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This book explores urban environments and their impact on resilience, livability, climate adaptation, health, and societal well-being. It provides interdisciplinary insights for fostering resilient, livable, and sustainable cities prioritizing well-being and quality of life for all residents. The book covers various topics and discusses innovative approaches for incorporating nature into urban planning. It also examines the relationships between diet diversity, food environments, and transportation systems. Spatial analysis of noise contour maps based on traffic speed is conducted, along with an assessment of the impact of office environments on productivity. The book explores the influence of streetscapes on anxiety, envisions future cities from a youth perspective, and identifies critical factors affecting the design and use of elevated urban spaces. Daylighting performance in school expansions is evaluated, and the concept ofa livable city is examined. Community adaptive capacity for climate-resilient development is assessed through a case study analysis. The livability of street vendors in different urban contexts is compared, and alternative perspectives on restorative environments are presented. The book investigates the impact of urban refugees on cities and reevaluates scientific theories for human well-being-oriented built environments. It evaluates tourist satisfaction with urban railway systems and explores sport as a tool for healthy and sustainable cities.

The scope of occupational safety and health (OSH) has evolved gradually and consistently in response to variations that are socio-political or scientific, or generated by profit-seeking. In recent years, globalization of the world's economies and its impacts have been recognized as the greatest force for change in the domain of the workplace, and accordingly in the scope of OSH, both in positive and negative ways. OSH is a key element in achieving suitable working conditions and safety cultures.Environmental Health and Occupational Safety is a quick, easy-to-consult comprehensive overview of the issues pertaining to environmental health and OSH. This book equips readers with occupational health risks and hazardous environments encountered in various industrial and workplace settings besides providing basic information on issues related to technology, management, regulatory compliance, and important topics like air, water, and vector-borne diseases.Features: Clearly explains the key concepts of environmental health and OSH, and explores the benchmarks in the history of OSH. Talks about OSH as a sub-discipline of environmental health and its association with other disciplines. Comprehensive coverage of technical and scientific ideas underlying regulatory requirements and elucidates diverse facets of environmental health and OSH using flow charts and tabulations. The fact file at the beginning of each chapter highlights the key points on the themes covered in the chapter. This book serves as a reference book for advanced students and researchers in the disciplines of environmental sciences, environmental health, eco-toxicology, pharmacology, public health, and OSH, as well as industry and government departments dealing with environmental regulations and directives.

This book presents essential insights on the interaction between rising risks and raising the bar for resilience during the climate crisis. Its timeliness lies in applying important findings on risk and resilience to runaway climate change. When risk and resilience are brought together in the context of climate catastrophes, three key messages emerge. The first is that accounting for the root causes, and not just their symptoms, is essential to slowing these events. It is therefore vital to link carbon emissions from human activity to the sharp rise in climate disasters globally. The second is that growth economics and policy must factor in the failure of governments and businesses to tackle spillover harm from economic activities, as seen strikingly with global warming AND BIODIVERSITY LOSS. With climate risks rising, this calls for a fundamental revision of the framing of growth in the teaching and practice of business and economics. And third, prevention must become a far bigger part of resilience building, with preparedness to avert or handle tougher eventualities built into interventions. Emphasis on prevention deems disaster recovery as not just returning to how things were but building back better.

This book aims to provide evidence of the impact of climate change and urbanization on cities'urban environments thus on human health and wellbeing; and principles and methods for the improvement of the resilience of a city to extreme weather and long-term climatic changes through case studies. The book will have three themes of 1) Understanding the adverse environmental impact on human health and wellbeing; 2) analysis of adaptation and mitigation measures through modeling technologies; 3) providing best practice examples of the implementation of the proposed measures. The book will present the liveable cities including factors affecting liveability; ecological and biophilic city; economic values; health and well-being and opportunities for people. Physical and social health will be an important issue in the context of resilient cities. The widespread concerns will be addressed including physical and mental health; wellbeing in terms of building use;building surroundings and Biophilia; location in the context of sustainability and work-life balance; and spatial scale and community.

