bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Slow Knowledge
Authors: Orr David W.
Published: November 2020

Between 1978 and 1984 the Asian Development Bank spent $24 million to improve agriculture on the island of Bali. The target for improvement was an ancient agricultural system organized around 173 village cooperatives linked by a network of temples operated by “water priests” working in service to the water goddess, Dewi Danu, a diety seldom included in the heavenly pantheon of development economists. Not surprisingly, the new plan called for large capital investment to build dams and canals and to purchase pesticides and fertilizers. The plan also included efforts to make idle resources, both the Balinese and their land, productive year-round. Old practices of fallowing were ended, along with community celebrations and rituals. The results were remarkable but inconvenient: yields declined, pests proliferated, and the ancient village society began to unravel. On later examination (Lansing 1991), it turns out that the priests’ role in the religion of Agama Tirtha was that of ecological master planners, whose task it was to keep a finely tuned system operating productively. Western development experts dismantled a system that had worked well for more than a millennium and replaced it with something that did not work at all. The priests have reportedly resumed control. The story is a parable for much of the history of the twentieth century, in which increasingly homogenized knowledge is acquired and used more rapidly and on a larger scale than ever before and often with disastrous and unforeseeable consequences. The twentieth century is the age of fast knowledge driven by rapid technological change and the rise of the global economy. This has undermined communities, cultures, and religions that once slowed the rate of change and filtered appropriate knowledge from the cacophony of new information. The culture of fast knowledge rests on these assumptions:… • Only that which can be measured is true knowledge • The more knowledge we have, the better • Knowledge that lends itself to use is superior to that which is merely contemplative • The scale of effects of applied knowledge is unimportant • There are no significant distinctions between information and knowledge • Wisdom is an undefinable, hence unimportant, category.
Conceptual Approaches to Pedogenesis
Authors: Holliday Vance T.
Published: November 2020

To fully appreciate and apply pedologic principals in archaeology, some of the theoretical underpinnings of pedology and especially soil geomorphology must be outlined. Pedologists and soil geomorphologists have attempted to describe, if not model, the processes of soil formation, the factors that drive the processes, and the evolution of soils as landscapes evolve (summarized by Smeck et al., 1983; Johnson and Watson-Stegner, 1987; and Gerrard, 1992, pp. 1–50, 217–220). The task is a difficult one, however, because of the complex and variable sets of processes responsible for soil development. Several of the resulting approaches have proven useful for conceptualizing pedogenesis and, more important, for interpreting soils. In addition to understanding soil-forming processes for interpreting soil profiles, understanding soil formation is important for understanding site formation. The conceptual approaches particularly useful in soil geomorphic and geoarchaeological research are summarized below. Soil-forming processes as components of site formation are discussed more fully in chapter 10. The following discussions of conceptual approaches to pedogenesis are roughly arranged in order of increasing complexity. The “multiple-process model” is essentially a categorization of soil-forming processes. It does not explain pedogenesis but is a useful way to sort and group the many soil-forming processes. The “state factor” approach and the “K-cycle” concept do not deal directly with soil formation, but instead focus on important external factors and processes that drive or affect pedogenesis such as climate and geomorphic evolution. The “soil evolution” model and the “new global view of soils” attempt to integrate pedogenic process with landscape evolution, climate, and other factors. This section closes with discussion of two important aspects of pedogenesis and pedogenic pathways that offer caveats in the use of soils for reconstructing the past. Soils are the result of biogeochemical processes determined and driven by the ecosystem (following Buol et al., 1997). This relationship is more simply described as “internal soil-forming processes” driven by “external soil-forming factors” (fig. 3.1; after Buol et al., 1984). A useful approach to categorizing the many and varied internal soil-forming processes responsible for pedogenesis is the multiple-process model of Simonson (1959, 1978).
Soils and Time
Authors: Holliday Vance T.
Published: November 2020

