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Improving Energy Efficiency in Commercial Buildings and Smart Communities: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference IEECB&SC’18 (Springer Proceedings in Energy)
by Paolo BertoldiThese proceedings present fourteen peer-reviewed papers from the 10th International Conference on Improving Energy Efficiency in Commercial Buildings and Smart Communities, which was held March 21-22, 2018 in Frankfurt, Germany. This biannual conference aims to promote and diffuse the concept of energy efficiency in new and existing commercial buildings and to enlarge the market for low consumption and sustainable non-residential buildings. It also covers smart and sustainable districts, communities and cities, since energy systems efficiency and renewable energies are often optimized at the district or municipal level. The 2018 conference focused on advanced and innovative technologies to improve the energy efficiency of commercial buildings, communities and cities as well as the policies and measures by governments at various levels to improve energy efficiency. A particular focus was on Energy Service Companies (ESCOs). The conference addresses energy policy makers at international, national, and local level; academics, researchers and energy efficiency experts; ESCOs, utilities, buildings energy and environmental managers; buildings engineers and architects; and equipment manufacturers and commercial property investors.
Improving Global Environmental Governance: Best Practices for Architecture and Agency (Routledge Research in Global Environmental Governance)
by Norichika Kanie Steinar Andresen Peter M. HaasThe experience of environmental governance is approached in Improving Global Environmental Governance from the unique perspective of actor configuration and embedded networks of actors, which are areas of emerging importance. The chapters look at existing Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) and the broader constellation of partially networked institutions to better understand the involvement of individual actors and how to deepen the networks that include them to generate more effective governance. The book covers a wide range of issued pertaining to environmental governance including trans-boundary air pollution, marine pollution, biodiversity and ozone depletion. It also examines partnerships as a hybrid case of emerging modes of environmental governance. These partnerships are a recent form of actor configuration that warrant attention for dealing with global environmental threats in order to better understand the full potential of actor configurations in the absence of state involvement. In order to test applicability to on-going but stalled processes, the book applies the approach to one of the most difficult issues we face: climate change. By addressing key questions in this important area, the book provides new perspectives in the nexus between agency and architecture in environmental governance in the twenty-first century.
Improving The Nation's Water Security: Opportunities For Research
by National Research Council of the National AcademiesConcern over terrorist attacks since 2001 has directed attention to potential vulnerabilities of the nation’s water and wastewater systems. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which leads federal efforts to protect the water sector, initiated a research program in 2002 to address immediate research and technical support needs. This report, conducted at EPA’s request, evaluates research progress and provides a long-term vision for EPA’s research program. The report recommends that EPA develop a strategic research plan, address gaps in expertise among EPA program managers and researchers, and improve its approaches to information dissemination. The report recommends several high-priority research topics for EPA, including conducting empirical research in behavioral science to better understand how to prepare people for water security incidents.
Improving Operations And Long-term Safety Of The: Interim Report
by Committee on the Waste Isolation Pilot PlantThe National Academies Press (NAP)--publisher for the National Academies--publishes more than 200 books a year offering the most authoritative views, definitive information, and groundbreaking recommendations on a wide range of topics in science, engineering, and health. Our books are unique in that they are authored by the nation's leading experts in every scientific field.
Improving Operations AND Long-Term Safety OF THE Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Final Report
by National Research CouncilThe National Academies Press (NAP)--publisher for the National Academies--publishes more than 200 books a year offering the most authoritative views, definitive information, and groundbreaking recommendations on a wide range of topics in science, engineering, and health. Our books are unique in that they are authored by the nation's leading experts in every scientific field.
Improving Potassium Recommendations for Agricultural Crops
by T. Scott Murrell Robert L. Mikkelsen Gavin Sulewski Robert Norton Michael L. ThompsonThis open access book highlights concepts discussed at two international conferences that brought together world-renowned scientists to advance the science of potassium (K) recommendations for crops. There was general agreement that the potassium recommendations currently in general use are oversimplified, outdated, and jeopardize soil, plant, and human health. Accordingly, this book puts forward a significantly expanded K cycle that more accurately depicts K inputs, losses and transformations in soils. This new cycle serves as both the conceptual basis for the scientific discussions in this book and a framework upon which to build future improvements. Previously used approaches are critically reviewed and assessed, not only for their relevance to future enhancements, but also for their use as metrics of sustainability. An initial effort is made to link K nutrition in crops and K nutrition in humans. The book offers an invaluable asset for graduate students, educators, industry scientists, data scientists, and advanced agronomists.
