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Macro-Engineering and the Earth

Author : U W Kitzinger

Publisher : Elsevier

Page : 283 pages

File Size : 37,93 MB

Release : 1998-11-01

Category : Technology & Engineering

ISBN : 1782420584

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Book Description

This work delivers ideas, comments and projects on energy, communications, transport, management, human resources, and financial and legal issues which macroengineering can contribute towards the solution of the Earth's environmental problems. Some 20 engineers and scholars identify problems in the next century whose solutions call for international policy planning and a more collaborative, peaceful and prosperous world order.Imaginative concepts employ forward thinking for applying technology in revolutionary projects. The book presents results of research on a triple helical turbine capable of extracting vast amounts of energy from slow-moving water, an invention which could harness rivers and ocean currents, rendering high dams (with their political, social and ecological implications) redundant. These turbines are already in mass production in the USA for use in the Gulf Stream to produce energy and hydrogen fuel, and can also be used to harness power from the wind.Another project, for which the technology is already available, will harvest solar energy by satellites stationed beyond our atmosphere and beam it to the Earth; and yet another calls for planetary defence of Earth against asteroid collisions. The environmental section discusses large projects for changing our climate, planning and costing for a sub-Mediterranean aqueduct connecting the River Rhone in France with Algeria, and plans for intensive fish farming of the oceans. The role of satellites includes telemedicine, and there are Swiss plans for further tunnelling through the Alps. Project management sections include the formation of a military-civilian conservation corps, financial and legal issues, macro-projects in China, and a forecast of 21st century macro-problems. - Delivers ideas, comments and projects on energy, communications, transport, management, human resources, and financial and legal issues which macroengineering can contribute to the solution of the Earth's environmental problems - Identifies problems in the next century whose solutions call for international policy planning and a more collaborative, peaceful and prosperous world order - Presents research on a triple helical turbine capable of extracting vast amounts of energy from slow-moving water



Macro-Engineering

Author : V. Badescu

Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media

Page : 322 pages

File Size : 23,52 MB

Release : 2007-05-27

Category : Technology & Engineering

ISBN : 1402046049

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Book Description

Macro-engineering involves the large-scale modification and manipulation of natural systems for the benefit of mankind. The primary goals of some Earth-based macroprojects described in this book are power production, land reclamation, food production, climate change, water, transport and coastal protection. Other Earth or space projects considered here have a more futuristic ring, but our present-day technical skill makes their realization possible.



Macro-engineering Seawater in Unique Environments

Author : Viorel Badescu

Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media

Page : 808 pages

File Size : 42,80 MB

Release : 2011-02-09

Category : Science

ISBN : 3642147798

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Book Description

The subjects refer to histories of ancient and modern use of seacoasts; possible macro-projects capable of massive changes in the coastlines of the Dead Sea, Red Sea and Persian Gulf caused by canal and massively scaled hydropower dam installations; relevant macro-projects for the Black Sea and Baltic Sea; possibilities of refreshment of the Aral Sea and Iran’s Lake Uremia with seawater or river freshwater importation macro-projects; potential rehabilitation of some vital arid zone regions now dominated by moving or movable surface granular materials using unique and unusual macro-projects; seawater flooding of land regions situated below present-day global sea-level; harnessing energy and obtaining freshwater from the world’s salt-laden ocean by modern industrial means; various macro-projects designed specifically for the protection (reduction of vulnerability) of particular Earth geographical regions.



Engineering Earth

Author : Stanley D. Brunn

Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media

Page : 2248 pages

File Size : 43,80 MB

Release : 2011-03-19

Category : Social Science

ISBN : 9048199204

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Book Description

This is the first book to examine the actual impact of physical and social engineering projects in more than fifty countries from a multidisciplinary perspective. The book brings together an international team of nearly two hundred authors from over two dozen different countries and more than a dozen different social, environmental, and engineering sciences. Together they document and illustrate with case studies, maps and photographs the scale and impacts of many megaprojects and the importance of studying these projects in historical, contemporary and postmodern perspectives. This pioneering book will stimulate interest in examining a variety of both social and physical engineering projects at local, regional, and global scales and from disciplinary and trans-disciplinary perspectives.