This book presents essential insights on the interaction between rising risks and raising the bar for resilience during the climate crisis. Its timeliness lies in applying important findings on risk and resilience to runaway climate change. When risk and resilience are brought together in the context of climate catastrophes, three key messages emerge.The first is that accounting for the root causes of these calamities, and not just their symptoms, is essential to slowing the spike in these events. It is therefore vital to link carbon emissions from human activity to the sharp rise in climate disasters globally. The second is that growth economics and policy must factor in the failure of governments and businesses to tackle spillover harm from economic activities, as seen dramatically with global warming. With climate risks rising, this calls for a fundamental revision in the teaching and practice of business and economics. And third, prevention must become a far bigger part of resilience building, with greater preparedness for more intense destruction built into interventions. This emphasis on prevention deems disaster recovery as not just returning to how things were but building back better.

This book examines the impacts that the COVID-19 lockdown has had on environmental and ecological health, with a focus on coastal ecosystems in the Lower Gangetic Delta. The book begins with an overview of COVID-19's spread and impact before and after the lockdown in the focus region, then addresses the specific impacts that the lockdown period had and continues to have on air quality, marine and estuarine water quality, coastal biodiversity, and the livelihoods of the region's inhabitants, especially those who live below the poverty line. The decrease in human activity combined with the complete closure of various sectors, including air travel, oil and gas drilling, and construction, has had a pronounced effect on biodiversity and overall environmental health that is yet to be fully realized. The book sheds light on these changes and assesses how biodiversity, ambient air quality, and ecosystem functioning will progress as COVID-19 remains a threat and the lockdown persists. The studywill be of interest to researchers, government officials and professionals dealing with disaster management, environmental science, biological science, and health.

This book has a primary focus on inclusions for solutions to problems and not just more on the nature of the current and emerging problems that most other competing titles present. The book is also a true global representation of challenges and opportunities that have been encountered, addressed, and critiqued from a wide variety of contributors rather than academicians per se. In doing so, rather than focusing on techno-centric prowess and associated case studies of the west (as is the case in most competing titles), the book also equally emphasizes upon the vulnerabilities and mitigating solutions being developed and tested in the under-developed and developing nations. Besides this, the book also acquires an ‘Equity'oriented focus and hints upon sustainable, inclusive modes of shaping our built environment throughout the contributing chapters. The book is also unique in the way it combines the chosen themes to provide a holistic coverage of the broader determinants of urban health and wellbeing, thus being better positioned to address SDG3 within one compact volume. The book also differs from a typical conference proceeding or a non-peer reviewed book since the book's highly theme specific approach is curated by a scientific peer review committee to carefully maintain diversity of contributions to the book. Cities have a profound power to support or hinder human health and wellbeing in countless ways. Achieving greater health equity has emerged in recent years as a key priority and consideration when designing cities to promote health and wellbeing, although there is a dearth of evidence and practical examples of research translation to guide cities and communities. The book accordingly exemplifies a pluralistic approach to achieving urban health equity which recognises and addresses critical aspects of geography, age, race, background, socioeconomic status, disability, gender etc. With interdisciplinary science clearly pointing to the role of the neighbourhood environment as one of the most important health determinants, this book will undoubtedly lead the next generation of urban health actors to build contextually responsive, equitable, empathic cities to benefit residents around the world. The book, rather than being focused purely on academic propositions for building equitable cities, offers a unique multi-stakeholder perspective by collaborating with the International Society for Urban Health's 18th International Conference on Urban Health. This unique collaboration allows access to hundreds of scientists, architects, urbanists, multilaterals, policymakers, non-profit leaders, and grassroots organizers. The book captures the voices and concerns of such diverse cross-sectoral professionals and showcases findings that turn evidence into action and impact in communities around the world.Chapter 14 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Eating locally and developing an urban-rural food continuum is a rapidly evolving movement. Integration of multi-functional forms of agriculture — termed New Forms of Urban Agriculture (NFUA) — could be a critical adaptation to strengthen this movement and for the sustainability of cities. While NFUA have the potential to provide diverse benefits to humans, there is an absence of reliable empirical data on the scale and impact of urban resources on NFUA which has a profound impact on its viability and sustainability. In this book, we shift the focus from how NFUA have potential to impact the urban system to investigate the potential impacts of urban resources on NFUA. Access to resources such as land, labour, clean water, etc. are major barriers to enter the agriculture sector in the cities; the chapters in this book present projects or reviews recent research on the subject from different cities in the world. This edited volume offers critical perspectives from diverse disciplines, expertise, and geographic contexts related to the actual and potential role of urban and peri-urban agriculture in the developing and the developed world where forms, adaptations, and debates around NFUA vary distinctively. Using and urban ecology lens, the book provides empirical evidence of how urban resources of land, water/waste, labour, and biodiversity impact NFUA.