The influence of time on soil formation is a unique characteristic of pedogenesis among geomorphic processes that, like lateral variability, serves to distinguish soils and soil-forming processes from other geomorphic phenomena. Another unique aspect of time is that, among the five factors of soil formation, it does not contribute directly to soil formation. However, the passage of time allows the various pedogenic processes operating at a given location to alter the parent material and produce a soil. The physical, chemical, and biological processes of soil formation generally are much slower than many, if not most, processes of sedimentation and erosion. Moreover, most soil-forming processes are so slow that their effect on the soil is markedly time dependent (Birkeland, 1999, p. 144). Time as a factor of soil formation is a key concept in soil geomorphology and has driven much soil geomorphic research (Yaalon, 1975, 1983; Knuepfer and McFadden, 1990; Birkeland, 1999). Because time is also a key consideration of much archaeological research, the time-factor concept of soil genesis can likewise play a significant role in geoarchaeological research (Holliday, 1990a, 1992a). The concept that some time must elapse before a soil can form is arguably one of the most significant aspects of soil development in an archaeological context. This chapter is a discussion of some approaches to the issue of time in archaeology, using soils. The first section is a look at the archaeological implications of soils as indicators of stable landscapes and stratigraphic discontinuities. A number of case histories are presented. The validity of intersite and intrasite archaeological correlations using soils and interpretations of archaeological assemblages associated with soils are profoundly dependent on recognition of soils as depositional hiatuses. The subsequent section reviews the concept of the soil chronosequence and its use in archaeological dating. This is one of the most widely applied aspects of Jenny’s state factor approach to soil geomorphology, and it has considerable potential in archaeology. The last part of the chapter is a discussion of the radiometric dating of pedogenic features.
Vascular Biology, Thromboresistance, and Inflammation
Authors: Becker Richard C. , Spencer Frederick A.
Published: November 2020

The delivery of vital substrate to metabolically active tissues and vital organs is achieved and maintained by the cardiovascular system including the heart, macrovasculature, and microvasculature. This life-sustaining process requires a normally functioning vascular endothelium—a multifunctional organ system composed of physiologically responsive cells responsible for vasomotion (vascular tone), thromboresistance, and inflammoresistance. Simply by virtue of its anatomic location, the vascular endothelium is functionally complex. It defines the intra- and extravascular components, serves as a selectively permeable barrier, and provides a continuous lining to the cardiovascular system. The location of the vascular endothelium is vital to its biologic interactions with cells found within the circulation and to the vessel wall itself. The surface activity is augmented in the microcirculation, also known as the resistance bed, where the ratio of endothelial surface to circulating blood is maximal. In most vertebrates, vascular endothelial cells form a single layer of squamous lining cells (0.1–0.5 μm in thickness) joined by intercellular junctions. The cells themselves are polygonal (varying between 10 and 50 μm) and are positioned in the long axis of the vessel, orienting the cellular longitudinal dimension in the direction of blood flow. The endothelial cell has three surfaces: luminal (nonthrombogenic), subluminal (adhesive), and cohesive. The luminal surface is devoid of electron-dense connective tissue. It does, however, possess an exterior coat (or glycocalyx), consisting primarily of starches and proteins secreted by the endothelial cells. Plasma proteins, including lipoprotein lipase, α2-macroglobulin, heparin cofactor II, antithrombin, and albumin, as well as small amounts of fibrinogen and fibrin are adsorbed to the luminal surface. The surface membrane itself adds significantly to thromboresistance by carrying a negative charge that repels similarly charged circulating blood cells. The subluminal (or abluminal) surface adheres to subendothelial connective tissues. Small processes penetrate through a series of internal layers to form myoendothelial junctions with subjacent smooth muscle cells. The cohesive component of the vascular endothelium connects individual endothelial cells to one another by cell junctions of two basic types: occluding (tight) junctions and communicating (gap) junctions. Occluding junctions represent a physical link between adjacent cells, sealing the intercellular space.
Cardiac Chamber, Aortic, and Valvular Thromboembolism
Authors: Becker Richard C. , Spencer Frederick A.
Published: November 2020

The left-sided cardiac chambers (left atrium, left ventricle) and heart valves (mitral valve, aortic valve) (native, prosthetic) serve as potential niduses for systemic thromboembolism, including fatal or debilitating stroke. The ascending aortic is also recognized as a source for embolism (aortoembolism) and should be considered when a comprehensive patient evaluation is being undertaken. The pathogenesis of intracavitary mural thrombosis, much like venous thromboembolism, follows the construct of Virchow’s triad. The area of stasis is often provoked by chamber dilation, reduced performance, or impaired flow across an existing heart valve (e.g., left atrial dilation from mitral stenosis). Endothelial injury may follow either an acute (e.g., myocardial infarction) or chronic (e.g., dilated cardiomyopathy) cardiac process. In the case of aortoembolism, plaque rupture in areas of advanced atherosclerosis serves as the primary site for thrombus development. The third component, prothrombotic state, may be focal (areas of inflammation and necrosis) and/or systemic. Left ventricular mural thrombosis is diagnosed either echocardiographically or at the time of autopsy among patients with myocardial infarction (MI), especially in those with anterior infarction involving the ventricular apex. In large, nonrandomized clinical trials of anticoagulant therapy, researchers have reported an incidence of cerebral embolism of 2% to 4% among nontreated patients, frequently causing either severe neurologic deficits or death. Of these trials, two showed a statistically significant reduction in stroke with early anticoagulation, whereas the third trial demonstrated a positive trend (Davis and Irelant, 1986). A meta-analysis performed by Vaitkus and Barnathan (1993) supports the findings of three previous studies published in the early 1980s. The odds ratio for systemic embolism in the presence of echocardiographically demonstrated mural thrombus was 5.45 (95% confidence interval [CI] 3.02–9.83). The odds ratio of anticoagulation versus no anticoagulation in preventing embolism was 0.14 (95% CI 0.04–0.52) with an event rate difference of –0.33 (95% CI –0.50 to –0.16). The odds ratio of anticoagulation versus control in preventing mural thrombus formation was 0.32 (95% CI 0.20–0.52) and the event difference was –0.19 (95% CI 0.09–0.28).
Aspirin
Authors: Becker Richard C. , Spencer Frederick A.
Published: November 2020

