. In general terms, during the Paleocene and the early Eocene multiple radiations of metatherian lineages occurred, with many adaptive types exploiting insectivorous, frugivorous, and omnivorous adaptive zones. In turn, a mixture of generalized and specialized types, the latter mainly exploiting carnivorous and granivorous-folivorous adaptive zones, characterized the second half of the Cenozoic. In both periods, climate was the critical driver of their radiation and turnovers.
A Brief History of the Countryside in 100 Objects
by Sally CoulthardThe untold story of rural Britain revealed through its artefacts
A Brief Introduction to Dispersion Relations: With Modern Applications (SpringerBriefs in Physics)
by José Antonio OllerThis text offers a brief introduction to the dispersion relations as an approach to calculate S-matrix elements, a formalism that allows one to take advantage of the analytical structure of scattering amplitudes following the basic principles of unitarity and causality.First, the case of two-body scattering is considered and then its contribution to other processes through final-state interactions is discussed. For two-body scattering amplitudes, the general expression for a partial-wave amplitude is derived in the approximation where the crossed channel dynamics is neglected. This is taken as the starting point for many interesting nonperturbative applications, both in the light and heavy quark sector. Subsequently crossed channel dynamics is introduced within the equations for calculating the partial-wave amplitudes. Some applications based on methods that treat crossed-channel dynamics perturbatively are discussed too.The last part of this introductory treatment is dedicated to the further impact of scattering amplitudes on a variety of processes through final-state interactions. Several possible approaches are discussed such as the Muskhelishvili-Omnes dispersive integral equations and other closed formulae. These different formalisms are then applied in particular to the study of resonances presenting a number of challenging properties. The book ends with a chapter illustrating the use of dispersion relations in the nuclear medium for the evaluation of the energy density in nuclear matter.
A Brief Natural History of Civilization: Why a Balance Between Cooperation & Competition Is Vital to Humanity
by Mark BertnessA compelling evolutionary narrative that reveals how human civilization follows the same ecological rules that shape all life on Earth Offering a bold new understanding of who we are, where we came from, and where we are going, noted ecologist Mark Bertness argues that human beings and their civilization are the products of the same self-organization, evolutionary adaptation, and natural selection processes that have created all other life on Earth. Bertness follows the evolutionary process from the primordial soup of two billion years ago through today, exploring the ways opposing forces of competition and cooperation have led to current assemblages of people, animals, and plants. Bertness’s thoughtful examination of human history from the perspective of natural history provides new insights about why and how civilization developed as it has and explores how humans, as a species, might have to consciously overrule our evolutionary drivers to survive future challenges.
A Brief Overview of China’s ETS Pilots: Deconstruction and Assessment of Guangdong’s Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading Mechanism
by Daiqing Zhao Wenjun Wang Zhigang LuoThis book systematically introduces readers to the framework of China’s ETS pilots, exploring their design and operating process, the current state of the carbon market, and various barriers encountered. To do so, it deconstructs the Guangdong ETS, which is the largest and most representative of China’s seven ETS pilots. The book subsequently describes and evaluates all seven pilots in terms of their efficiency, macro and micro effects, the method involved in the DEA model, the CGE model, and cost-benefit analysis. In turn, in the assessment section it demonstrates how some ETS pilots have failed to control carbon emissions due to inordinately high emissions quotas issued by the local government etc. Further, it argues that ETS should focus on those industries with large emissions and high mitigating potential for the time being, and then gradually expand the scale of its coverage.As China’s national ETS is slated for launch on the basis of the lessons learned from the ETS pilots, the book offers a timely and valuable resource for all those who want to understand and forecast the development of China’s ETS. It includes a wealth of descriptions and explanations of Chinese government policies involving carbon emissions control, making it a unique resource.
A Bright Future: How Some Countries Have Solved Climate Change and the Rest Can Follow
by Joshua S. Goldstein Staffan A. QvistThe first book to offer a proven, fast, inexpensive, practical way to cut greenhouse gas emissions and prevent catastrophic climate change. As climate change quickly approaches a series of turning points that guarantee disastrous outcomes, a solution is hiding in plain sight. Several countries have already replaced fossil fuels with low-carbon energy sources, and done so rapidly, in one to two decades. By following their methods, we could decarbonize the global economy by midcentury, replacing fossil fuels even while world energy use continues to rise. But so far we have lacked the courage to really try. In this clear-sighted and compelling book, Joshua Goldstein and Staffan Qvist explain how clean energy quickly replaced fossil fuels in such places as Sweden, France, South Korea, and Ontario. Their people enjoyed prosperity and growing energy use in harmony with the natural environment. They didn't do this through personal sacrifice, nor through 100 percent renewables, but by using them in combination with an energy source the Swedes call kärnkraft, hundreds of times safer and cleaner than coal. Clearly written and beautifully illustrated, yet footnoted with extensive technical references, Goldstein and Qvist's book will provide a new touchstone in discussions of climate change. It could spark a shift in world energy policy that, in the words of Steven Pinker's foreword, literally saves the world.
Bright New World: How to make a happy planet
by Cindy FordeBright New World is a lavishly illustrated glimpse into a future not too far from our own time – a world in which today's children have grown up and tackled the world's most pressing social and environmental problems. In a series of lush, detailed scenes, readers will enter a world of solar-powered vehicles, regenerated rainforests, skyscraper farms, insect-based snacks, recovering coral reefs, wave-powered electricity, and much more.Bright New World's vision may be bold and optimistic, but everything in the book is based on genuine science, including many projects which are currently being developed. Once readers have seen the possible bright future, they will also learn all about the perils facing the Earth, as well as the solutions to each problem, with practical steps that they can take to help save the planet and make the dream a reality.As well as profiling the biggest names in eco-innovation today, readers will learn about today's young inventors, entrepreneurs and activists who are making the world better, one step at a time.Bright New World is the blueprint for how to fix the future – and it shows how all the solutions are within our grasp, if we really want them.