This book aims to explore the impact of human alterations of Earth's ecological systems on human health. Human activities are producing fundamental biophysical changes faster than ever before in the history of our species, which are accompanied by dangerous health effects. Drawing on advanced ecological principles, the book demonstrates the importance of using systemic medicine to study the effects of ecological alterations on human health. Planetary Health is an interdisciplinary field, but first of all it must be systemic and it needs a preferential relationship between Ecology and Medicine. This relation is to be upgrading, because today both ecology and medicine pursue few systemic characters and few correct interrelations. We need to refer to new principles and methods sustained by the most advanced fields, as Landscape Bionomics and Systemic Medicine. Thus, we will be able to better discover environmental syndromes and their consequences on human health. Environmentaltransformations proposed by PHA (from biodiversity shifts to climate change) do not consider bionomic dysfunctions which can menace human health. On the contrary, finding advanced diagnostic criteria in landscape syndromes can strongly help to find the effects on human well-being. The passage from sick care to health care can't avoid the mentioned upgrading.

This book is a completely revised, substantially extended treatment of the physical and biological factors that drive life in high mountains. The book covers the characteristics of alpine plant life, alpine climate and soils, life under snow, stress tolerance, treeline ecology, plant water, carbon, and nutrient relations, plant growth and productivity, developmental processes, and two largely novel chapters on alpine plant reproduction and global change biology. The book explains why the topography driven exposure of plants to dramatic micro-climatic gradients over very short distances causes alpine biodiversity to be particularly robust against climatic change. Geographically, this book draws on examples from all parts of the world, including the tropics. This book is complemented with novel evidence and insight that emerged over the last 17 years of alpine plant research. The number of figures – mostly in color – nearly doubled, with many photographs providing a vividimpression of alpine plant life worldwide.Christian Körner was born in 1949 in Austria, received his academic education at the University of Innsbruck, and was full professor of Botany at the University of Basel from 1989 to 2014. As emeritus Professor he is continuing alpine plant research in the Swiss Alps.

This book presents research findings and conclusions that has been developed as algorithms or intelligent new methods solving problems in the fields of air pollution, climate and health, natural hazards and risks, water resources, human activities and management and informatics, remote sensing, high-performance computing and GIS for environmental monitoring and management. Environmental protection and disaster risk topics are challenging fields, that scientific world is trying to address as much as it can. Earthquakes, floods, fires, droughts, blizzards, dust storms, natural releases of toxic gases and liquids, diseases and other environmental variations affect hundreds of millions of people each year. Many disaster events are triggered by human activities. Dealing with these problems will require systems thinking and integrating multidisciplinary science. Actions in these directions are taken more and more in the recent years by political bodies, NGOs and scientific groups trying to find sustainable solutions for the future generations. Every point of view matter when it comes to our global home – The Planet Earth.

Soil is a vital support system for all life forms, and is directly or indirectly exposed to various pollutants and harmful chemicals. Any pollutant entering the soil system not only affects the quality of the soil, but also the plants and crops growing in it. Further, soil pollution has far-reaching impacts, since harmful chemicals can become biomagnified and enter the food chain, causing severe health concerns. Degraded soils can adversely affect various plant systems by creating biotic and abiotic stress, which increases the chances of biochemical and physiological disorders. Chronic diseases and lower yield have been reported as consequences of soil pollution. Drawing on decades of soil-related research, this book focuses on soil pollution, types of soil pollutants, and their impacts on plant physiological and biochemical systems, along with crop productivity. The book begins with a brief introduction to soil pollution and continues with a discussion of the different types and their effects, together with remediation methods. It highlights various sources of soil pollution such as herbicides, acidification, chemical fertilizers, sewage sludge, heavy metals, and radioactive pollutants. It also covers plant responses to combinations of pollutants, effects of pollutants on plant ultrastructure, interactions between pollutants and plant diseases, and interactions between pollutants and agricultural practices. In closing, it addresses the challenges involved in the restoration of degraded land, side effects of agricultural practices in the form of greenhouse gases, and strategies for mitigating these effects. Plant Responses to Soil Pollution offers an essential guide for students, environmental consultants, researchers and other professionals involved in soil and plant-related research.