Aspirin, considered the prototypic platelet antagonist, has been available for over a century and currently represents a mainstay both in the prevention and treatment of vascular events that include stroke, myocardial infarction, peripheral vascular occlusion, and sudden death. Aspirin irreversibly acetylates cyclooxygenase (COX), impairing prostaglandin metabolism and thromboxane A2 (TXA2) synthesis. As a result, platelet aggregation in response to collagen, adenosine diphosphate (ADP), and thrombin (in low concentrations) is attenuated (Roth and Majerus, 1975). Because aspirin more selectively inhibits COX-1 activity (found predominantly in platelets) than COX-2 activity (expressed in tissues following an inflammatory stimulus), its ability to prevent platelet aggregation is seen at relatively low doses, compared with the drug’s potential antiinflammatory effects, which require much higher doses (Patrono, 1994). Several alternative mechanisms of platelet inhibition by aspirin have been proposed, including: (1) inhibition of platelet activation by neutrophils and (2) enhanced nitric oxide production. In addition, aspirin may prevent the progression of atherosclerosis by protecting low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol from oxidation and scavenging hydroxyl radicals. Following oral ingestion, aspirin is promptly absorbed in the proximal gastrointestinal (GI) tract (stomach, duodenum), achieving peak serum levels within 15 to 20 minutes and platelet inhibition within 40 to 60 minutes. Enteric-coated preparations are less well absorbed, causing an observed delay in peak serum levels and platelet inhibition to 60 and 90 minutes, respectively. The antiplatelet effect occurs even before acetylsalicylic acid is detectable in peripheral blood, probably from platelet exposure in the portal circulation. The plasma concentration of aspirin decays rapidly with a circulating half-life of approximately 20 minutes. Despite the drug’s rapid clearance, platelet inhibition persists for the platelet’s life span (7 ± 2 days) due to aspirin’s irreversible inactivation of COX-1. Because 10% of circulating platelets are replaced every 24 hours, platelet activity (bleeding time, primary hemostasis) returns toward normal (≥50% activity) within 5 to 6 days of the last aspirin dose (O’Brien, 1968). A single dose of 100 mg of aspirin effectively reduces the production of TXA2 in many (but not all) individuals.
Fundamentals and Patient Evaluation
Authors: Becker Richard C. , Spencer Frederick A.
Published: November 2020

Thrombophilia is the term used to describe a tendency toward developing thrombosis. This tendency may be inherited, involving polymorphism in gene coding for platelet or clotting factor proteins, or acquired due to alterations in the constituents of blood and/or blood vessels. An inherited thrombophilia is likely if there is a history of repeated episodes of thrombosis or a family history of thromboembolism. One should also consider an inherited thrombophilia when there are no obvious predisposing factors for thrombosis or when clots occur in a patient under the age of 45. Repeated episodes of thromboembolism occurring in patients over the age of 45 raise suspicion for an occult malignancy. A summary of inherited thrombophilias are summarized in Table 24.1. This list continues to grow, as new genetic polymorphisms and combined mutations are being detected. The prevalence of common thrombophilias is shown in Figure 24.1. Factor V Leiden (FVL) mutation and hyperhomocysteinemia are present in nearly 5% of the general population and are often found in patients with venous thrombosis, while deficiencies of antithrombin (AT), protein C, and protein S are relatively uncommon. Elevated levels of factor VIII (FVIII) are uncovered frequently in the general population and in patients with thrombosis. This is not surprising as FVIII is an acute-phase reactant that increases rapidly after surgery or trauma; however, prospective studies have shown that FVIII elevation in some patients cannot be attributed to a stress reaction and probably represents mutations in the genes regulating FVIII synthesis or release (Kyrle et al., 2000). The same may be true for factors IX and XI. The relative risks for thrombosis among patients with inherited thrombophilias have been determined. While AT mutations are the least common, they are associated with a substantial risk of venous thrombosis; similar risk is seen with protein C and S deficiency. In contrast, the lifetime risk of having a thromboembolic event in an individual heterozygous for FVL is comparatively low (Martinelli et al., 1998). Incidence rates markedly increase with age, and are highest among those with AT deficiency, followed by protein C and protein S, and least with FVL.
Endocranial Morphology of A.L. 444-2
Authors: Holloway Ralph L. , Yuan Michael S.
Published: November 2020

