The Human Impact on the Natural Environment: Past, Present, and Future

Book Description

The new edition of this classic student text provides an up-to-date and comprehensive view of the major environmental issues facing the world today, and is an essential introduction to the past, present and future impact of humans on Earth.Following the successful structure of previous editions, the new edition of The Human Impact has been extensively enlarged and updated, with many new figures and up-to-date statistics. Four completely new chapters explore the ways in which global climate change may have an impact on Earth in the future. Other chapters explore the impact of humans upon vegetation, animals, soils, water, landforms, and the atmosphere. A new design makes the text even more accessible and easy to use.This important book is essential reading for undergraduates in geography or environmental science, and anyone requiring a thorough overview of the impact of humans upon natural processes and systems.

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Chemical defence by means of toxins poisonous to other organisms, be they animals or plants, is widespread amongst the plant kingdom - including microorganisms as well. This book embraces the analysis of a wide range of plant toxins and this fills a gap in the plant pathology and ecological biochemistry fields. The topics covered include toxic extracellular enzymes, host selective toxins, elicitors, phototoxins, aflatoxins, mycotoxins, and ecotoxic substance tests by pollen germination and growth. The analytical procedures, which are used to evaluate the toxins, are covered in such a way that the reader is able to carry them out mostly solely by following the detailed descriptions.

Book Description

This informative and savvy guide captures the best that San Francisco offers in a practical, easy to use format. With opinionated reviews, essential travel tips and detailed fold-out maps, San Francisco Condensed has all the information the discerning visitor needs - for a day or a week, for business or for pleasure.

the best to see and do for travelers making short trips to the city
attractive and practical maps make short work of the city's famous curves
excursions section leads travelers across the Golden Gate or around the bay in a day
four wondrous walking tours show visitors how to hang out in the Haight and check out Chinatown
laced with tales of hippies and shanghaiers, Beats and immigrants

Customer Reviews:

Perfect Book for a 3 day trip to the Bay Area.......2004-05-23

This was the perfect book for my recent 3 day trip to the Bay Area. The fold out map was durable and easy to navigate. The size and shape of the book made it easy for me to tuck away in my jacket pocket or purse. The content was accurate and helpful. I was able to find and hit the highlights quickly and independently. The lists of walks in the city was particularly helpful.

Book Description

Historians of the postwar transformation of science have focused largely on the physical sciences, especially the relation of science to the military funding agencies. In Shaping Biology, Toby A. Appel brings attention to the National Science Foundation and federal patronage of the biological sciences. Scientists by training, NSF biologists hoped in the 1950s that the new agency would become the federal government's chief patron for basic research in biology, the only agency to fund the entire range of biology--from molecules to natural history museums--for its own sake. Appel traces how this vision emerged and developed over the next two and a half decades, from the activities of NSF's Division of Biological and Medical Sciences, founded in 1952, through the cold war expansion of the 1950s and 1960s and the constraints of the Vietnam War era, to its reorganization out of existence in 1975. This history of NSF highlights fundamental tensions in science policy that remain relevant today: the pull between basic and applied science; funding individuals versus funding departments or institutions; elitism versus distributive policies of funding; issues of red tape and accountability.

In this NSF-funded study, Appel explores how the agency developed, how it worked, and what difference it made in shaping modern biology in the United States. Based on formerly untapped archival sources as well as on interviews of participants, and building upon prior historical literature, Shaping Biology covers new ground and raises significant issues for further research on postwar biology and on federal funding of science in general.

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Differential Equations and Group Methods for Scientists and Engineers presents a basic introduction to the technically complex area of invariant one-parameter Lie group methods and their use in solving differential equations. The book features discussions on ordinary differential equations (first, second, and higher order) in addition to partial differential equations (linear and nonlinear). Each chapter contains worked examples with several problems at the end; answers to these problems and hints on how to solve them are found at the back of the book. Students and professionals in mathematics, science, and engineering will find this book indispensable for developing a fundamental understanding of how to use invariant one-parameter group methods to solve differential equations.