Assesses a promising new approach to restoring the health of our bodies and our planet Most of us are familiar with probiotics added to milk or yogurt to improve gastrointestinal health. In fact, the term refers to any intervention in which life is used to manage life—from the microscopic, like consuming fermented food to improve gut health, to macro approaches such as biological pest control and natural flood management. In this ambitious and original work, Jamie Lorimer offers a sweeping overview of diverse probiotic approaches and an insightful critique of their promise and limitations. During our current epoch—the Anthropocene—human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment, leading to the loss of ecological abundance, diversity, and functionality. Lorimer describes cases in which scientists and managers are working with biological processes to improve human, environmental, and even planetary health, pursuing strategies that stand in contrast to the “antibiotic approach”: Big Pharma, extreme hygiene, and industrial agriculture. The Probiotic Planet focuses on two forms of “rewilding” occurring on vastly different scales. The first is the use of keystone species like wolves and beavers as part of landscape restoration. The second is the introduction of hookworms into human hosts to treat autoimmune disorders. In both cases, the goal is to improve environmental health, whether the environment being managed is planetary or human. Lorimer argues that, all too often, such interventions are viewed in isolation, and he calls for a rethinking of artificial barriers between science and policy. He also describes the stark and unequal geographies of the use of probiotic approaches and examines why these patterns exist. The author's preface provides a thoughtful discussion of the COVID-19 pandemic as it relates to the probiotic approach. Informed by deep engagement with microbiology, immunology, ecology, and conservation biology as well as food, agriculture, and waste management, The Probiotic Planet offers nothing less than a new paradigm for collaboration between the policy realm and the natural sciences.

This book chiefly focuses on environmental flow, water pollution and water quality. Several chapters also cover water treatment technologies and management. In today's context, climate change and climate variability are important issues in the water sector, which is called upon to develop adaptation strategies to cope with their negative impacts. Human health depends upon the quality of water used for drinking and irrigation purposes. These core issues are discussed and addressed in several chapters. The book explores the impact of climate change on water resources and considers various climatological scenarios. In this regard, it carries out a trend analysis and compares the performance of various Global Climate Models (GCMs). Further, it conducts a water quality analysis and water quality mapping so as to provide information on the most vulnerable areas in the context of water quality. Emerging pollutants, generated from paper mills, are identified in order to choose an appropriate treatment technology. Bioremediation techniques are included for the characterization of improved water quality parameters. The book also presents a low-cost treatment technology for fluoride removal, which can help water managers ensure potable water to stakeholders. In terms of maintaining river ecology in the downstream areas of water resources project sites, the book provides a number of case studies on assessment of environmental flows. Advanced treatment technologies that can be highly advantageous for removing water pollutants are presented. Given its scope, the book offers a valuable resource for academics, water resources practitioners, scientists, water managers, environmentalists, administrators, NGOs, researchers and students who are involved in water management with a main focus on water pollution, the environment, climate change and health.

CHOICE Recommended title 2022This timely book reframes the historic narrative of people, animals, and nature as risks to each other, to one where we think about health as a shared capacity. This new narrative promotes the positive contributions made to health across species and generations and addresses growing calls to shift from a reactive to proactive approach in One Health. Editor Craig Stephen takes the reader on a tour of the situations wherein we can all, regardless of our job description, work across species, sectors, and generations to motivate action. Perspectives and methods from a variety of fields and experts are shared and adapted to promote collaborative understanding of and action on determinants of health at the animal-society interface. Case studies demonstrate that the principles and practices presented are feasible, empowering people to make choices that concurrently benefit the health of animals, societies, and ecosystems. The first book to adapt and explain health promotion, harm reduction, and health equity issues in a One Health context, and in terms of animal health, this is necessary reading for students of and practitioners working in planetary health, conservation, ecohealth, public health, health promotion, veterinary medicine, and animal welfare.