The original endocast of A.L. 444-2 consisted of a single plastic cast, colored to show the original fragments (light brown) and the reconstructed missing parts (black). This we label the Rak-Kimbel endocast, which was based on the reconstruction of cranial and facial fragments. Because distortion was severe enough to interfere with morphological description and measurements, and especially the assessment of endocranial capacity, a plaster endocast was received from Yoel Rak in 1998 for purposes of modification. This newer plaster endocast formed the basis for the original endocast reconstruction done by R.L.H., who based the reconstruction on the less distorted side (left) and then doubled its water-displaced volume to achieve the final endocranial volume. As will become clear in our descriptions, this first method required several additions and subtractions to compensate for missing portions, for flash lines left from the casting process, and for distortion remaining in the reconstruction. We concluded that a more accurate reconstruction would result if the portions of the original endocast were separated from reconstructed elements and approximated on a plasticene “core” so that distortion could be effectively eliminated. The second method, which was accomplished mostly by M.S.Y. with minimal guidance from R.L.H., permitted a range of possible reconstructions of the actual brain endocast pieces and provided a range of endocast volumes. This reconstruction methodology, referred to as the “dissection method,” eliminated most of the distortion and obviated the need to correct for flash lines. Although both methods provide a final endocranial capacity very close to what must have been the actual living brain volume of A.L. 444-2, we consider the dissection method to be the more accurate one. Distortion of the endocranial cast mirrors that of the cranium. While the right parietotemporal area appears to be depressed, the left parietotemporal area shows signs of bulging in compensation. In addition, due to a gap that runs anteroposteriorly along the left temporal lobe, there is an artificial increase in the distance between the base of the endocast and its apex of about 3–8 mm on the left side.
Community Service: Preparation for Socially Responsible Adulthood
Authors: Hamburg David A. , Hamburg Beatrix A.
Published: November 2020

There is a growing trend in education that has considerable potential for fostering constructive, unselfish behavior during adolescence: community service. Supervised community service, when started in early adolescence, can play a critical role in the shaping of responsible, caring, altruistic behavior. Service programs can be organized effectively by schools, by community organizations, and by religious institutions. How we help others is crucial. We must not convey superiority over others. We must impart a sense of the mutuality of being full members of the community and sharing a common fate as human beings in a world that sometimes is insensitive and at times even cruel. In 1989, a Carnegie report on the middle grades, Turning Points, stated an important insight. Early adolescence offers a superb developmental opportunity to learn values, skills, and a sense of social responsibility important for citizenship in democracies. Every middle grade school should include youth service—supervised activity helping others in the community, ideally, in collaboration with schools—in their core instructional programs for the middle grades. Turning Points 2000, a follow-up book to the 1989 landmark report, Turning Points, provides an in-depth examination of how to improve education for the middle grades and gives practical guidance to practitioners wishing to implement the Turning Points model. The research base has grown over the past 10 years, and this chapter reflects the findings of the research. It also bridges the gap between research and practice by presenting theory in practical and understandable terms. Specific to our theme of service learning, Turning Points 2000 provides a sound argument for integrating the community into the curriculum. Mutual respect and understanding, a sense of belonging, and pride in making valued contributions to others are the essence of school and community collaboration. The Early Adolescent Helper Program (EAHP), a pioneering project initiated by the City University of New York in 1982 and led by Joan Schine, brings school personnel, community-agency staff, and the middle grade school Helpers together. An effort was clearly made to integrate the school curricula with youth in community service programs. Between 1982 and 1989, almost 700 students in 17 New York City middle and junior high schools were involved in the Early Adolescent Helper Program.
Product Marketing
Authors: Wei James
Published: November 2020