Analytic-Bilinear Approach to Integrable Hierarchies (Mathematics and Its Applications)

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Analytic-Bilinear Approach to Integrable Hierarchies (Mathematics and Its Applications)
L.V. Bogdanov
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0792359194

Book Description

This book presents the analytic-bilinear approach to integrable hierarchies, which gives a consistent and technically simple description of integrable hierarchies, and shows an easy and direct way to understand rather complicated structures, using mostly standard complex analysis. The language of the analytic-bilinear approach is suitable for applications to integrable nonlinear PDEs, integrable nonlinear discrete equations, and for the applications of integrable systems to continuous and discrete geometry. This approach allows the representation of generalised hierarchies of integrable equations in a condensed form of finite functional equations, incorporating basic hierarchy, modified hierarchy, singularity manifold equation hierarchy and corresponding linear problems, which arise both in the compact discrete form and in the form of nonlinear partial differential equations. Different levels of generalised hierarchy are connected via invariants of Combescure symmetry transformation. The resolution of functional equations also leads to the tau-function and its additional formulae. Audience: This book will be of interest to students and specialists whose work involves the theory of integrable systems, mathematical physics, topological groups, Lie groups, finite differences, functional equations, partial differential equations and functions of a complex variable.

Applications of Analytic and Geometric Methods to Nonlinear Differential Equations (NATO Science Series C:)

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Applications of Analytic and Geometric Methods to Nonlinear Differential Equations (NATO Science Series C:)

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0792324579

Book Description

In the study of integrable systems, two different approaches in particular have attracted considerable attention during the past twenty years. (1) The inverse scattering transform (IST), using complex function theory, which has been employed to solve many physically significant equations, the `soliton' equations. (2) Twistor theory, using differential geometry, which has been used to solve the self-dual Yang--Mills (SDYM) equations, a four-dimensional system having important applications in mathematical physics. Both soliton and the SDYM equations have rich algebraic structures which have been extensively studied.
Recently, it has been conjectured that, in some sense, all soliton equations arise as special cases of the SDYM equations; subsequently many have been discovered as either exact or asymptotic reductions of the SDYM equations. Consequently what seems to be emerging is that a natural, physically significant system such as the SDYM equations provides the basis for a unifying framework underlying this class of integrable systems, i.e. `soliton' systems. This book contains several articles on the reduction of the SDYM equations to soliton equations and the relationship between the IST and twistor methods.
The majority of nonlinear evolution equations are nonintegrable, and so asymptotic, numerical perturbation and reduction techniques are often used to study such equations. This book also contains articles on perturbed soliton equations. Painlevé analysis of partial differential equations, studies of the Painlevé equations and symmetry reductions of nonlinear partial differential equations.

(ABSTRACT)
In the study of integrable systems, two different approaches in particular have attracted considerable attention during the past twenty years; the inverse scattering transform (IST), for `soliton' equations and twistor theory, for the self-dual Yang--Mills (SDYM) equations. This book contains several articles on the reduction of the SDYM equations to soliton equations and the relationship between the IST and twistor methods. Additionally, it contains articles on perturbed soliton equations, Painlevé analysis of partial differential equations, studies of the Painlevé equations and symmetry reductions of nonlinear partial differential equations.

Discrete-Group Methods for Integrating Equations of Nonlinear Mechanics: Theory, Solutions, and Applications

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Discrete-Group Methods for Integrating Equations

Discrete-Group Methods for Integrating Equations of Nonlinear Mechanics: Theory, Solutions, and Applications
Valentin F. Zaitsev , and Andrei D. Polyanin
Manufacturer: CRC Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Customer Reviews:

Discrete-Group Methods for Integrating Equations.......2004-07-16

This monograph presents new discrete group methods for analyzing ordinary differential equations. The discrete groups of transformations of the Abel equation, Emden-Fowler equation, homogeneous equation in the extended sense, and Liennar equation are studied in detail. Many new integrable equations of the above types are described. Some concrete equations and problems often encountered in practical applications are analyzed.

Group-Theoretic Methods in Mechanics and Applied Mathematics (Differential and Integral Equations and Their Applications)

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Group-Theoretic Methods in Mechanics and Applied Mathematics (Differential and Integral Equations and Their Applications)
D.M. Klimov , and V. Ph. Zhuravlev
Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

Group analysis of differential equations has applications to various problems in nonlinear mechanics and physics. For the first time, this book gives the systematic group analysis of main postulates of classical and relativistic mechanics. The consistent presentation of Lie group theory is illustrated by plentiful examples. Symmetries and conservation laws of differential equations are studied. Specific equations and problems of mechanics and physics are considered, and exact solutions are given for the following equations: dynamics of rigid body, heat transfer, wave, hydrodynamics, Thomas-Fermi and more. The author pays particular attention to the application of group analysis to developing asymptotic methods of applied mathematics in problems with small parameter. The methods are used to solve basic equations (Van Der Pol's equation, Duffing equation, etc.) encountered in the theory of nonlinear oscillations. This book is intended for a wide range of scientists, engineers and students in the fields of applied mathematics, mechanics and physics.