The Brilliant Abyss: True Tales of Exploring the Deep Sea, Discovering Hidden Life and Selling the Seabed
by Helen ScalesThe deep sea is the last, vast wilderness on the planet. For centuries, myth-makers and storytellers have concocted imaginary monsters of the deep, and now scientists are looking there to find bizarre, unknown species, chemicals to make new medicines, and to gain a greater understanding of how this world of ours works. With an average depth of 12,000 feet and chasms that plunge much deeper, it forms a frontier for new discoveries. The Brilliant Abyss tells the story of our relationship with the deep sea – how we imagine, explore and exploit it. It captures the golden age of discovery we are currently in and looks back at the history of how we got here, while also looking forward to the unfolding new environmental disasters that are taking place miles beneath the waves, far beyond the public gaze. Throughout history, there have been two distinct groups of deep-sea explorers. Both have sought knowledge but with different and often conflicting ambitions in mind. Some people want to quench their curiosity; many more have been lured by the possibilities of commerce and profit. The tension between these two opposing sides is the theme that runs throughout the book, while readers are taken on a chronological journey through humanity's developing relationship with the deep sea. The Brilliant Abyss ends by looking forwards to humanity's advancing impacts on the deep, including mining and pollution and what we can do about them.
Bring Me Sunshine: A Windswept, Rain-Soaked, Sun-Kissed, Snow-Capped Guide To Our Weather
by Charlie ConnellyWe talk about the weather a lot. It exasperates, confounds and on occasion delights us. Our national conversation is dominated by the weather, but how much do we really know about it? In Bring Me Sunshine, Charlie Connelly sets off on the trail of our island obsession. He breezes through the lives of meteorological eccentrics, geniuses, rainmakers and cloud-busters and brings vividly to life great weather events from history. He sheds light on Britain's weirdest wind, why we have the wettest place in England to thank for the trusty pencil, the debt that umbrella owners owe to Robinson Crusoe and why people once thought firing cannons at clouds was a great idea. Having adventured round the shipping forecast areas for his bestselling Attention All Shipping, Connelly is the perfect guide through a mélange of gales, blizzards, mists, heatwaves and the occasional shower of fish. By turns informative, entertaining and hilarious, Bring Me Sunshine answers all your weather questions as well as helping you to distinguish your graupel from your petrichor.
Bring on the Apocalypse: Six Arguments for Global Justice
by George Monbiot'A dazzling command of science and a relentless faith in people... I never miss reading him.' -- Naomi KleinIn these incendiary essays, George Monbiot tears apart the fictions of religious conservatives, the claims of those who deny global warming and the lies of the governments and newspapers that led us into war. He takes no prisoners, exposing government corruption in devastating detail while clashing with people as diverse as Bob Geldof, Ann Widdecombe and David Bellamy. But alongside his investigative journalism, Monbiot's book contains some remarkable essays about what it means to be human. Monbiot explores the politics behind Constable's The Cornfield, shows how driving cars has changed the way we think and argues that eternal death is a happier prospect than eternal life.
Bringing Bayesian Models to Life (Chapman & Hall/CRC Applied Environmental Statistics)
by Mevin B. Hooten Trevor J. HefleyBringing Bayesian Models to Life empowers the reader to extend, enhance, and implement statistical models for ecological and environmental data analysis. We open the black box and show the reader how to connect modern statistical models to computer algorithms. These algorithms allow the user to fit models that answer their scientific questions without needing to rely on automated Bayesian software. We show how to handcraft statistical models that are useful in ecological and environmental science including: linear and generalized linear models, spatial and time series models, occupancy and capture-recapture models, animal movement models, spatio-temporal models, and integrated population-models. Features: R code implementing algorithms to fit Bayesian models using real and simulated data examples. A comprehensive review of statistical models commonly used in ecological and environmental science. Overview of Bayesian computational methods such as importance sampling, MCMC, and HMC. Derivations of the necessary components to construct statistical algorithms from scratch. Bringing Bayesian Models to Life contains a comprehensive treatment of models and associated algorithms for fitting the models to data. We provide detailed and annotated R code in each chapter and apply it to fit each model we present to either real or simulated data for instructional purposes. Our code shows how to create every result and figure in the book so that readers can use and modify it for their own analyses. We provide all code and data in an organized set of directories available at the authors' websites.
Bringing Bayesian Models to Life (Chapman & Hall/CRC Applied Environmental Statistics)
by Mevin B. Hooten Trevor J. HefleyBringing Bayesian Models to Life empowers the reader to extend, enhance, and implement statistical models for ecological and environmental data analysis. We open the black box and show the reader how to connect modern statistical models to computer algorithms. These algorithms allow the user to fit models that answer their scientific questions without needing to rely on automated Bayesian software. We show how to handcraft statistical models that are useful in ecological and environmental science including: linear and generalized linear models, spatial and time series models, occupancy and capture-recapture models, animal movement models, spatio-temporal models, and integrated population-models. Features: R code implementing algorithms to fit Bayesian models using real and simulated data examples. A comprehensive review of statistical models commonly used in ecological and environmental science. Overview of Bayesian computational methods such as importance sampling, MCMC, and HMC. Derivations of the necessary components to construct statistical algorithms from scratch. Bringing Bayesian Models to Life contains a comprehensive treatment of models and associated algorithms for fitting the models to data. We provide detailed and annotated R code in each chapter and apply it to fit each model we present to either real or simulated data for instructional purposes. Our code shows how to create every result and figure in the book so that readers can use and modify it for their own analyses. We provide all code and data in an organized set of directories available at the authors' websites.