A marketer should follow the maxim of the 4th century BC strategist Sun-zi, who said “Know self, know opponents, hundred battles, hundred victories.” We are the chemical processing industries (CPI), which is a collection of firms that manufacture and sell a range of products that involve chemistry and employ many chemical engineers. The buyers are consumers, businesses, governments, and foreigners. When we consider selling a product to a buyer, we pay particular attention to profitable and growing markets where our product has a relative advantage over competition. It takes a bold pioneer to introduce a new product that requires the creation of a new market. Let us study the sellers of chemical products, which are collectively called the CPI. These manufacturers are skilled in the use of chemical reactions and separations to make their products, and they employ many chemical engineers and chemists, often in highly responsible positions. Many of the firms in the CPI are also our suppliers of raw materials and intermediates, our customers for our products, and our competition in making and selling their products. The Statistical Abstract of the United States is published annually by the U.S. Census Bureau, which groups all the economic activities in the United States into 11 divisions by the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC). The manufacturing division is divided into 20 sections designated by two-digit numbers. The manufacturers that involve chemistry intensively are listed in table 9.1, by two 2-digit numbers, such as: 20 Food, 28 Chemicals, and 29 Petroleum Refining. The table lists the number of establishments, the number of employees and value of shipment in 1996. The SIC 28, “Chemical and Allied Products,” is the basic supplying industry to the other sectors. Table 9.1 also gives the subdivision of SIC 28 into three-digit subsectors, such as: 281 Industrial Inorganics, 283 Drugs, and 286 Industrial Organics. The subsectors of 281 and 286 form the core of the Chemical and Allied Products, as they provide raw material and intermediates for the rest of the subsectors, such as 282 Plastics and 287 Agricultural chemicals.
Nonequilibrium Systems
Authors: Stinchombe Robin
Published: November 2020

Nonequilibrium system and behavior are briefly reviewed, with an emphasis on recent progress using minimal microscopic models and on implications for macroscopic descriptions…. Our daily life continually confronts us with large systems whose internal processes or external influences are such that standard physical equilibrium descriptions of macroscopic behavior do not apply. Among complex examples are weather, crowds, traffic, financial markets, and so on, and at the other end of the spectrum are simple queuing, processing, and decision-making setups. The most common, most interesting and most complex examples in nature are predominately collective stochastic systems, in which many constituents influence/ interact with each other in some way, and the processes are probabilistic and dissipative. This is true of most examples given above, certainly of the first ones. None of these achieves ordinary equilibrium states of the sort met in thermodynamics; such systems are generically called nonequilibrium systems (NES). In the case of weather, a reason for not going into standard equilibrium is the sun's continual heating of the earth's land surface, oceans, and atmosphere. A feeding mechanism like that also occurs in traffic systems through the entry and exit of vehicles. In addition, traffic transition rates are not set by thermodynamic balances. Traffic can achieve steady states of flow or jammed states. In common with most other nonequilibrium (NE) steady states, these are quite unlike the equilibrium states provided by the standard "general" macroscopic and microscopic descriptions of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics (see Boltzmann and Gibbs). Nevertheless, NES show many similarities to collective equilibrium systems (ES), largely in behavior at a quantitative level. For example, NES and ES classes both include systems showing phase transitions (e.g., in the NE steady state, or in the thermal equilibrium state, respectively), whose phenomenology can typically be qualitatively interpreted in similar terms (using concepts of order parameter, scale invariance, and power laws, etc.).
Plant Spread Dynamics and Spatial Patterns in Forest Ecology
Authors: Cannas Sergio A. , Marco Diana E.
Published: November 2020

Species in an ecosystem can be classified as natives or exotics. Native species are those that have coevolved in the ecosystem, while exotic ones have not. The introduction of exotic species into an ecosystem is usually associated with human influence, which can be intentional or accidental. Some exotic species do not survive, at least not without artificial assistance. But some others do quite well on their own in a new environment. Exotic species may have no natural predators in the new environment or they may make better use of the natural resources than the natives, so they spread in the new territory and compete with some of the natives, who eventually become extinct. Exotic species that successfully establish and spread in an ecosystem are called invaders. The process by which an invader arrives and spreads into the new territory is called biological invasion. It is worth mentioning that, although invaders are usually exotic species, sometimes native species may also behave like invaders. That is, if an ecosystem suffers a strong disturbance, like fire or heavy grazing, some native species whose populations were originally stable may start to grow, outcompeting other native species. There are many examples of introduced species that became invaders, ranging from bacteria to cattle. Accidental or intentional introductions by humans are responsible for most of the present biological invasions, threatening the structure and functioning of many ecosystems. There are many effects associated with biological invasions, perhaps the most important one being the possible loss of biodiversity in the long term. But biological invasions may also introduce changes in different environmental traits, like climate, hydrology (invaders may consume more water than natives), and soil composition (for instance, some plants take up salt from soil and deposit it on the surface, making it unsuitable for some native species). All these changes have strong economical impacts, considering their influences in agriculture, forestry, and public health [9]. Hence, it is of interest to understand this phenomenon in order to predict the potential invasiveness of a species before its introduction in an ecosystem, and to develop strategies of control for invasive species that have already been introduced.
Computational Modeling of Networks
Authors: Monge Peter R. , Contractor Noshir
Published: November 2020

