Download or read book Dead Zones written by Carol Hand and published by Twenty-First Century Books. This book was released on 2016-01-01 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Times are tough for shrimpers and fishers in the Gulf of Mexico. The animals they rely on for their livelihood are harder to find. Every summer a dead zone—a region of low oxygen—emerges in the waters along the Gulf Coast. Where oxygen is low, fish and others animals cannot survive. Currently the world has more than 400 identified dead zones, up dramatically from the 49 dead zones identified in the 1960s. The good news is that people can eliminate dead zones by changing agricultural practices and reducing pollution. Using real-world examples, this book looks at the impact of pollution on global water resources, and discusses the interconnectedness of ecosystems and organisms.
Download or read book Dead Zones written by David L. Kirchman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-01-22 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dead zones are on the rise... Human activity has caused an increase in uninhabitable, oxygen-poor zones--also known as "dead zones"--in our waters. Oxygen is the third most abundant element in the universe, and it is a necessity for nearly all life on Earth. Yet many rivers, estuaries, coastal waters, and parts of the open ocean lack enough of it. In this book, David L. Kirchman explains the impacts of dead zones and provides an in-depth history of oxygen loss in water. He details the role the agricultural industry plays in water pollution, showcasing how fertilizers contaminate water supplies and kickstart harmful algal blooms in local lakes, reservoirs, and coastal oceans. Algae decomposition requires so much oxygen that levels drop low enough to kill fish, destroy bottom-dwelling biota, reduce biological diversity, and rearrange food webs. We can't undo the damage completely, but we can work together to reduce the size and intensity of dead zones in places like the Gulf of Mexico, Chesapeake Bay, and the Baltic Sea. Not only does Kirchman clearly outline what dead zones mean for humanity, he also supplies ways we can reduce their deadly impact on human and aquatic life. Nutrient pollution in some regions has already begun to decline because of wastewater treatment, buffer zones, cover crops, and precision agriculture. More needs to be done, though, to reduce the harmful impact of existing dead zones and to stop the thousands of new ones from cropping up in our waters. Kirchman provides insight into the ways changing our diet can reduce nutrient pollution while also lowering greenhouse gasses emitted by the agricultural industry. Individuals can do something positive for their health and the world around them. The resulting book allows readers interested in the environment--whether students, policymakers, ecosystem managers, or science buffs--to dive into these deadly zones and discover how they can help mitigate the harmful effects of oxygen-poor waters today.
Download or read book The Dead Zone written by Stephen King and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-01-01 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The #1 New York Times bestseller and “compulsive page-turner” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) about a reluctant clairvoyant man who must weigh his options when he suddenly sees the terrible future awaiting mankind—from master storyteller Stephen King. When Johnny Smith was six years old, head trauma caused by a bad ice-skating accident left him with a nasty bruise on his forehead and, from time to time, those hunches…infrequent but accurate snippets of things to come. But it isn’t until Johnny’s a grown man—now having survived a horrifying auto injury that plunged him into a coma lasting four-and-a-half years—that his special abilities really push to the fore. Johnny Smith comes back from the void with an extraordinary gift that becomes his life’s curse…presenting visions of what was and what will be for the innocent and guilty alike. But when he encounters a ruthlessly ambitious and amoral man who promises a terrifying fate for all humanity, Johnny must find a way to prevent a harrowing predestination from becoming reality.
Download or read book Ecological and Practical Applications for Sustainable Agriculture written by Kuldeep Bauddh and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-06-27 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rampant industrialization, urbanization, and population growth have resulted in increased global environmental contamination. The productivity of agricultural soil is drastically deteriorated and requires a high dose of fertilizers to cultivate crops. To ensure food security, farmers are compelled to apply excess chemical fertilizers and insecticides that contaminate soil, air, and water. Heavy loads of chemical fertilizers not only degrade the quality of agricultural land but also pollute water and air. Use of chemical fertilizers also accelerate the release of greenhouse gases like nitrous oxide and methane along with nutrient runoff from the watershed in to lower elevation rivers and lakes, resulting in cultural eutrophication. Farming practices globally in developed, developing, and under-developing countries should utilize and promote sustainable methods through viable combined environmental, social, and economic means that improve rather than harm future generations. This can include use of non-synthetic fertilizers like compost, vermicompost, slow-release fertilizers, farmyard manures, crop rotations that include nitrogen-fixing legumes. Organic fertilizers like compost and vermicompost improve soil properties like texture, porosity, water-holding capacity, organic matter, as well as nutrient availability. The purpose of this book is to document the available alternatives of synthetic fertilizers, their mode of action, efficiency, preparation methodology, practical suggestions for sustainable practices, and needed research focus. The book will cover major disciplines like plant science, environmental science, agricultural science, agricultural biotechnology and microbiology, horticulture, soil science, atmospheric science, agro-forestry, agronomy, and ecology. This book is helpful for farmers, scientists, industrialists, research scholars, masters and graduate students, non-governmental organizations, financial advisers, and policy makers.