Improving Regulation: Cases in Environment, Health, and Safety (Rff Press Ser.)
by Paul S. Fischbeck R. Scott FarrowIs there potential for a U.S. regulatory system that is more efficient and effective? Or is the future likely to involve 'paralysis by analysis'? Improving Regulation considers the challenges faced by the regulatory system as society and technology change, and our knowledge about the effects of our activities on human and planetary health becomes more sophisticated. While considering the difficulty in linking regulatory design and performance, Improving Regulation makes the case for empowering regulatory analysis. Studying applications as diverse as fire protection, air and water pollution, and genetics, its contributors examine the strategies of different stakeholders in today's complex policymaking environment. With a focus on the behavior of institutions and people, they consider the impact that organizational politics, science, technology, and performance have on regulation. They explore the role of technology in creating and reducing uncertainty, the costs of control, the potential involvement of previously unregulated sectors, and the contentious public debates about fairness and participation in regulatory policy. Arguing that the success of many regulations depends upon their acceptance by the public, Fischbeck, Farrow, and their contributors offer extensive, inductive evidence on the art of regulatory analysis. The resulting book provides 'real world' examples of regulation, and a demonstration of how to synthesize analytical skills with a knowledge of physical and social processes.
Improving The Regulation And Management Of Low-activity Radioactive Wastes
by National Research Council of the National AcademiesThe largest volumes of radioactive wastes in the United States contain only small amounts of radioactive material. These low-activity radioactive wastes (LAW) should be regulated and managed according to the degree of risk they pose for treatment, storage, and disposal. Current regulations are based primarily on the type of industry that produced the waste-the waste's origin-rather than its risk. In this report a risk-informed approach for regulating and managing all types of LAW in the United States is proposed. Implemented in a gradual or stepwise fashion, this approach combines scientific risk assessment with public values and perceptions. It focuses on the hazardous properties of the waste in question and how they compare with other waste materials. The approach is based on established principles for risk-informed decision making, current risk-informed initiatives by waste regulators in the United States and abroad, solutions available under current regulatory authorities, and remedies through new legislation when necessary.
Improving The Scientific Basis For Managing Doe's Excess Nuclear Materials And Spent Nuclear Fuel
by Committee on Improving the Scientific Basis for Managing Nuclear Materials Spent Nuclear Fuel through the Environmental Management Science ProgramThis study identifies research opportunities for storage, recycle, reuse, or disposal of nuclear materials and spent nuclear fuel. Most of the materials dealt with in this report have not been declared as waste. The report completes the fifth in a series of studies requested by the EMSP to assist in developing its calls for proposals and evaluating proposals on this issue. There is no subject index. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
Improving Societal Resilience to Disasters
by Funda AtunThis book documents the outcomes of a study designed to explore ways of increasing resilience in a complex city system against disasters by focusing on the transportation system in London. A survey was undertaken comprising interviews with upper level decision makers as well as questionnaires to personnel in the field and the general public. The results of this survey are presented, together with a brief description of the past and current situation in the city with respect to transportation, flood risk and other vulnerabilities. The sources of problems in responding adequately to disasters are analyzed and important lessons drawn. In particular, it is explained how failures derive from insistence upon the application of written plans in preference over redefinition of strategies and priorities and how flexible systems represent a better approach to crisis situations. The book will be of interest to all who are concerned with disaster planning and management and the societal response to disasters.
Improving Soil Fertility Recommendations in Africa using the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT)
by Andre Bationo Gerrit Hoogenboom Job Kihara Ramadjita Tabo Dougbedji Fatondji James W JonesThe book gives a detailed description of the application of DSSAT in simulating crop and soil processes within various Agro-ecological zones in Africa. The book, an output of a series of 3 workshops, provides examples of the application of DSSAT models to simulate nitrogen applications, soil and water conservation practices including effects of zai technology, phosphorus and maize productivity, generation of genetic coefficients, long-term soil fertility management technologies in the drylands, microdosing, optimization of nitrogen x germplasms x water, spatial analysis of water and nutrient use efficiencies and, tradeoff analysis. The minimum dataset requirements for DSSAT is discussed. This book arises from attempts to address the limited use of models in decision support by African agricultural (both soil scientist and agronomists) scientists.