Sinkable

Author : Daniel Stone

Publisher : Penguin

Page : 245 pages

File Size : 37,83 MB

Release : 2022-08-16

Category : History

ISBN : 0593329392

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Book Description

From the national bestselling author of The Food Explorer, a fascinating and rollicking plunge into the story of the world’s most famous shipwreck, the RMS Titanic On a frigid April night in 1912, the world’s largest—and soon most famous—ocean liner struck an iceberg and slipped beneath the waves. She had scarcely disappeared before her new journey began, a seemingly limitless odyssey through the world’s fixation with her every tragic detail. Plans to find and raise the Titanic began almost immediately. Yet seven decades passed before it was found. Why? And of some three million shipwrecks that litter the ocean floor, why is the world still so fascinated with this one? In Sinkable, Daniel Stone spins a fascinating tale of history, science, and obsession, uncovering the untold story of the Titanic not as a ship but as a shipwreck. He explores generations of eccentrics, like American Charles Smith, whose 1914 recovery plan using a synchronized armada of ships bearing electromagnets was complex, convincing, and utterly impossible; Jack Grimm, a Texas oil magnate who fruitlessly dropped a fortune to find the wreck after failing to find Noah’s Ark; and the British Doug Woolley, a former pantyhose factory worker who has claimed, since the 1960s, to be the true owner of the Titanic wreckage. Along the way, Sinkable takes readers through the two miles of ocean water in which the Titanic sank, showing how the ship broke apart and why, and delves into the odd history of our understanding of such depths. Author Daniel Stone studies the landscape of the seabed, which in the Titanic’s day was thought to be as smooth and featureless as a bathtub. He interviews scientists to understand the decades of rust and decomposition that are slowly but surely consuming the ship. (It is expected to disappear entirely within a few decades!) He even journeys over the Atlantic, during a global pandemic, to track down the elusive Doug Woolley. And Stone turns inward, looking at his own dark obsession with both the Titanic and shipwrecks in general, and why he spends hours watching ships sink on YouTube. Brimming with humor, curiosity and wit, Sinkable follows in the tradition of Susan Orlean and Bill Bryson, offering up a page-turning work of personal journalism and an immensely entertaining romp through the deep sea and the nature of obsession.



Control and Optimal Control Theories with Applications

Author : D N Burghes

Publisher : Elsevier

Page : 401 pages

File Size : 16,55 MB

Release : 2004-12-01

Category : Mathematics

ISBN : 0857099493

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Book Description

This sound introduction to classical and modern control theory concentrates on fundamental concepts. Employing the minimum of mathematical elaboration, it investigates the many applications of control theory to varied and important present-day problems, e.g. economic growth, resource depletion, disease epidemics, exploited population, and rocket trajectories. An original feature is the amount of space devoted to the important and fascinating subject of optimal control. The work is divided into two parts. Part one deals with the control of linear time-continuous systems, using both transfer function and state-space methods. The ideas of controllability, observability and minimality are discussed in comprehensible fashion. Part two introduces the calculus of variations, followed by analysis of continuous optimal control problems. Each topic is individually introduced and carefully explained with illustrative examples and exercises at the end of each chapter to help and test the reader's understanding. Solutions are provided at the end of the book. - Investigates the many applications of control theory to varied and important present-day problems - Deals with the control of linear time-continuous systems, using both transfer function and state-space methods - Introduces the calculus of variations, followed by analysis of continuous optimal control problems



Start-Up Creation

Author : F. Pacheco-Torgal

Publisher : Woodhead Publishing

Page : 512 pages

File Size : 43,52 MB

Release : 2016-05-14

Category : Computers

ISBN : 0081005490

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Book Description

Start-Up Creation: The Smart Eco-efficient Built Environment provides a state-of-the-art review on high-technology applications and explains how these can be applied to improve the eco-efficiency of the built environment. Divided into four main parts, the book explains the key factors behind successful startup companies that grow from university research, including the development of a business plan, the importance of intellectual property, necessary entrepreneurial skills, and innovative thinking. Part Two presents the latest research findings on nano and bio-based technologies and their application and use to the energy efficiency of the built environment. Part Three focuses on the use of genetic algorithms, Big Data, and the Internet of Things applications. Finally, the book ends with an entire section dedicated to App development using selected case studies that illustrate their application and use for monitoring building energy-efficiency. Presents a definitive guide for startups that arise from college and university research, and how the application of advanced technologies can be applied to the built environment Includes case studies on new advanced technologies and apps development Links startup creation to the eco-efficient built environment through software applications