Download or read book Dead Zone written by Philip Lymbery and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-03-09 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'An honest, compelling and important account, and a critical plea for a fusion of farming, food and nature to provide global ecological security' CHRIS PACKHAM Why are so many animals facing extinction? Climate change and poaching are not the only culprits. The impact of consumer demand for cheap meat is equally devastating, and it is vital that we confront this problem if we are to stand a chance of reducing its effect on the world around us. · We are falsely led to believe that squeezing animals into factory farms and cultivating crops in vast, chemical-soaked prairies is a necessary evil, an efficient means of providing for an ever-expanding global population while leaving land free for wildlife · Our planet's resources are reaching breaking point: awareness is slowly building that the wellbeing of society depends on a thriving natural world From the author of the internationally acclaimed Farmageddon, Dead Zone takes us on an eye-opening journey across the globe, focussing on a dozen iconic species - from elephants to bumblebees to penguins - and looking at the role that industrial farming is playing in their plight.
Download or read book Dead Zones written by David L. Kirchman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-01-22 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dead zones are on the rise... Human activity has caused an increase in uninhabitable, oxygen-poor zones--also known as "dead zones"--in our waters. Oxygen is the third most abundant element in the universe, and it is a necessity for nearly all life on Earth. Yet many rivers, estuaries, coastal waters, and parts of the open ocean lack enough of it. In this book, David L. Kirchman explains the impacts of dead zones and provides an in-depth history of oxygen loss in water. He details the role the agricultural industry plays in water pollution, showcasing how fertilizers contaminate water supplies and kickstart harmful algal blooms in local lakes, reservoirs, and coastal oceans. Algae decomposition requires so much oxygen that levels drop low enough to kill fish, destroy bottom-dwelling biota, reduce biological diversity, and rearrange food webs. We can't undo the damage completely, but we can work together to reduce the size and intensity of dead zones in places like the Gulf of Mexico, Chesapeake Bay, and the Baltic Sea. Not only does Kirchman clearly outline what dead zones mean for humanity, he also supplies ways we can reduce their deadly impact on human and aquatic life. Nutrient pollution in some regions has already begun to decline because of wastewater treatment, buffer zones, cover crops, and precision agriculture. More needs to be done, though, to reduce the harmful impact of existing dead zones and to stop the thousands of new ones from cropping up in our waters. Kirchman provides insight into the ways changing our diet can reduce nutrient pollution while also lowering greenhouse gasses emitted by the agricultural industry. Individuals can do something positive for their health and the world around them. The resulting book allows readers interested in the environment--whether students, policymakers, ecosystem managers, or science buffs--to dive into these deadly zones and discover how they can help mitigate the harmful effects of oxygen-poor waters today.
Download or read book Dead Zones written by Carol Hand and published by Twenty-First Century Books (Tm). This book was released on 2016 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dead Zones - areas of water with little or no oxygen - are proliferating around the globe, leading to the death of marine life. This detailed account explains why.
Download or read book Clean Coastal Waters written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2000-08-17 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Environmental problems in coastal ecosystems can sometimes be attributed to excess nutrients flowing from upstream watersheds into estuarine settings. This nutrient over-enrichment can result in toxic algal blooms, shellfish poisoning, coral reef destruction, and other harmful outcomes. All U.S. coasts show signs of nutrient over-enrichment, and scientists predict worsening problems in the years ahead. Clean Coastal Waters explains technical aspects of nutrient over-enrichment and proposes both immediate local action by coastal managers and a longer-term national strategy incorporating policy design, classification of affected sites, law and regulation, coordination, and communication. Highlighting the Gulf of Mexico's "Dead Zone," the Pfiesteria outbreak in a tributary of Chesapeake Bay, and other cases, the book explains how nutrients work in the environment, why nitrogen is important, how enrichment turns into over-enrichment, and why some environments are especially susceptible. Economic as well as ecological impacts are examined. In addressing abatement strategies, the committee discusses the importance of monitoring sites, developing useful models of over-enrichment, and setting water quality goals. The book also reviews voluntary programs, mandatory controls, tax incentives, and other policy options for reducing the flow of nutrients from agricultural operations and other sources.