Improving Sustainability During Hospital Design and Operation
by Stefano Capolongo Marta Carla Bottero Maddalena Buffoli Emanuele LettieriThis book describes the Sustainable High Quality Healthcare (SustHealth) project, which had the goal of developing an original multidisciplinary evaluation tool that can be applied to assess and improve hospitals' overall sustainability. The comprehensive nature of the appraisal offered by this tool exceeds the scope of most current rating systems, which typically permit a thorough evaluation of relevant environmental factors when designing a new building but fail to consider social and economic impacts of the design phase or the performance of the hospital's operational structure in these fields. The multidisciplinary evaluation system was developed, from its very inception through to its testing, by following a scientific experimental method in which a global perspective was constantly maintained, as opposed to a focus only on specific technical issues. Application of the SustHealth rating tool to a currently functioning hospital, or one under design, will identify weaknesses and guide users to potential low-cost short-term solutions and longer-term strategies for improvement.
Improving the Earthquake Resilience of Buildings
by Izuru Takewaki Kohei Fujita Abbas MoustafaEngineers are always interested in the worst-case scenario. One of the most important and challenging missions of structural engineers may be to narrow the range of unexpected incidents in building structural design. Redundancy, robustness and resilience play an important role in such circumstances. Improving the Earthquake Resilience of Buildings: The worst case approach discusses the importance of worst-scenario approach for improved earthquake resilience of buildings and nuclear reactor facilities. Improving the Earthquake Resilience of Buildings: The worst case approach consists of two parts. The first part deals with the characterization and modeling of worst or critical ground motions on inelastic structures and the related worst-case scenario in the structural design of ordinary simple building structures. The second part of the book focuses on investigating the worst-case scenario for passively controlled and base-isolated buildings. This allows for detailed consideration of a range of topics including: A consideration of damage of building structures in the critical excitation method for improved building-earthquake resilience, A consideration of uncertainties of structural parameters in structural control and base-isolation for improved building-earthquake resilience, and New insights in structural design of super high-rise buildings under long-period ground motions. Improving the Earthquake Resilience of Buildings: The worst case approach is a valuable resource for researchers and engineers interested in learning and applying the worst-case scenario approach in the seismic-resistant design for more resilient structures.
Improving the Effectiveness of U.S. Climate Modeling
by Panel on Improving the Effectiveness of U.S. Climate ModelingThis study addresses challenges posed in the Climate Research Committee's 1998 report, Capacity of US Climate Modeling to Support Climate Change Assessment Activities. It examines major types of climate modeling, describes the computational and human resources required to conduct climate modeling, quantitatively assesses the computational and human resources that are presently directed toward climate modeling, and describes ways in which the US climate modeling enterprise might be improved. The study contains no subject index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
Improving the Energy Performance of Buildings
by Oliver Wise Charles P. Ries Joseph JenkinsThis study examines how policies to increase energy efficiency in buildings in the European Union and Australia have worked and draws implications for the design of similar public policies for the United States. It appears that effective policies to promote energy efficiency can be devised using information disclosure, building codes, financial incentives, and benchmarking. Insights are presented to help designers of analogous U.S. policies.
Improving the Profitability, Sustainability and Efficiency of Nutrients Through Site Specific Fertilizer Recommendations in West Africa Agro-Ecosystems
by Andre Bationo Djimasbé Ngaradoum Sansan Youl Francois Lompo Joseph Opoku FeningAs part of its efforts to improve fertilizer use and efficiency in West Africa, and following the recent adoption of the West African fertilizer recommendation action plan (RAP) by ECOWAS, this volume focuses on IFDC's technical lead with key partner institutions and experts to build on previous and current fertilizer recommendations for various crops and countries in West Africa for wider uptake by public policy makers and fertilizer industry actors.