Continuous Symmetries, Lie Algebras, Differential Equations and Computer Algebra

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Continuous Symmetries, Lie Algebras, Differential Equations and Computer Algebra
Willi-Hans Steeb
Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 9810228910

Book Description

This book is a comprehensive introduction to the application of continuous symmetries and their Lie algebras to ordinary and partial differential equations. It is suitable for students and research workers whose main interest lies in finding solutions to differential equations. It therefore caters for readers primarily interested in applied mathematics and physics rather than pure mathematics.

The book provides an application-orientated text that is reasonably self-contained. A large number of worked examples have been included to help readers working independently of a teacher. The advance of algebraic computation has made it possible to write programs for the tedious calculations in this research field, and thus the book also makes a survey of computer algebra packages.

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Doctor Sax-Faust Part Three

Manufacturer: Grove Press, New York
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000I9CBDC

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Dr. Sax

Amazing tales from pulp sources

Kerouac the mystic.

Lowell superheroes

Journey through Time

Doctor Sax: Faust part three
Jack Kerouac
Manufacturer: Amereon House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Maggie Cassidy

Visions of Gerard: A Novel

The Subterraneans

Visions of Cody

Desolation Angels

ASIN: B0007I00F0

Customer Reviews:

Dr. Sax.......2007-09-11

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Jack Kerouac's (1922-- 1969) "On the Road." The Library of America, among others publishers, has marked the occasion with the publication of a new volume including five Kerouac "Road Novels". I wanted to reread other works by Kerouac besides the "road novels" that are in danger of being overlooked, and I turned to "Dr. Sax". Kerouac wrote "Dr. Sax" in 1952 while living with William Burroughs in Mexico City. It was a difficult time for both writers. Kerouac had already written "On the Road" but could not get it published. Burroughs had just accidentally killed his lover, Joan Vollmer, during a drunken game of "William Tell". "Dr. Sax" proved even more difficult to publish than "On the Road" and did not appear in print until 1959.

"Dr. Sax" differs from "On the Road" and the other books in the LOA collection in that it is set in Lowell, Massachusetts, the town where Kerouac grew up. Lowell is a small mill town on the banks of the Merrimack River. During Kerouac's boyhood, it was home to a substantial French-Canadian immigrant population, to a community of Greek Americans and to several other diverse ethnic groups. Kerouac's parents were both immigrants from French Canada. They spoke a dialect of French in their home and Kerouac did not learn English until he was about seven years old. A fascinating part of "Dr. Sax" is the French dialogue among Kerouac and his family -- with Kerouac immediately providing an English rendition in addition to the French.

The book is written from the perspective of an adult -- Kerouac in 1952 in Mexico City -- looking back and reflecting upon his childhood and early adolescence from the standpoint of his ongoing difficult life as a writer struggling for publication and combating his own inner demons of drugs and alcohol. It opens with a dream, and Kerouac tells the reader that "memory and dream are intermixed in this mad universe." The book features a strange character the young Kerouac invented named Dr. Sax, a sinister figure in a cape and slouch hat. Dr. Sax is accompanied by other bizzare characters including Count Cordu the Vampire, the Great Snake, the Wizard, and others who live in a large weed-grown abandoned house on a snake-infested hill just outside of Lowell. Kerouac conceived the idea of Dr. Sax from various comic books that were popular when he was a child.

"Dr. Sax" is memorable largely for the picture it draws of Kerouac's childhood and of Lowell. (Kerouac is named Jack Duluoz or "Ti Jean" in the book.) It gives good portraits of Kerouac's mother and father and of the family's many moves among the poorer neighborhoods of the town and of Kerouac's older sister and ill-fated brother Gerard who died when he was ten. Kerouac, Ti Jean is portrayed as a sensitive, imaginative and athletic child. The book offers portraints of Kerouac playing baseball and marbles, going to church, engaging in pranks and fights with his childhood friends and enemies, watching movies and reading books, experiencing the first flush of sexuality and learning to masturbate, and learning of death, in the person of Gerard and several others. The book also shows a great deal of Lowell and its environs, especially of a large flood that destroyed much of the city's downtown in 1936.

The story of young Ti Jean and of Lowell is punctuated by comic-book like tales of Dr. Sax. Dr. Sax also appears as a shadowy figure commenting upon and observing the life of young Kerouac and his family and friends. There is something sinister about Sax throughout most of the book. He is partly drawn from William Burroughs, as he is shown travelling through South and Central America for various "powders". In the lengthy final chapter of the book, Ti Jean accompanies Dr. Sax in a bizzare chapter in which Sax purports to ward off the forces of evil that threaten Lowell. The story gets a sharp wizard-of-Oz-like twist at the end.