Download or read book Delay and Uncertainty in Human Balancing Tasks written by Tamás Insperger and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-10-18 with total page 157 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book demonstrates how delay differential equations (DDEs) can be used to compliment the laboratory investigation of human balancing tasks. This approach is made accessible to non-specialists by comparing mathematical predictions and experimental observations. For example, the observation that a longer pole is easier to balance on a fingertip than a shorter one demonstrates the essential role played by a time delay in the balance control mechanism. Another balancing task considered is postural sway during quiet standing. With the inverted pendulum as the driver and the feedback control depending on state variables or on an internal model, the feedback can be identified by determining a critical pendulum length and/or a critical delay. This approach is used to identify the nature of the feedback for the pole balancing and postural sway examples. Motivated by the question of how the nervous system deals with these feedback control challenges, there is a discussion of ‘’microchaotic’’ fluctuations in balance control and how robust control can be achieved in the face of uncertainties in the estimation of control parameters. The final chapter suggests some topics for future research. Each chapter includes an abstract and a point-by-point summary of the main concepts that have been established. A particularly useful numerical integration method for the DDEs that arise in balance control is semi-discretization. This method is described and a MATLAB template is provided. This book will be a useful source for anyone studying balance in humans, other bipedal organisms and humanoid robots. Much of the material has been used by the authors to teach senior undergraduates in computational neuroscience and students in bio-systems, biomedical, mechanical and neural engineering.
Download or read book The Wiley Handbook of Global Educational Reform written by Kenneth J. Saltman and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2018-08-30 with total page 539 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Wiley Handbook of Global Educational Reform examines educational reform from a global perspective. Comprised of approximately 25 original and specially commissioned essays, which together interrogate educational reform from a critical global and transnational perspective, this volume explores a range of topics and themes that fully investigate global convergences in educational reform policies, ideologies, and practices. The Handbook probes the history, ideology, organization, and institutional foundations of global educational reform movements; actors, institutions, and agendas; and local, national, and global education reform trends. It further examines the “new managerialism” in global educational reform, including the standardization of national systems of educational governance, curriculum, teaching, and learning through the rise of new systems of privatization, accountability, audit, big-data, learning analytics, biometrics, and new technology-driven adaptive learning models. Finally, it takes on the subjective and intersubjective experiential dimensions of the new educational reforms and alternative paths for educational reform tied to the ethical imperative to reimagine education for human flourishing, justice, and equality. An authoritative, definitive volume and the first global take on a subject that is grabbing headlines as well as preoccupying policy makers, scholars, and teachers around the world Edited by distinguished leaders in the field Features contributions from an illustrious list of experts and scholars The Wiley Handbook of Global Educational Reform will be of great interest to scholars and graduate students of education throughout the world as well as the policy makers who can institute change.
Download or read book Sea Sick written by Alanna Mitchell and published by McClelland & Stewart. This book was released on 2011-05-18 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All life — whether on land or in the sea — depends on the oceans for two things: • Oxygen. Most of Earth’s oxygen is produced by phytoplankton in the sea. These humble, one-celled organisms, rather than the spectacular rain forests, are the true lungs of the planet. • Climate control. Our climate is regulated by the ocean’s currents, winds, and water-cycle activity. Sea Sick is the first book to examine the current state of the world’s oceans — the great unexamined ecological crisis of the planet — and the fact that we are altering everything about them; temperature, salinity, acidity, ice cover, volume, circulation, and, of course, the life within them. Alanna Mitchell joins the crews of leading scientists in nine of the global ocean’s hotspots to see firsthand what is really happening around the world. Whether it’s the impact of coral reef bleaching, the puzzle of the oxygen-less dead zones such as the one in the Gulf of Mexico, or the shocking implications of the changing Ph balance of the sea, Mitchell explains the science behind the story to create an engaging, accessible yet authoritative account.
Download or read book Chernobyl s Wild Kingdom written by Rebecca L. Johnson and published by Lerner Publishing Group. This book was released on 2014-11-01 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear explosion in Ukraine, scientists believed radiation had created a vast and barren wasteland in which life could never resurface. But the Dead Zone, as the contaminated area is known, doesn't look dead at all. In fact, wildlife seems to be thriving there. The Zone is home to beetles, swallows, catfish, mice, voles, otters, beavers, wild boar, foxes, lynx, deer, moose?even brown bears and wolves. Yet the animals in the Zone are not quite what you'd expect. Every single one of them is radioactive. In Chernobyl's Wild Kingdom, you'll meet the international scientists investigating the Zone's wildlife and trying to answer difficult questions: Have some animals adapted to living with radiation? Or is the radioactive environment harming them in ways we can't see or that will only show up in future generations? Learn more about the fascinating ongoing research?and the debates that surround the findings?in one of the most dangerous places on Earth.