Computer simulations have long been used as an effective tool in engineering, economics, psychology, and a number of other social sciences. Engineers typically use simulations to predict performance of a system that has known dynamic characteristics. These characteristics are typically obtained from theory and are then articulated in the simulation as difference or differential equations. The goal of engineering simulation is then to assess the dynamic performance of a system based on a priori knowledge of the dynamic relationships among the various elements of the system. Forrester (1961, 1973) was one of the earliest and most influential advocates of simulation modeling of dynamic social systems. Forrester advocated this approach as a way to model and assess the dynamics of industrial and world phenomena. Sterman (2000) provides a recent review of research on dynamics simulation from this tradition. While this approach has produced a considerable number of studies, it too is based on the assumption that the researcher has a priori knowledge of the dynamic relationships among elements of the system. Indeed, many of the results of these models have been criticized for specifying relationships that were at best untested and at worst flawed. In response to these criticisms, more recent interest has focused on redefining the utility of simulations in the social sciences. Rather than using simulations to test the long-term dynamics of systems with known interrelationships, theorists (Carley & Prietula, 1994; Contractor, 1994; Hanneman, 1988) have suggested that social scientists should use simulations to help construct theory, to identify the heretofore-unknown interrelationships. This section describes the traditional use of computer simulations as well as the adaptation of this approach toward theory construction and testing in the social sciences. Later sections will apply these general approaches to the computational modeling of networks in particular. Carley and Prietula (1994) suggest that the emergence of the new field of computational organizational theory (COT) signals the growing interest in the construction of computational models to augment and assist theory building. Most social science theories are richly evocative but highly abbreviated (Poole, 1997), that is, they offer explanations that suggest complex interrelationships but do not provide precise, falsifiable mathematical formalizations of the theory.
Anthropogenic Stressors in Estuaries
Authors: Bianchi Thomas S.
Published: November 2020

Human demands on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems are on the increase globally and have likely exceeded the regenerative capacity of the Earth since the 1980s. Demands on our aquatic resources will increase in coming decades as it is projected that 75% of the world’s population (6.3 billion) will reside in coastal areas by 2025 (Tilman et al., 2001). The Earth’s population is expected to reach 9 billion during this century, and the projected effects of contaminant loading and human encroachment on biodiversity still remain unclear. The disturbance on global coastal ecosystems and the threat it will have on the economically critical resources they provide, has been estimated to be valued at 12.6 trillion U.S. dollars (Costanza et al., 2001). It has become increasingly apparent that in many regions of the world, Earth systems, which have been viewed as being primarily controlled by natural drivers such as climate, vegetation, and lithology, are now controlled by social, societal, and economic drivers (e.g., population growth, urbanization, industrialization water engineering) (Meybeck, 2002, 2003). This replacement of natural drivers over the past 50 to 200 years has recently been referred to as the Anthropocene era (first postulated by Vernadski, 1926), as a next phase that follows the Holocene era (Crutzen and Stoermer, 2000). Other studies that have effectively made large-scale linkages between human effects on the Earth systems (Turner et al., 1990) and aquatic systems (Costanza et al., 1990, 1997; Meybeck, 2002, 2003; Meybeck and Vörösmarty, 2004) have all concluded that a more comprehensive and fine-scale interpretation of the Anthropocene is needed if we are to make future predictions and management decisions effectively. The growth and movement of human populations have resulted in a significant stressor in the form of invasive species that has altered global biodiversity patterns. For example, the introduction of invasive species worldwide has changed the community composition and physical structure of many ecosystems (Elton, 1958; Vitousek et al., 1997). Estuarine systems, like the northern San Francisco Bay, have experienced serious declines in productivity at the base of the food web over recent decades after the introduction of the Asian clam, Potamocorbula amurensis, in 1987 (Carlton et al., 1990).
To Desert and Steppe
Authors: Fagan Brian
Published: November 2020

