With the threat of global warming and the gradual depletion of petroleum supplies, solar electric power is rapidly becoming a significant part of our energy mix. The range of solar cells spans ...different materials and different structures in the quest to extract maximum power from the device while keeping the cost to a minimum. Devices with efficiency exceeding 30% have been demonstrated in the laboratory. All subjects are presented from the fundamental level to the highest level of current research. This book includes subjects such as energy related environmental problems, solar collectors, solar water heating, solar space heating and cooling, industrial process heat, solar desalination, photovoltaics, solar thermal power systems and modeling of solar systems including the use of artificial intelligence systems in solar energy systems modeling and performance prediction.
The Caribbean Coot (Fulica caribaea) is endemic to the Caribbean region where it is uncommon to rare. Little is known about its breeding biology. From museum specimens, archives and correspondence, ...we document 134 records for Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, from the years 1955-2004, and map their distribution. The islands are arid and rainfall can be unpredictable but with the establishment of permanent freshwater ponds since the 1970s, the Caribbean Coot appears to have become more common. We recorded 68 cases of breeding for the three islands. Although breeding can occur in almost any month, there is a clear preponderance for birds to breed in the first few calendar months of the year, approximately three months after the annual peak in rainfall.
Use of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in couples with mild oligoteratoasthenozoospermia decreases the complete fertilization failure rate and may also reduce the embryo cleavage rate. ICSI ...does not benefit couples with normal sperm.
It is widely assumed that a well-designed and well-implemented constitution can help ensure religious harmony in modern states. Yet how correct is this assumption? Drawing on groundbreaking research ...from Sri Lanka, this book argues persuasively for another possibility: when it comes to religion, relying on constitutional law may not be helpful, but harmful; constitutional practice may give way to pyrrhic constitutionalism. Written in a lucid and direct style, and aimed at both specialists and non-specialists, Buddhism, Politics and the Limits of Law explains why constitutional law has deepened, rather than diminished, conflicts over religion in Sri Lanka. Examining the roles of Buddhist monks, civil society groups, political coalitions and more, the book provides the first extended study of the legal regulation of religion in Sri Lanka as well as the first book-length analysis of the intersections of Buddhism and contemporary constitutional law.
The global coffee industry, which fuels the livelihoods of
farmers, entrepreneurs, and consumers around the world, rests on
fragile ecological foundations. In Coffee Is Not Forever,
Stuart McCook ...explores the transnational story of this essential
crop through a history of one of its most devastating diseases, the
coffee leaf rust. He deftly synthesizes agricultural, social, and
economic histories with plant genetics and plant pathology to
investigate the increasing interdependence of the world's
coffee-producing zones. In the process, he illuminates the progress
and prognosis of the challenges-especially climate change-that pose
an existential threat to a crop that global consumers often take
for granted. And finally, in putting a tropical plant disease at
the forefront, he has crafted the first truly global environmental
history of coffee, pushing its study and the discipline in bold new
directions.
. In order to restore natural salt marsh in a 460‐ha nature reserve established in man‐made salt marsh in the Dollard estuary, The Netherlands, the artificial drainage system was neglected and cattle ...grazing reduced. Vegetation changes were traced through two vegetation surveys and monitoring of permanent plots over 15 yr after the management had been changed. Exclosure experiments were started to distinguish grazing effects from effects of increased soil waterlogging caused by the neglect of the drainage system.
Both vegetation surveys and permanent plots demonstrated a dichotomy in vegetation succession. The incidence of secondary pioneer vegetation dominated by Salicornia spp. and Suaeda maritima increased from 0 to 20%, whereas the late‐successional (Phragmites australis) vegetation from 10 to 15%. Grazing intensity decreased towards the sea. The grazed area contracted landward, which allowed vegetation dominated by tall species to increase seaward.
Grazing and increased waterlogging interacted in several ways. The impact of trampling increased, and in the intensively grazed parts soil salinity increased. This can probably be explained by low vegetation cover in spring.
Framework Ordination, an indirect‐gradient‐analysis technique, was used to infer the importance of environmental factors in influencing changes in species composition. Many changes were positively or negatively correlated with soil aeration and soil salinity, whereas elevation was of minor importance. Grazing accounted for only a few changes in species frequency. Changes in permanent plots were greater during the first than during the second half of the study period. In exclosures that were installed halfway through the study period, there was a relatively rapid recovery of previously dominant species that had decreased during the first half of the study period.
Species richness per unit area in the reserve increased. At the seaward side of the marsh, the altered management allowed succession to proceed leading to establishment of stands of Phragmites australis, whereas on the landward side, the combination of moderate grazing with neglect of the drainage system appeared an effective measure in maintaining habitats for a wider range of halophytic species.
In an important contribution to educational policy, Daniele Checchi offers an economic perspective on the demand and supply of education. He explores the reasons why, beyond a certain point, ...investment in education has not resulted in reductions in social inequalities. Starting with the seminal work of Gary Becker, Checchi provides an extensive survey of the literature on human capital and social capital formation. He draws on individual data on intergenerational transmission of income and education for the USA, Germany and Italy, as well as aggregate data on income and educational inequality for a much wider range of countries. Checchi explores whether resources spent in education are effective in raising students' achievement, as well as analysing alternative ways of financing education. The Economics of Education thus provides the analytical tools necessary to understand the complex relationships between current income inequality, access to education and future inequality.
To restore natural salt-marsh habitats, maintenance of the artificial drainage system was discontinued and cattle grazing was reduced in man-made salt marshes in the Dollard estuary, the Netherlands. ...We studied the vegetation development in these marshes shortly after these marshes became a nature reserve, and again 8-9 years later. Cattle distribution showed a gradient of intensive use close to the landward seawall to a low or zero use more seawards. Elymus repens was mainly found at the highest elevations and in the landward parts of the marsh, and lost much of its dominance. Conversely, Aster tripolium increased landwards, and showed a shift to higher marsh elevations. These changes are explained by the interaction between increased soil waterlogging in the marsh, due to the neglect of the drainage system, and cattle grazing. Phragmites australis, Spartina anglica and Scirpus maritimus were mainly found in the seaward parts of the marsh. Spartina anglica and Scirpus maritimus decreased strongly, partly through competitive replacement by Phragmites australis and partly due to herbivory by greylag geese (Anser anser). Bare soil increased in depressions due to increased waterlogging in the marsh combined with livestock grazing and goose grubbing. Phragmites australis probably forms the climax vegetation in the brackish Dollard marshes. Its increase in the seaward parts is irreversible in practice, but will benefit reed-bed breeding birds. On the landward side, the combination of neglect of the drainage system with moderate grazing may be effective in maintaining young successional stages suitable for a wider range of halophytic plants, and for breeding redshank and grazing waterfowl.
After a breakdown in employment relations in the maintenance section of a higher education institution, the authors were asked to intervene in order to try and solve the employment relations conflict ...situation. It was decided to employ the Nominal Group Technique (NGT) as a tool in problem identification during conflict in the workplace. An initial investigation of documentation and interviews with prominent individuals in the organisation was carried out. The NGT was then used in four focus group discussions to determine the important issues as seen by staff members. The NGT facilitates the determination of shared perceptions and the ranking of ideas. The NGT was used in diverse groups, necessitating adaptations to the technique. The perceived causes of the conflict were established. The NGT can be used in a conflict situation in the workplace in order to establish the perceived causes of employment relations conflict.