This book focuses on the emerging health issues due to climate change, particularly emphasizing the situation in developing countries. Thanks to recent development in the areas of remote sensing, GIS technology, and downscale modeling of climate, it has now become possible to depict and predict the relationship between environmental factors and health-related event data with a meaningful spatial and temporal scale. The chapters address new aspects of environment-health relationship relevant to this smaller scale analyses, including how considering people's mobility changes the exposure profile to certain environmental factors, how considering behavioral characteristics is important in predicting diarrhea risks after urban flood, and how small-scale land use patterns will affect the risk of infection by certain parasites, and subtle topography of the land profile. Through the combination of reviews and case studies, the reader would be able to learn how the issues of health and climate/social changes can be addressed using available technology and datasets. The post-2015 UN agenda has just put forward, and tremendous efforts have been started to develop and establish appropriate indicators to achieve the SDG goals. This book will also serve as a useful guide for creating such an indicator associated with health and planning, in line with the Ecohealth concept, the major tone of this book. With the increasing and pressing needs for adaptation to climate change, as well as societal change, this would be a very timely publication in this trans-disciplinary field.

This edited volume brings together a diverse group of environmental science, sustainability and health researchers to address the challenges posed by global mass poisoning caused by arsenic water contamination. The book sheds light on this global environmental issue, and proposes solutions to aquatic contamination through a multi-disciplinary lens and case studies from Bangladesh and India. The book may serve as a reference to environment and sustainability researchers, students and policy makers.Part one of the book describes the issue of arsenic contamination in ground water and river basins, including its source and distribution in specific locations in India. Part two explains the routes of exposure to environmental arsenic, its transport in aquatic ecosystems, and the health risks linked to arsenic exposure in food and the environment. Part three addresses sustainable arsenic contamination mitigation strategies and policies, the socioeconomic, demographic, cultural and psychological aspects of arsenic contamination, and the potential applications of GIS and remote sensing in providing solutions. Part four concludes by discussing the role of local and regional institutions in water resources management for a variety of issues including but not limited to arsenic contamination, and presents a case study in the Indus river basin in Pakistan to propose future contamination mitigation strategies.

Organic and inorganic chemicals frequently exhibit toxic, mutagenic, carcinogenic, or sensitizing properties when getting in contact with the environment. This comprehensive introduction discusses risk assessment and analysis, environmental fate, transport, and breakdown pathways of chemicals, as well as methods for prevention and procedures for decontamination.

Près de vingt ans après la Conférence des Nations Unies sur l'environnement et le développement (le Sommet de Rio), la nécessité d'atténuer la pauvreté et d'améliorer les conditions de vie grâce à un accès plus équitable aux ressources, à l'utilisation judicieuse de ces dernières et à des milieux ambiants plus sains est toujours aussi vive. Conscients que la santé humaine est intimement liée aux écosystèmes, les chercheurs tracent de nouvelles voies vers un avenir plus durable. Une approche écosystémique de la santé, alliant la recherche et la pratique dans des domaines aussi variés que la gestion de l'environnement, la santé publique, la biodiversité et le développement économique, se fonde sur la conviction que l'être humain fait partie intégrante de systèmes socio-écologiques complexes. En présentant des études de cas menées dans diverses régions du monde, La Recherche Écosanté en pratique rend compte de pratiques novatrices en agriculture, gestion des ressources naturelles, renforcement des collectivités et prévention des maladies témoignant des plus récents progrès en ce qui concerne la recherche, ses applications et l'élaboration de politiques dans le domaine. Le livre montre les rouages de la recherche en écosanté et illustre comment elle a produit des changements qui ont amélioré de manière durable les conditions de vie des populations et les écosystèmes les soutenant. Dominique F. Charron dirige le programme Écosystèmes et santé humaine (Écosanté) du CRDI, qui examine les liens entre l'environnement et la santé humaine dans les pays en développement. Elle possède un doctorat en épidémiologie et un doctorat en médecine vétérinaire de l'Université de Guelph. En plus d'être fort instructif, cet ouvrage est une source d'inspiration. Les chapitres d'ouverture, la description des projets de recherche et les chapitres de clôture qui analysent la portée et les défis de l'écosanté forment un tout qui prouve à quel point il s'agit d'un domaine dynamique et en évolution constante doté d'une mission claire et animé par une communauté de praticiens scientifique toujours plus large.Mario–Henry RodríguezDirecteur général, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Mexique

Dieses Lehrbuch beschreibt alle Aspekte von Hygienemaßnahmen und Umweltschutz im Klinikum, gegliedert in einen allgemeinen und einen speziellen Teil. Die Erstauflage wurde gründlich überarbeitet, neue Kapitel und zahlreiche Literaturhinweise wurden mit aufgenommen. Der Inhalt umfaßt allgemeine Kapitel wie bauliche Maßnahmen, Vorkehrungen in der Krankenhausküche ebenso wie Empfehlungen zur Hygiene, Desinfektion und Sterilisation auf der Station, im Intensivbereich und im OP. Das Buch behandelt die speziellen Probleme in verschiedenen Fachgebieten wie Pädiatrie, HNO, Gynäkologie, Zahnmedizin und Augenheilkunde. Es ist ein Nachschlagewerk für Hygienefachkräfte, Labormediziner, Mitarbeiter in mikrobiologischen Abteilungen, Ärzte und Pflegepersonal.

