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System Performance and Management Analytics (Asset Analytics)
by P. K. Kapur Yury Klochkov Ajit Kumar Verma Gurinder SinghThis book shares key insights into system performance and management analytics, demonstrating how the field of analytics is currently changing and how it is used to monitor companies’ efforts to drive performance.Managing business performance facilitates the effective accomplishment of strategic and operational goals, and there is a clear and direct correlation between using performance management applications and improved business and organizational results. As such, performance and management analytics can yield a range of direct and indirect benefits, boost operational efficiency and unlock employees’ latent potential, while at the same time aligning services with overarching goals.The book addresses a range of topics, including software reliability assessment, testing, quality management, system-performance management, analysis using soft-computing techniques, and management analytics. It presents a balanced, holistic approach to viewing the world from both a technical and managerial perspective by considering performance and management analytics. Accordingly, it offers a comprehensive guide to one of the most pressing issues in today’s technology-dominated world, namely, that most companies and organizations find themselves awash in a sea of data, but lack the human capital, appropriate tools and knowledge to use it to help them create a competitive edge.
Systems Thinking for Management Consultants: Introducing Holistic Flexibility (Flexible Systems Management)
by Rajneesh ChowdhuryThis book discusses how systems thinking and approaches can aid management consultants in navigating the complexities of client advisory in current realities. It thereby brings to the forefront aspects of holism, flexibility and responsibility - the keys to success in today’s world. Management consultants are called in to offer an independent expert view of an organisation/ a situation and are expected to address some of the most pressing problems businesses face. The client does not exist in a silo, but in a complex environment that lies at the intersection of a range of internal and external factors that are often unseen and unpredictable. The organisation itself presents an alien territory that the consultant is expected to acclimatise to within a very short period of time, and come up with solutions that “insiders” would not have been able to visualise. The book presents a range of ideas, concepts and reference cases that are relevant and topical for consultants in their daily work. It argues that systems thinking allows holism and flexibility in management consulting – while holism is about the ability to encompass the environmental and organisational complexity, flexibility is about the ability to think creatively and adopt different approaches to accommodate this complexity. With commentaries, case studies, conceptual models and perspectives that cut across multiple industries, sectors and countries, this book is a valuable resource for academics and professionals alike. The book’s inner pages and its page on Springer.com contain additional comments providing perspectives of clients, industry experts and academia.
Taking Back Our Food Supply: How to Lead the Local Food Revolution to Reclaim a Healthy Future
by Michael BrownleeTaking Back Our Food Supply is a rousing call to reverse the devastating juggernaut of the industrial food system by igniting a grassroots local food revolution! Our food supply has been hijacked by an unholy alliance of multinational corporations in big agriculture, big food, and big pharma. This industrial food system is killing us and rapidly destroying the biosphere. Restoring food sovereignty and food security is now the most important and most urgent cause of our time, calling for nothing less than a grassroots revolution. In Taking Back Our Food Supply, Michael Brownlee shows readers how to master the seven steps of building a resilient regional food shed and illustrates how to ignite the local food revolution in their community to a radically increased level of impact, effectiveness, and scale.
Taking the Land to Make the City: A Bicoastal History of North America (Lateral Exchanges: Architecture, Urban Development, and Transnational Practices)
by Mary P. RyanThis historical study shows how San Francisco and Baltimore were central to American expansion through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The history of the United States is often told as a movement westward, beginning at the Atlantic coast and following farmers across the continent. But early settlements and towns sprung up along the Pacific as well as the Atlantic, as Spaniards and Englishmen took Indian land and converted it into private property. In this ambitious study of historical geography and urban development, Mary P. Ryan reframes the story of American expansion. Baltimore and San Francisco share common roots as early coastal trading centers immersed in the international circulation of goods and ideas. Ryan traces their beginnings back to the first human habitation of each area, showing how the juggernaut toward capitalism and nation-building could not commence until Europeans had taken the land for city building. She then recounts how Mexican ayuntamientos and Anglo-American city councils pioneered a prescient form of municipal sovereignty that served as both a crucible for democracy and a handmaid of capitalism. Moving into the nineteenth century, Ryan shows how the citizens of Baltimore and San Francisco molded the shape of the modern city: the gridded downtown, rudimentary streetcar suburbs, and outlying great parks. This history culminates in the era of the Civil War when the economic engines of cities helped forge the East and the West into one nation.