With the comic characters and the surprise ending, there is a great deal of mad humor in Dr. Sax, but the tone still is predominantly one of melancholy and reflection. In one particularly good scene, Kerouac's dying uncle prophetically tells him: "my child poor Ti Jean, do you know my dear that you are destined to be a man of big sadness and talent-- it'll never to live or die, you'll suffer like others -- more" The Dr. Sax figure, similarly, seems to show the price Kerouac paid for becoming a writer. The book suggests -- with its subtitle "Faust Part Three" that Kerouac's writing was part of a Faustian bargain with Dr. Sax in which Kerouac paid for his literary imagination with a sad and tormented life.

Dr. Sax was Kerouac's favorite among his own novels, and many readers would among his work regard it as his best or second-best after "On the Road." (Other works have their own partisans as well.) This book will interest readers who want to see a lesser-known side of Kerouac. The book is written in a variety of styles. It is erratic and not easy reading. Those who are interested in Kerouac's portrayals of his life in Lowell might also enjoy "Maggie Cassidy" and Kerouac's first and underappreciated book, "The Town and the City".

Robin Friedman

Amazing tales from pulp sources.......2006-01-27

Who is Doctor Sax? At first glance, he appears as a shadowy, even frightening figure from pulp comics. He dons a cape and a slouch hat; he changes colors depending on the time of day. Is he a demonic figure, lurking in the darkness intent on catastrophic destruction or is he simply a regular guy in an atypical superhero type costume?

_Doctor Sax_ is basically a series of interconnected tales of the bizarre, as seen primarily through the eyes of its young protagonist, Jean Duluoz. Lowell, Mass. in the 1930s is the backdrop, and the realistic part of the novel includes Jean's interactions with his parents and his boyhood friends. Jean and his buddies engage in all the compulsory games of childhood, including baseball and shooting marbles. The book also contains a large section concerning the flooding of the Merrimac River during a spring thaw. As seen from some of the boys' point of view, the anticipated floods provide sheer excitement, while their adult counterparts react with fear and horror.

The fantasy part of the book, concerning haunted castles, demons, huge coiling snakes and an ultra-colossal sized bird, contains some of the best and most imaginative science fiction/fantasy writing ever. _Doctor Sax_ is not just merely a very superior pulp tale of good vs. evil, it is also a work of genius and wit. Mr. Kerouac, having written in an entirely different genre for him, has clearly outdone himself.

Kerouac the mystic........2005-10-30

This book gets you past the historical significance of his work and gives you direct contact with his deeper nature. You don't have to have any interest in "The Beat Generation" to enjoy this book or to appreciate its immense spiritual value.

Lowell superheroes.......2003-07-07

These are stories from Kerouac's childhood. The writing resembles that of the later Henry Roth. Among other things, each man wrote of boys swimming in the river and the magic highlighted style gives the reader the sense of swimming, too, a not alltogether positive experience in the built-up industrial areas described. Kerouac's writing is vigorous and interesting. Dr. Sax is a mythic, half real, half unreal character, something, someone, looming up, derelict. Dicky Hampshire wrote on a fence that Jack is a big punk, and so on and so forth. The community described is comprised of many French-Canadians and French terms and phrases are used. As to the swimming in the Merrimac River, it was polluted in those days prior to World War II in the area near Lowell. Kerouac writes of a silent Boott Mills, horse racing, marble playing, and ghosts. There is bowling at the social club. Movies and funnies get the attention of the children, boys, friends of Ti-Jean. Family names mentioned include Duluoz. Dr. Sax in a shroud stands on the shore. The castle is a heap of stones. The Shadow Magazine is of significance in the book. Flooding in the area sometime in the thirties is described. The boys go to Paul's porch in a rowboat.

Journey through Time.......2002-04-12

Jacks Dr Sax represents his thoughts,feelings and fantasies throughout his early years in Lowell. Masterfully told through pre-birth, present tense and future tense, Dr Sax weaves a tangled web of delight to those who take the plunge into the River called Kerouac. The chapter "The Night The Man With The Watermelon Died" is worth the price of admission alone. Thank God for Kerouac a good companion throughout lifes troubled waters.

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Doctor Sax: Faust Part Three

Manufacturer: Andre Deutsch
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HJN1D2

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Doctor Sax Faust Part Three
Jack Kerouac
Manufacturer: GROVE PRESS INC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VW6M90

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Doctor Sax: Faust Part Three
Jack Kerouac
Manufacturer: GROVE PRESS, INC.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OKGQC2

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