Download or read book Processes in Microbial Ecology written by David L. Kirchman and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2012-02-02 with total page 597 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Microbial ecology is the study of interactions among microbes in natural environments and their roles in biogeochemical cycles, food web dynamics, and the evolution of life. Microbes are the most numerous organisms in the biosphere and mediate many critical reactions in elemental cycles and biogeochemical reactions. Because microbes are essential players in the carbon cycle and related processes, microbial ecology is a vital science for understanding the role of the biosphere in global warming and the response of natural ecosystems to climate change. This novel textbook discusses the major processes carried out by viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and other protists - the microbes - in freshwater, marine, and terrestrial ecosystems. It focuses on biogeochemical processes, starting with primary production and the initial fixation of carbon into cellular biomass, before exploring how that carbon is degraded in both oxygen-rich (oxic) and oxygen-deficient (anoxic) environments. These biogeochemical processes are affected by ecological interactions, including competition for limiting nutrients, viral lysis, and predation by various protists in soils and aquatic habitats. The book neatly connects processes occurring at the micron scale to events happening at the global scale, including the carbon cycle and its connection to climate change issues. A final chapter is devoted to symbiosis and other relationships between microbes and larger organisms. Microbes have huge impacts not only on biogeochemical cycles, but also on the ecology and evolution of more complex forms of life, including Homo sapiens..
Download or read book Annihilation Zones written by Stephen Barber and published by Creation Books. This book was released on 2002 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Documenting many shocking examples of Far Eastern atrocity, Barber takes a historical look at the reigns of such dictators as Pol Pot, who less than 25 years ago founded a state based on sexual torture, mass butchery and genocide, violating and decaptiating millions of Cambodians. Also looking at Japanese cruelty over the last 60 years, as well as many other examples, this is a graphic, relevatory document demonstrating the imperatives of homicide and xenophobia that have been passed on within the Far Eastern world. Illustrated with many rare and harrowing photos.
Download or read book Zone One written by Colson Whitehead and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2011-10-18 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys: A pandemic has devastated the planet, sorting humanity into two types: the uninfected and the infected, the living and the living dead. • "One of the best books of the year." —Esquire After the worst of the plague is over, armed forces stationed in Chinatown’s Fort Wonton have successfully reclaimed the island south of Canal Street—aka Zone One. Mark Spitz is a member of one of the three-person civilian sweeper units tasked with clearing lower Manhattan of the remaining feral zombies. Zone One unfolds over three surreal days in which Spitz is occupied with the mundane mission of straggler removal, the rigors of Post-Apocalyptic Stress Disorder (PASD), and the impossible task of coming to terms with a fallen world. And then things start to go terribly wrong… At once a chilling horror story and a literary novel by a contemporary master, Zone One is a dazzling portrait of modern civilization in all its wretched, shambling glory. Look for Colson Whitehead’s new novel, Crook Manifesto, coming soon!
Download or read book Into the Gray Zone written by Adrian Owen and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-06-20 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "From renowned neuroscientist Adrian Owen comes a thrilling, heartbreaking tale of discovery in one of the least-understood scientific frontiers: the twilight region between full consciousness and brain death. People who inhabit this middle region called the 'gray zone' have sustained traumatic brain injuries or are the victims of stroke or degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Many are oblivious to the outside world, and their doctors and families often believe they're incapable of thought. But a sizable number of patients--as many as twenty percent--are experiencing something different: intact minds adrift within damaged brains and bodies. In 2006, Adrian Owen led a team that discovered this lost population and made medical history, provoking an ongoing debate among scientists, physicians, and philosophers about the meaning, value, and purpose of life. In Into the Gray Zone, we follow Owen as he pushes forward the boundaries of science, using a variety of sophisticated brain scans, auditory prompts, and even Alfred Hitchcock film clips to not only 'find' patients who are trapped inside their heads but to actually communicate with them and elicit answers to moving questions, such as 'Are you in pain?' and 'Do you want to go on living?' and 'Are you happy?' (Many gray zone patients do, in fact, claim to be satisfied with their quality of life.) Into the Gray Zone shines a fascinating light on how we think, remember, and pay attention. And it shows us how the field of brain-computer interfaces is about to explode, radically changing prognoses for people with impaired brain function and creating, for all of us, the tantalizing possibility of telepathy and augmented intelligence. Ultimately; this is not just a spellbinding story of scientific discovery but a deeply human, affirming book that causes us to wonder anew at the indomitable bonds of love."--Jacket.
Download or read book Exploring Your World written by and published by National Geographic Society. This book was released on 1989 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A family reference work containing alphabetically arranged articles, with charts, maps, and photographs, covering physical and human geography.