Improving the Profitability, Sustainability and Efficiency of Nutrients Through Site Specific Fertilizer Recommendations in West Africa Agro-Ecosystems
by Andre Bationo Djimasbé Ngaradoum Sansan Youl Francois Lompo Joseph Opoku FeningAs part of its efforts to improve fertilizer use and efficiency in West Africa, and following the recent adoption of the West African fertilizer recommendation action plan (RAP) by ECOWAS, this volume focuses on IFDC's technical lead with key partner institutions and experts to build on previous and current fertilizer recommendations for various crops and countries in West Africa for wider uptake by public policy makers and fertilizer industry actors.
Improving the Sustainable Development Goals: Strategies and the Governance Challenge (Routledge Focus on Environment and Sustainability)
by Lars NiklassonImproving the Sustainable Development Goals evaluates the Global Goals (Agenda 2030) by looking at their design and how they relate to theories of economic development. Adopted unanimously by the member states of the United Nations (UN) in 2015, the goals are remarkable for the global commitment on a set of targets to reach by 2030, but also for the lack of a strategy of implementation. The choice of appropriate action is handed over to individual governments, some of which are limited by their lack of resources. This book explores how implementation of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) can be developed, especially in developing countries. The content, strengths and weaknesses of the SDGs are critically examined, alongside their relationship to ongoing academic research. The authors also investigate the actions of governments over the past three years by looking at the national strategies they have presented at annual meetings of the UN High-Level Political Forum. Improving the Sustainable Development Goals takes a critical but constructive approach, pointing out risks as well as possible remedies. The SDGs are seen as an opportunity for a global conversation on what works in solving some fundamental problems relating to poverty and environmental degradation. With the inclusion of a chapter by Tobias Ogweno, former member of the Kenya’s UN mission, this book will appeal to all those who are interested in policy analysis with a focus on development issues.
Improving Urban Access: New Approaches to Funding Transport Investment
by Christian Wolmar Elliott D. Sclar Måns LönnrothBy 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities. To thrive, they will need efficient and sustainable forms of transport, but to achieve this, the financial incentives guiding urban transport operation must change – and change rapidly. Urban transport plays a critical role in determining the social, environmental and economic shape of cities. Improving Urban Access: New Approaches to Funding Transport Investment provide innovative ideas on how we might reorganize transport finance to ensure that it is suited to serving the social, environmental and economic principles that must guide future urban living. Continuing the work begun by its predecessor, Urban Access for the 21st Century, the authors assess the complexity of implementing new finance approaches and suggest ways to make positive and radical changes. Although the range of revenue raising options remain limited to users, indirect beneficiaries, and the general public, these can be recast to transform the way transport is paid for and therefore how its services are delivered. New finance models only succeed when they are intrinsically linked to the economic, social, cultural and political forces that create urban life. Together these volumes provide a starting point for the deeper research and policy design needed to successfully create urban transport finance systems that can address the challenges that 21st century cities present.
The Improvised State: Sovereignty, Performance and Agency in Dayton Bosnia (RGS-IBG Book Series)
by Alex JeffreyThe Improvised State provides a highly developed account of the nature and outcomes of Bosnian state practices since the Dayton Peace Agreement. Jeffrey presents new and significant theories, based on extensive fieldwork in Bosnia, which advance understanding of state building. Provides a major contribution to recent academic debates as to the nature of the state after violent conflict, and offers invaluable insights into state building Introduces the idea of state improvisation, where improvisation refers to a process of both performance and resourcefulness Uses the theoretical framework of Pierre Bourdieu to explore how powerful agencies have attempted to present a coherent vision of Bosnia and Herzegovina following the conflict 1992-5 Advances our understanding of the Bosnian state by focusing on the practices of statecraft fostered in the post-Dayton era Research based on four periods of residential fieldwork in Bosnia, which allowed a detailed analysis of political practices in the country
An Impulse and Earthquake Energy Balance Approach in Nonlinear Structural Dynamics
by Izuru Takewaki Kotaro KojimaProblems in nonlinear structural dynamics and critical excitation with elastic-plastic structures are typically addressed using time-history response analysis, which requires multiple repetitions and advanced computing. This alternative approach transforms ground motion into impulses and takes an energy balance approach. This book is accessible to undergraduates, being based on the energy balance law and the concepts of kinetic and strain energies, and it can be used by practitioners for building and structural design. This presentation starts with simple models that explain the essential features and extends in a step-by-step manner to more complicated models and phenomena.