Tapestry Lawns: Freed from Grass and Full of Flowers
by Lionel SmithSwathes of the human world are covered in ornamental grass lawns; they are the single most commonly encountered horticultural feature on the planet. Unfortunately, they are now often viewed as resource-draining green deserts due to the lack of plant and animal diversity, the need for frequent mowing and watering, and addition of lawn greening products to keep them looking at their best. It is a venerable horticultural feature that is essentially frozen in time, and with few alternatives to whet the appetite, the lawn has languished in its current grass-only format for decades. Until now. Tapestry lawns are a new, practically researched and timely development of the ornamental lawn format that integrates both horticultural practice and ecological science and re-determines the potential of a lawn. Mown barely a handful of times a year and with no need for fertilisers or scarifying, tapestry lawns are substantially richer in their diversity of plant and animal life compared to traditional grass-only lawns and see the return of flowers and colour to a format from which they are usually purposefully excluded. Tapestry Lawns: Freed from Grass and Full of Flowers traces the changes in the lawn format from its origins to the modern day and offers information on how and why the tapestry lawn construct is now achievable. It provides guidance on how to create and maintain a tapestry lawn of your own and champions the potential benefits for wildlife that can follow. Features Accessible and informative to all types of readers from academic to amateur Includes a refined and tested set of useful tapestry lawn plants Contains step-by-step instructions for creation and management methods of grass-free lawns Illustrated in full colour If you have ever thought about mowing your lawn much less, making it much more colourful and wildlife friendly, then this book will inform and guide you to create a perfect, grass-free lawn.
Teaching Methodologies in Structural Geology and Tectonics (Springer Geology)
by Soumyajit MukherjeeThis edited book discusses various challenges in teaching structural geology and tectonics and how they have been overcome by eminent instructors, who employed effective and innovative means to do so. All of the chapters were written by prominent and active academics and geoscientists fully engaged in teaching Structural Geology and Tectonics. New instructors will find this book indispensible in framing their teaching strategy. Effective teaching of Structural Geology and Tectonics constitutes the backbone of geoscience education. Teaching takes place not only in classrooms, but also in labs and in the field. The content and teaching methodologies for these two fields have changed over time, shaped by the responsibilities that present-day geoscientists are expected to fulfill.
Technologies and Eco-innovation towards Sustainability I: Eco Design of Products and Services
by Mitsutaka Matsumoto Allen H. Hu Tsai Chi Kuo Shana SmithThis 2-volume book covers the state-of-the-art of the research and practices on eco-design. It covers the latest topics in the field: e.g. global eco-design management, big data in eco-design, social perspectives in eco-design; as well as emphasizing the developments in emerging economies such as Asian countries. Eco-design of products and product-related services are indispensable to realize the circular economy and to increase resource efficiencies of our society. Eco-design practices are necessary both in developed countries and developing countries. The book chapters are contributed by the worldwide authors, especially authors from East Asian countries, European countries, and Southeast Asian countries, and contains selected presentations at the EcoDesign2017 symposium (10th International Symposium on Environmentally Conscious Design and Inverse Manufacturing). The first volume highlights products and services, the chapters include the product life cycle design and business strategy, technologies for the future and sustainability, as well as social perspectives in eco-design.
Technologies and Eco-innovation towards Sustainability II: Eco Design Assessment and Management
by Allen H. Hu Mitsutaka Matsumoto Tsai Chi Kuo Shana SmithThis 2-volume book covers the state-of-the-art of the research and practices on eco-design. It covers the latest topics in the field: e.g. global eco-design management, big data in eco-design, social perspectives in eco-design; as well as emphasizing the developments in emerging economies such as Asian countries. Eco-design of products and product-related services are indispensable to realize the circular economy and to increase resource efficiencies of our society. Eco-design practices are necessary both in developed countries and developing countries. The book chapters are contributed by the worldwide authors, especially authors from East Asian countries, European countries, and Southeast Asian countries, and contains selected presentations at the EcoDesign2017 symposium (10th International Symposium on Environmentally Conscious Design and Inverse Manufacturing).The second volume focus on assessment and management, including topics such as sustainable manufacturing and End of Life (EOL) management, sustainability assessment, policy and regulations and Incentives for eco-design.