The protection of human health and food and fiber resources against the ravages of pests of many sorts is a continuous struggle by all people in the world. The use of chemical pesticides as an aid in this struggle is now also global. These chemicals are deliberately added to the environment for the purpose of killing or injuring some form of life. Because pesticides are generally less selectively toxic than would be desired, non-target species, including humans, must be protected from injury by these chemicals. This can only be achieved by thorough understanding of the comparative toxicology of these compounds, and by minimizing human (and other desirable species) exposure. The latter can only be achieved by sound regulatory policies that utilize scientific principles and data, properly tempered by both gaps in that data and sociologic and economic considerations. This book contains the proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on'Toxicology of Pesticides: Experimental, Clinical and Regulatory Perspectives'held in Riva del Garda on October 6-15, 1986. This NATO-ASI has been promoted by the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington at Seattle, by the Institute of Pharmacological Sciences, University of Milano and by the Giovanni Lorenzini Foundation, and has been sponsored by both the Society of Toxicology (USA) and the Italian Society of Toxicology.

Human influences create both environmental problems and barriers to effective policy aimed at addressing those problems. In effect, environmental managers manage people as much as they manage the environment. Therefore, they must gain an understanding of the psychological and sociopolitical dimensions of environmental problems that they are attempting to resolve. In Environmental Problem Solving, Alan Miller reappraises conventional analyses of environmental problems using lessons from the psychosocial disciplines. He combines the disciplines of ecology, political sociology and psychology to produce a more adaptive approach to problem-solving that is specifically geared toward the environmetal field. Numerous case studies demonstrate the practical application of theory in a way that is useful to technical and scientific professionals as well as to policy makers and planners. Alan Miller is Professor of Psychology at the University of New Brunswick.

Vor einigen Jahren wurde an die VDI-Kommission Reinhaltung der Luft der Wunsch herangetragen, sie möge sich mit dem Problem der Luftqualität in großen Städten befassen und dabei auch Planungs­ aspekte berücksichtigen. Damals gab es nur wenige Richtlinien, Verordnungen und Vorschriften, die speziell auf die urbane Umwelt abgestimmt waren. Im Vorfeld der Richtlinienarbeit wurden daher von der Komission die beiden Kolloquien'Reinhaltung der Luft in großen Städten'am 8. -10. 12. 1982 in Berlin und - zusammen mit der VDI-Kommission Lärmminderung -'Umweltschutz in großen Städten'am 8. -10. 10. 1986 in München veranstaltet. Die Vorträge und Diskussionen auf diesen Kolloquien haben gezeigt, daß Bedarf sowohl für ein umfassendes Handbuch zu Fragen des Stadtklimas und der meteorologischen Probleme der Luftreinhaltung als auch für ein praxisnahes Handbuch für Stadt-, Regional-oder Landespla­ ner, in dem der Stand dieses Wissens auf klimatologischem und meteorologischem Gebiet übersichtlich dargestellt ist und das vor allem schnelle Entscheidungen ermöglicht, besteht. Zur Schließung dieser Lücken wurde im Juni 1984 der VDI-Aus­ schuß'Stadtklima und Luftreinhaltung'gegründet. Es wurde beschlossen, zwei getrennte Handbücher zu bearbeiten und mit den wissenschaftlichen Grundlagen zu beginnen. Die Mitarbeiter des Ausschusses haben die einzelnen Beiträge in eigener Verantwor­ tung, jedoch mit dem Ratschlag und der Hilfe des Ausschusses, verfaßt. Herr Prof. Dr. K. Höschele sah abschließend alle Beiträge kritisch durch und gab den Autoren wertvolle Anregungen für Er­ gänzungen. Den'Redakteuren'bleibt es, allen herzlich für ihre Beiträge und Mitarbeit zu danken.