The vast reaches of central Asia are redolent with history, with stirring tales of Marco Polo’s epic journeys and all the romance of the Silk Road, an arduous caravan route that connected Asia and the West for hundreds of years. The archaeology of both central Asia and the Silk Road has yet to reveal all their secrets, for the area presents formidable obstacles for even the most experienced researchers and travelers. A century ago, the obstacles were even more severe—no rail lines, no roads beyond caravan tracks and horse trails, and endemic political instability, to say nothing of harsh deserts and high mountain passes. Despite these obstacles, Afghanistan, Tibet, and other countries along the Silk Road were the arena for what became known in the nineteenth century as the “great game,” the hide-and-seek struggle between Russia and Britain for control of a strategically vital area north of British India. Here, archaeological travel was in the hands of explorers and truly dedicated scientists, and certainly was not the domain of tourists. The logistics and enormous distances ensured that anyone traveling in central Asia vanished from civilization for months, and more often for years. During the nineteenth century, the occasional British army officer and political agent, and also French and German travelers, ventured widely through the region, although their concerns were predominantly military and strategic rather than scientific. The great game culminated in Colonel Francis Younghusband’s military and diplomatic expedition for Britain into Tibet in 1904, prompted by rumors that Russia had its eye on the country. After Younghusband’s return to India and because of his account of the fascinating, mountainous regions to the north, the rugged terrain that formed India’s northern frontier became a place where solitary young officers went exploring, hunting, or climbing mountains for sport. During this period, only a handful of travelers penetrated central Asia with scientific objectives, among them the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin, who traveled via Russia and the Pamirs to China in 1893–1897. He nearly died crossing the western Taklimakan Desert in the Tarim Basin to reach the Khotan River. This huge basin was a melting pot of different religions and cultures, a bridge for silk caravans between East and West.
Geology and Health
Authors: Berger Antony R.
Published: November 2020

Geology and Health is an integration of papers from geo-bio-chemical scientists on health issues of concern to humankind worldwide, demonstrating how the health and well-being of populations now and in the future can benefit through coordinated scientific efforts. International examples on dusts, coal, arsenic, fluorine, lead, mercury, and water borne chemicals, that lead to health effects are documented and explored. They were selected to illustrate how hazards and potential hazards may be from natural materials and processes and how anthropomorphic changes may have contributed to disease and debilitation instead of solutions. Introductory essays by the editors highlight some of the progress toward scientific integration that could be applied to other geographic sites and research efforts. A global purview and integration of earth and health sciences expertise could benefit the future of populations from many countries. Effective solutions to combat present and future hazards will arise when the full scope of human interactions with the total environment is appreciated by the wide range of people in positions to make important and probably expensive decisions. A case to illustrate the point of necessary crossover between Geology and Health was the drilling of shallow tube wells in Bangladesh to provide non-contaminated ground water. This "good" solution unfortunately mobilized arsenic from rocks into the aquifer and created an unforeseen or 'silent' hazard: arsenic. Geologists produce maps of earth materials and are concerned with natural processes in the environment with long time-frame horizons. The health effects encountered through changing the water source might have been avoided if the hydrological characteristics of the Bangladesh delta had been known and any chemical hazards had been investigated and documented. A recurrence of this type of oversight should be avoidable when responsible parties, often government officials, appreciate the necessity of such integrated efforts. The book extols the virtues of cooperation between the earth, life and health sciences, as the most practical approach to better public health worldwide.
Human Sickness and Mortality Rates in Relation to the Distant Eruption of Volcanic Gases: Rural England and the 1783 Eruption of the Laid Fissure, Iceland
Authors: Gilbertson David , Durand Michael
Published: November 2020

Chapter 3 explores an apparent relationship between human mortality in England and exposure to acid volatiles derived from the Laki fissure eruption of 1783. It has long been known that volcanic tephra and gases may be transported great distances (Thórarinsson 1981). Research into their impacts on human health and the environment has typically focused on populations and environments relatively close to the eruption (e.g. Oskarsson 1980, Rose 1977, Thórarinsson 1979). However, recent investigations of documentary sources such as diaries and newspapers have suggested that in particular meteorological situations, and where air masses are stable, profound health and environmental consequences may have occurred in the British Isles and elsewhere in Europe, at great distances from the volcanic source in Iceland (Brayshay and Grattan 1999, Dodgshon et al. 2000, Durand 2000, Durand and Grattan 1999, Grattan 1998 a and b, Grattan and Brayshay 1995, Grattan and Charman 1994, Grattan and Pyatt 1994, 1999, Grattan et al. 1998, Stothers 1996). This chapter presents and examines documentary evidence for human illness, which may have been induced by volcanogenic air pollution, and mortality in several widely dispersed villages in rural England in the late eighteenth century. Burial records for these settlements point to a singular peak in mortality in the summer of 1783, a period that is coincident with the peak concentration of volcanic gases from the Laki fissure in the European environment. The Laki fissure eruption took place between June 1783 and February 1784. It produced large quantities of acid volatiles — approximately ~120 Mt SO2, 6.8 Mt HC1, and 15.1 Mt HF plus H2S and NH3. Of the total compounds emitted, approximately 60% were emitted during the first few months of activity and the majority of these emissions were confined to the troposphere (Sparks et al. 1997,Thordarson et al. 1996, Thordarson and Self 1993). The eruption therefore generated the largest known air pollution event of the last two millennia (Stothers 1996) and, moreover, one that was entirely natural in origin. A series of stable high-pressure air masses were stationed over northwest Europe throughout the summer of 1783 (Kington 1988).
Geogenic Arsenic and Associated Toxicity Problems in the Groundwater-Soil—Plant—Animal-Human Continuum
Authors: Naidu R. , P.R. Nadebaum
Published: November 2020