Tectonics and Structural Geology: Indian Context (Springer Geology)
by Soumyajit MukherjeeThis book presents a compilation of findings, review and original works, on the tectonic evolution and structural detail of several terrains in India. It captures the tectonic diversity of the Indian terrain, including tectonics of India's coastal areas, the tectonic evolution of Gondwana and Proterozoic (Purana) basins. It also describes the research results of the Indian craton's geo-history, Tertiary Bengal basin, and also the Himalayan collisional zone. Thus the book covers the deformation history of Indian terrain involving strike slip, compressional and extensional tectonics, and ductile and brittle shear deformations.
Tempest: Hurricane Naming and American Culture (The Natural World of the Gulf South)
by Liz SkiltonLiz Skilton’s innovative study tracks the naming of hurricanes over six decades, exploring the interplay between naming practice and wider American culture. In 1953, the U.S. Weather Bureau adopted female names to identify hurricanes and other tropical storms. Within two years, that convention came into question, and by 1978 a new system was introduced, including alternating male and female names in a pattern that continues today. In Tempest: Hurricane Naming and American Culture, Skilton blends gender studies with environmental history to analyze this often controversial tradition. Focusing on the Gulf South—the nation’s “hurricane coast”—Skilton closely examines select storms, including Betsy, Camille, Andrew, Katrina, and Harvey, while referencing dozens of others. Through print and online media sources, government reports, scientific data, and ephemera, she reveals how language and images portray hurricanes as gendered objects: masculine-named storms are generally characterized as stronger and more serious, while feminine-named storms are described as “unladylike” and in need of taming. Further, Skilton shows how the hypersexualized rhetoric surrounding Katrina and Sandy and the effeminate depictions of Georges represent evolving methods to define and explain extreme weather events. As she chronicles the evolution of gendered storm naming in the United States, Skilton delves into many other aspects of hurricane history. She describes attempts at scientific control of storms through hurricane seeding during the Cold War arms race of the 1950s and relates how Roxcy Bolton, a member of the National Organization for Women, led the crusade against feminizing hurricanes from her home in Miami near the National Hurricane Center in the 1970s. Skilton also discusses the skyrocketing interest in extreme weather events that accompanied the introduction of 24-hour news coverage of storms, as well as the impact of social media networks on Americans’ tracking and understanding of hurricanes and other disasters. The debate over hurricane naming continues, as Skilton demonstrates, and many Americans question the merit and purpose of the gendered naming system. What is clear is that hurricane names matter, and that they fundamentally shape our impressions of storms, for good and bad.
Tensor-Valued Random Fields for Continuum Physics (Cambridge Monographs on Mathematical Physics)
by Anatoliy Malyarenko Martin Ostoja-StarzewskiMany areas of continuum physics pose a challenge to physicists. What are the most general, admissible statistically homogeneous and isotropic tensor-valued random fields (TRFs)? Previously, only the TRFs of rank 0 were completely described. This book assembles a complete description of such fields in terms of one- and two-point correlation functions for tensors of ranks 1 through 4. Working from the standpoint of invariance of physical laws with respect to the choice of a coordinate system, spatial domain representations, as well as their wavenumber domain counterparts are rigorously given in full detail. The book also discusses, an introduction to a range of continuum theories requiring TRFs, an introduction to mathematical theories necessary for the description of homogeneous and isotropic TRFs, and a range of applications including a strategy for simulation of TRFs, ergodic TRFs, scaling laws of stochastic constitutive responses, and applications to stochastic partial differential equations. It is invaluable for mathematicians looking to solve problems of continuum physics, and for physicists aiming to enrich their knowledge of the relevant mathematical tools.
Territorial Cohesion: Cohesion, Development, Impact Assessment And Cooperation (Routledge Advances In European Politics Ser.)
by Eduardo MedeirosThis book offers a comprehensive overview of several urban related aspects that are of central importance to successful territorial cohesion processes. In essence, it sheds new light on issues concerning urban polycentrism, functional urban regions, integrated sustainable urban development, and the EU Urban Agenda; and on how they can help to achieve territorial cohesion policy goals. As an elusive and fairly recent concept, territorial cohesion has to date only been vaguely debated in the available literature, which for the most part focuses on its historical origins and its relevance for EU policymaking. Instead, this book synthesizes, for the first time, a range of perspectives that place urban elements and policies at the core of territorial cohesion analysis. As such, and given the fact that territorial cohesion is a holistic concept, the book will appeal to a broad readership from both the academic and policymaking arenas.