The book begins by describing in detail the mechanisms of energy exchange – radiative, convective, conductive and evaporative – together with techniques for their determination. The discussion extends to the importance of CO2, ozone and methane, together with that of aerosol pollutants and the evolution of atmospheric CO2. Subsequent chapters apply the results of the biophysical methods to mammals, birds and aquatic animals. Discussion includes problems of shelter and shade for animals in tropical environments and techniques for the thermal evaluation for shelters and for several tree types. The details of heat exchange between animals and the environment are presented, in separate chapters covering Mammals and Birds and Aquatic Mammals. A chapter on Shade and Shelter describes the importance of shade for animals, factors of shade efficiency, the protections offered by shelter and methods of calculating the protection afforded by both shade and shelter. A Special Methods chapter offers a variety of techniques for evaluating cutaneous and respiratory evaporation, and practical methods for sampling of hairs and the evaluation of hair coat characteristics.

Mit Einführung des Abgas-Katalysators setzte die Diskussion über die möglichen Folgen von Platinmetall-Emissionen für die Umwelt ein. Nun liegt erstmals eine zusammenfassende Darstellung der bisherigen Forschungsergebnisse zu diesem aktuellen Thema vor. Anhand hochkarätiger Forschungsbeiträge aus Chemie, Geowissenschaften, Biologie und Medizin werden alle Aspekte der Platinmetall-Emissionen und ihre Auswirkungen auf Mensch und Natur zusammengestellt und diskutiert. Neben der Darstellung modernster Verfahren der Platinmetall-Analytik in verschiedenen Umweltkompartimenten und biologischen Materialien werden auch das geochemische Verhalten der Platinmetalle in Bezug auf ihre Mobilität, Löslichkeit und Bioverfügbarkeit in der Umwelt sowie ihr toxikologisches und allergologisches Gefährdungspotential aufgezeigt.

The Symposium on Radionuclides in the Food Chain, sponsored by the Interna­ tional Life Sciences Institute in association with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, was intended to bring together policymakers and other representatives of the food industry with radiation experts involved in measuring and assessing radioactivity in foodstuffs. The symposium was made timely by the problems arising from the nuclear reactor accident at Chernobyl, in the USSR, which brought out the lack of international agreement on guidance for responding to such radionuclide contamination of food and foodstuffs. The presentations by the radiation experts covered the sources of radionu­ clides-natural radioactivity, fallout from nuclear weapons tests, routine releases from nuclear facilities, and various nuclear accidents. The speakers represented a broad distribution in both scientific disciplines and international geographic origin. They summarized the available data on measurements and indicated the current procedures for assessing radiation exposure. It was hoped that the food industry representatives would bring out the problems posed to industry and governments by the presence of radioactivity in food.

This book is about doing innovative research to achieve sustainable and equitable change in people's health and well-being through improved interactions with the environment. It presents experiences from the field of ecosystem approaches to health (or ecohealth research) and some insights and lessons learned. It builds on previous literature, notably Forget (1997), Forget and Lebel (2001), Lebel (2003), and Waltner-Toews et al. (2008). Through case-studies and other contributions by researchers supported by Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the book presents evidence of real changes in conditions of people, their health, and the ecosystems that support them. These changes were derived from applications of an ecosystem approach to health in developing regions of the world. The book also illustrates the resulting body of applied, participatory, and action research that improved health and environmental management in developing countries and, in many cases, influenced policies and practices.

There has been a deluge of material on biodiversity, starting from a trickle back in the mid-1980's. However, this book is entirely unique in its treatment of the topic. It is unique in its meticulously crafted, scientifically informed, philosophical examination of the norms and values that are at the heart of discussions about biodiversity. And it is unique in its point of view, which is the first to comprehensively challenge prevailing views about biodiversity and its value. According to those dominant views, biodiversity is an extremely good thing – so good that it has become the emblem of natural value. The book's broader purpose is to use biodiversity as a lens through which to view the nature of natural value. It first examines, on their own terms, the arguments for why biodiversity is supposed to be a good thing. This discussion cuts a very broad and detailed swath through the scientific, economic, and environmental literature. It finds all these arguments to be seriously wanting. Worse, these arguments appear to have consequences that should dismay and perplex most environmentalists. The book then turns to a deeper analysis of these failures and suggests that they result from posing value questions from within a framework that is inappropriate for nature's value. It concludes with a novel suggestion for framing natural value. This new proposal avoids the pitfalls of the ones that prevail in the promotion of biodiversity. And it exposes the goals of conservation biology, restoration biology, and the world's largest conservation organizations as badly ill-conceived.