Arsenic (As), a group (VI) element, is ubiquitous in the earth’s crust, and therefore all living entities could be exposed. Significant adverse impacts of geogenic As on environmental and human health have been recorded in Bangladesh (Chowdhury et al. 1999), West Bengal, India (Chakraborty and Saha 1997), and China (Zheng et al. 1996). Although reported as early as the 1930s from the ingestion of As-contaminated water, it was not until severe human poisoning was recorded in the Indian subcontinent that the need for intensive research was recognized. This chapter explores several pathways of inadvertent exposure including ingestion of food, dust, soil, and dermal absorption, especially in the Asian region where wet land farming is a major activity among the farming community. We examine the source, release, and transfer of As from the local rocks and minerals to plants and humans via water and soil. Particular references are made to the incidences of health effects recorded in the Indian subcontinent as well as to some examples from other parts of the world.
Religion and the Geographies of War
Authors: Stump Roger W.
Published: November 2020

Religious meanings and concerns have had a prominent role in a wide variety of political conflicts in recent decades. After the Six-Day War in 1967, for example, religious Zionists interpreted Israel’s victory in explicitly religious terms and saw Israeli occupation of the ancient lands of Judea and Samaria in the West Bank and of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem as evidence that the divine redemption of the Jewish people was at hand. Muslims, in contrast, saw Israeli occupation of the Old City of Jerusalem as a threat to al-Haram al-Sharif, the sacred compound atop the Temple Mount and one of Islam’s most revered sites. Radical Islamists have cast many other conflicts in religious terms, including the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan during the 1980s, the civil war in Bosnia in the early 1990s, and the conflict between Chechen separatists and Russia that started in the mid-1990s. Interpreting these conflicts as attacks on the global Muslim community, radicals from various Muslim countries took up arms in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Chechnya in defense of Islam. Out of these contexts, al-Qaeda emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s as a transstate terrorist army that focuses on more dispersed, symbolic targets in its war against Western antagonists. On a regional scale, tensions between India and Pakistan have contained an overt religious dimension since independence, exacerbated by the rising influence of Hindu and Muslim fundamentalisms in the region. This religious dimension found symbolic expression in the late 1980s and 1990s through military nomenclature, with Pakistani missile systems that bore names linked to the early Muslim conquests of northern India (Ghauri, Ghaznavi), and India’s deployment of missile systems named after principal Vedic deities (Agni, Surya) and a Hindu hero in the wars against Muslim conquest (Prithvi). In Africa, political violence has arisen in various states out of postcolonial competition among traditional animists, Muslims, and Christians. In Sudan, for example, conflict between the Muslim majority in the north and animist and Christian minorities in the south has provoked a devastating civil war. These examples illustrate the persistent complexity of the intersection of religious meanings and war.
Measurement Uncertainty
Authors: Hibbert D. Brynn
Published: November 2020

One of the great revolutions in metrology in chemistry has been the understanding of the need to quote an appropriate measurement uncertainty with a result. For some time, a standard deviation determined under not particularly well-defined conditions was considered a reasonable adjunct to a measurement result, and multiplying by the appropriate Student’s t value gave the 95% confidence interval. But knowing that in a long run of experiments repeated under identical conditions 95% of the 95% confidence intervals would include the population mean did not answer the fundamental question of how good the result was. This became evident as international trade burgeoned and more and more discrepancies in measurement results and disagreements between trading partners came to light. To determine if two measurements of ostensibly the same measurand on the same material give results that are equivalent, they must be traceable to the same metrological reference and have stated measurement uncertainties. How to achieve that comparability is the subject of this chapter and the next. When making a chemical measurement by taking a certain amount of the test material, working it up in a form that can be analyzed, calibrating the instrument, and performing the measurement, analysts understand that there will be some doubt about the result. Contributions to uncertainty derive from each step in the analysis, and even from the basis on which the analysis is carried out. An uncertainty budget documents the history of the assessment of the measurement uncertainty of a result, and it is the outcome of the process of identifying and quantifying uncertainty. Although the client may only receive the fruits of this process as (value ± expanded uncertainty), accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025 requires the laboratory to document how the uncertainty is estimated. Estimates of plutonium sources highlight the importance of uncertainty. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) estimates there are about 700 tonnes of plutonium in the world. The uncertainty of measurement of plutonium is of the order of 0.1%, so even if all the plutonium were in one place, when analyzed the uncertainty would be 700 kg (1000 kg = 1 tonne). Seven kilograms of plutonium makes a reasonable bomb.