Impure and Worldly Geography: Pierre Gourou and Tropicality (Studies in Historical Geography)
by Gavin Bowd Daniel ClaytonTropicality is a centuries-old Western discourse that treats otherness and the exotic in binary – ‘us’ and ‘them’ – terms. It has long been implicated in empire and its anxieties over difference. However, little attention has been paid to its twentieth-century genealogy. This book explores this neglected history through the work of Pierre Gourou, one of the century’s foremost purveyors of what anti-colonial writer Aimé Césaire dubbed tropicalité. It explores how Gourou’s interpretations of ‘the nature’ of the tropical world, and its innate difference from the temperate world, were built on the shifting sands of twentieth-century history – empire and freedom, modernity and disenchantment, war and revolution, culture and civilisation, and race and development. The book addresses key questions about the location and power of knowledge by focusing on Gourou’s cultivation of the tropics as a romanticised, networked and affective domain. The book probes what Césaire described as Gourou’s ‘impure and worldly geography’ as a way of opening up interdisciplinary questions of geography, ontology, epistemology, experience and materiality. This book will be of great interest to scholars and students within historical geography, history, postcolonial studies, cultural studies and international relations.
Imputation Methods for Missing Hydrometeorological Data Estimation (Water Science and Technology Library #108)
by Ramesh S.V. TeegavarapuMissing data is a ubiquitous problem that plagues many hydrometeorological datasets. Objective and robust spatial and temporal imputation methods are needed to estimate missing data and create error-free, gap-free, and chronologically continuous data. This book is a comprehensive guide and reference for basic and advanced interpolation and data-driven methods for imputing missing hydrometeorological data. The book provides detailed insights into different imputation methods, such as spatial and temporal interpolation, universal function approximation, and data mining-assisted imputation methods. It also introduces innovative spatial deterministic and stochastic methods focusing on the objective selection of control points and optimal spatial interpolation. The book also extensively covers emerging machine learning techniques that can be used in spatial and temporal interpolation schemes and error and performance measures for assessing interpolation methods and validating imputed data. The book demonstrates practical applications of these methods to real-world hydrometeorological data. It will cater to the needs of a broad spectrum of audiences, from graduate students and researchers in climatology and hydrological and earth sciences to water engineering professionals from governmental agencies and private entities involved in the processing and use of hydrometeorological and climatological data.
In a Perfect Ocean: The State Of Fisheries And Ecosystems In The North Atlantic Ocean (The State of the World's Oceans #1)
by Jay Maclean Daniel PaulyRecent decades have been marked by the decline or collapse of one fishery after another around the world, from swordfish in the North Atlantic to orange roughy in the South Pacific. While the effects of a collapse on local economies and fishing-dependent communities have generated much discussion, little attention has been paid to its impacts on the overall health of the ocean's ecosystems.In a Perfect Ocean: The State of Fisheries and Ecosystems in the North Atlantic Ocean presents the first empirical assessment of the status of ecosystems in the North Atlantic ocean. Drawing on a wide range of studies including original research conducted for this volume, the authors analyze 14 large marine ecosystems to provide an indisputable picture of an ocean whose ecology has been dramatically altered, resulting in a phenomenon described by the authors as "fishing down the food web." The book provides a snapshot of the past health of the North Atlantic and compares it to its present status; presents a rigorous scientific assessment based on key criteria; considers the factors that have led to the current situation; describes the policy options available for halting the decline; and offers recommendations for restoring the North Atlantic. This is the first in a series of assessments by the world's leading marine scientists, entitled "The State of the World's Oceans." In a Perfect Ocean: The State of Fisheries and Ecosystems in the North Atlantic Ocean is a landmark study, the first of its kind to make a comprehensive, ecosystem-based assessment of the North Atlantic Ocean, and will be essential reading for policymakers at the state, national, and international level concerned with fisheries management, as well for scientists, researchers, and activists concerned with marine issues or fishing and the fisheries industry.
In Alligator's Hole
by Buffy Silverman Diane BlasiusDuring the rainy season in the marshlands, Alligator has almost nothing to eat. When the dry season comes, Alligator digs a hole in the pond and waits for the animals to return. Without Alligator and her hole, there would be far fewer animals living in the marsh.