In recent years, species and ecosystems have been threatened by many anthropogenic factors manifested in local and global declines of populations and species. Although we consider conservation medicine an emerging field, the concept is the result of the long evolution of transdisciplinary thinking within the health and ecological sciences and the better understanding of the complexity within these various fields of knowledge. Conservation medicine was born from the cross fertilization of ideas generated by this new transdisciplinary design. It examines the links among changes in climate, habitat quality, and land use; emergence and re-emergence of infectious agents, parasites and environmental contaminants; and maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem functions as they sustain the health of plant and animal communities including humans. During the past ten years, new tools and institutional initiatives for assessing and monitoring ecological health concerns have emerged: landscape epidemiology, disease ecological modeling and web-based analytics. New types of integrated ecological health assessment are being deployed; these efforts incorporate environmental indicator studies with specific biomedical diagnostic tools. Other innovations include the development of non-invasive physiological and behavioral monitoring techniques; the adaptation of modern molecular biological and biomedical techniques; the design of population level disease monitoring strategies; the creation of ecosystem-based health and sentinel species surveillance approaches; and the adaptation of health monitoring systems for appropriate developing country situations. New Directions of Conservation Medicine: Applied Cases of Ecological Health addresses these issues with relevant case studies and detailed applied examples. New Directions of Conservation Medicine challenges the notion that human health is an isolated concern removed from the bounds of ecology and species interactions. Human health, animal health, and ecosystem health are moving closer together and at some point, it will be inconceivable that there was ever a clear division.

Since the implementation of catalysts containing platinum-group-elements (PGE) for the control of vehicle emissions in 1975, a controversial discussion has begun on PGE emissions and eventual consequences for the environment. However, a comprehensive overview of the various works and results in different scientific areas is still lacking. This book covers all aspects of anthropogenic PGE emissions and their consequences for man and environment. The interdisciplinary approach is substantiated by contributions from the fields of environmental geosciences, analytical chemistry, biology and occupational medicine. The articles mirror the actual status of scientific work and discuss environmentally related topics. Modern analytical methods for various environmental matrices as well as models of the current and future geochemical behaviour of PGE in the environment are presented. Bioavailability and toxicological and allergic potentials are discussed.

Ecosystems and Human Health introduces Ecohealth as an emerging field of study, traces its evolution, and explains its applications in cross-disciplinary and holistic programs. Its integrative approach not only focuses on managing the environment to improve health, but also analyzes underlying social and economic determinants of health to develop innovative, people-centered interventions.

In recent years, the concept of environmental security has been adapted to include preparedness for acts of ecoterrorism. This latter term has now become synonymous with environmental terrorism where the perpetrator uses the environment as a weapon to harm an opponent. The intended outcome is usually large-scale deaths, severe damage to the environment, and instilling fear in the general population. This book explores various facets of ecoterrorism including the role of the state in pursuing and maintaining environmental security, a review of the concept of ecoterrorism, food security challenges and weaknesses, technological countermeasures to enable rapid detection or response, and existing pollution sources and hazards that may serve as targets for terrorist acts. In sum, this volume provides a useful overview for both the layperson and experienced researchers.

Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology attempts to provide concise, critical reviews of timely advances, philosophy and significant areas of accomplished or needed endeavor in the total field of xenobiotics, in any segment of the environment, as well as toxicological implications.

Complex chemical mixtures impact our health every day. In the United States, and also in Central and Eastern Europe, there are a number of locations where complex chemical mixtures have been released to environmental media. Although exposure to mixtures is common, minimal information exists to quantify these exposures, or to determine their impact on human or ecological receptors. These proceedings present some of the most current research conducted to quantify complex mixtures in the environment and investigate their potential impact on human health. Many of the manuscripts reported in these proceedings represent the most up-to-date measurements of population exposures in Central and Eastern Europe. These studies are of value to health and environmental professionals around the world as they develop strategies for assessing exposures, remediating contaminated environments, and improving public health.

Under the Weather is a fact-filled look at the links between health and climate. Pat Thomas details both short-term and life-threatening conditions that can be aggravated by the weather and explains how to ease symptoms and protect yourself from the weather's growing extremes.