Terraforming Mars

Author : Martin Beech

Publisher : John Wiley & Sons

Page : 596 pages

File Size : 37,14 MB

Release : 2021-12-09

Category : Science

ISBN : 1119761964

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Book Description

TERRAFORMING MARS This book provides a thorough scientific review of how Mars might eventually be colonized, industrialized, and transformed into a world better suited to human habitation. The idea of terraforming Mars has, in recent times, become a topic of intense scientific interest and great public debate. Stimulated in part by the contemporary imperative to begin geoengineering Earth, as a means to combat global climate change, the terraforming of Mars will work to make its presently hostile environment more suitable to life—especially human life. Geoengineering and terraforming, at their core, have the same goal—that is to enhance (or revive) the ability of a specific environment to support human life, society, and industry. The chapters in this text, written by experts in their respective fields, are accordingly in resonance with the important, and ongoing discussions concerning the human stewardship of global climate systems. In this sense, the text is both timely and relevant and will cover issues relating to topics that will only grow in their relevance in future decades. The notion of terraforming Mars is not a new one, as such, and it has long played as the background narrative in many science fiction novels. This book, however, deals exclusively with what is physically possible, and what might conceivably be put into actual practice within the next several human generations. Audience Researchers in planetary science, astronomy, astrobiology, space engineering, architecture, ethics, as well as members of the space industry.



If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens ... WHERE IS EVERYBODY?

Author : Stephen Webb

Publisher : Springer

Page : 442 pages

File Size : 35,36 MB

Release : 2015-05-18

Category : Science

ISBN : 3319132369

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Book Description

Given the fact that there are perhaps 400 billion stars in our Galaxy alone, and perhaps 400 billion galaxies in the Universe, it stands to reason that somewhere out there, in the 14-billion-year-old cosmos, there is or once was a civilization at least as advanced as our own. The sheer enormity of the numbers almost demands that we accept the truth of this hypothesis. Why, then, have we encountered no evidence, no messages, no artifacts of these extraterrestrials? In this second, significantly revised and expanded edition of his widely popular book, Webb discusses in detail the (for now!) 75 most cogent and intriguing solutions to Fermi's famous paradox: If the numbers strongly point to the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations, why have we found no evidence of them? Reviews from the first edition: "Amidst the plethora of books that treat the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligence, this one by Webb ... is outstanding. ... Each solution is presented in a very logical, interesting, thorough manner with accompanying explanations and notes that the intelligent layperson can understand. Webb digs into the issues ... by considering a very broad set of in-depth solutions that he addresses through an interesting and challenging mode of presentation that stretches the mind. ... An excellent book for anyone who has ever asked ‘Are we alone?’." (W. E. Howard III, Choice, March, 2003) "Fifty ideas are presented ... that reveal a clearly reasoned examination of what is known as ‘The Fermi Paradox’. ... For anyone who enjoys a good detective story, or using their thinking faculties and stretching the imagination to the limits ... ‘Where is everybody’ will be enormously informative and entertaining. ... Read this book, and whatever your views are about life elsewhere in the Universe, your appreciation for how special life is here on Earth will be enhanced! A worthy addition to any personal library." (Philip Bridle, BBC Radio, March, 2003) Since gaining a BSc in physics from the University of Bristol and a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Manchester, Stephen Webb has worked in a variety of universities in the UK. He is a regular contributor to the Yearbook of Astronomy series and has published an undergraduate textbook on distance determination in astronomy and cosmology as well as several popular science books. His interest in the Fermi paradox combines lifelong interests in both science and science fiction.



The Astrobiological Landscape

Author : Milan M. Ćirković

Publisher : Cambridge University Press

Page : 275 pages

File Size : 39,89 MB

Release : 2012-06-21

Category : Science

ISBN : 1139510258

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Book Description

Astrobiology is an expanding, interdisciplinary field investigating the origin, evolution and future of life in the universe. Tackling many of the foundational debates of the subject, from discussions of cosmological evolution to detailed reviews of common concepts such as the 'Rare Earth' hypothesis, this volume is the first systematic survey of the philosophical aspects and conundrums in the study of cosmic life. The author's exploration of the increasing number of cross-over problems highlights the relationship between astrobiology and cosmology and presents some of the challenges of multidisciplinary study. Modern physical theories dealing with the multiverse add a further dimension to the debate. With a selection of beautifully presented illustrations and a strong emphasis on constructing a unified methodology across disciplines, this book will appeal to graduate students and specialists who seek to rectify the fragmented nature of current astrobiological endeavour, as well as curious astrophysicists, biologists and SETI enthusiasts.