Territorial Water Cooperation in the Central Plateau of Iran
by Majid Labbaf KhaneikiThis book tries to answer the question how different communities in such an arid area as the Iranian central plateau could have shared their limited water resources in a perfect harmony and peace over the course of history. They invented some indigenous technologies as well as cooperative socio-economic systems in order to better adapt themselves to their harsh environment where the scarce water resources had to be rationed among the different communities as sustainably as possible. Those stories hold some lessons for us on how to adjust our needs to our geographical possibilities while living side by side with other people. This work gives insight into the indigenous adaptation strategies through the territorial water cooperation, and describes how water can appear as a ground for cooperation. It explains the water supply systems and social aspects of water in central Iran. Topics include the territorial water cooperation, qanat’s, the traditional water management and sustainability, the socio-economic context, the sustainable management of shared aquifers system and more.
Testing and Characterization of Asphalt Materials and Pavement Structures: Proceedings of the 5th GeoChina International Conference 2018 – Civil Infrastructures Confronting Severe Weathers and Climate Changes: From Failure to Sustainability, held on July 23 to 25, 2018 in HangZhou, China (Sustainable Civil Infrastructures)
by Kun Zhang Rongqiao Xu Shih-Huang ChenThis book presents new studies dealing with the attempts made by the scientists and practitioners to address contemporary issues in pavement engineering such as aging and modification of asphalt binders, performance evaluation of warm mix asphalt, and mechanical-based pavement structure analysis, etc.. Asphalt binder and mixture have been widely used to construct flexible pavements. Mechanical and Chemical characterizations of asphalt materials and integration of these properties into pavement structures and distresses analysis are of great importance to design a sustainable flexible pavement. This book includes discusses and new results dealing with these issues. Papers were selected from the 5th GeoChina International Conference 2018 – Civil Infrastructures Confronting Severe Weathers and Climate Changes: From Failure to Sustainability, held on July 23 to 25, 2018 in HangZhou, China.
Textbook of Seismic Design: Structures, Piping Systems, and Components
by G. R. Reddy Hari Prasad Muruva Ajit Kumar VermaThis book focuses on the seismic design of Structures, Piping Systems and Components (SSC). It explains the basic mechanisms of earthquakes, generation of design basis ground motion, and fundamentals of structural dynamics; further, it delves into geotechnical aspects related to the earthquake design, analysis of multi degree-of-freedom systems, and seismic design of RC structures and steel structures. The book discusses the design of components and piping systems located at the ground level as well as at different floor levels of the structure. It also covers anchorage design of component and piping system, and provides an introduction to retrofitting, seismic response control including seismic base isolation, and testing of SSCs. The book is written in an easy-to-understand way, with review questions, case studies and detailed examples on each topic. This educational approach makes the book useful in both classrooms and professional training courses for students, researchers, and professionals alike.
Theoretical Fluid Dynamics (Theoretical and Mathematical Physics)
by Achim FeldmeierThis textbook gives an introduction to fluid dynamics based on flows for which analytical solutions exist, like individual vortices, vortex streets, vortex sheets, accretions disks, wakes, jets, cavities, shallow water waves, bores, tides, linear and non-linear free-surface waves, capillary waves, internal gravity waves and shocks. Advanced mathematical techniques ("calculus") are introduced and applied to obtain these solutions, mostly from complex function theory (Schwarz-Christoffel theorem and Wiener-Hopf technique), exterior calculus, singularity theory, asymptotic analysis, the theory of linear and nonlinear integral equations and the theory of characteristics.Many of the derivations, so far contained only in research journals, are made available here to a wider public.
Theory of Electronic and Optical Properties of Atomically Thin Films of Indium Selenide (Springer Theses)
by Samuel J. MagorrianThis thesis provides the first comprehensive theoretical overview of the electronic and optical properties of two dimensional (2D) Indium Selenide: atomically thin films of InSe ranging from monolayers to few layers in thickness. The thesis shows how the electronic propertes of 2D InSe vary significantly with film thickness, changing from a weakly indirect semiconductor for the monolayer to a direct gap material in the bulk form, with a strong band gap variation with film thickness predicted and recently observed in optical experiments. The proposed theory is based on a specially designed hybrid k.p tight-binding model approach (HkpTB), which uses an intralayer k.p Hamiltonian to describe the InSe monolayer, and tight-binding-like interlayer hopping. Electronic and optical absorption spectra are determined, and a detailed description of subbands of electrons in few-layer films and the influence of spin-orbit coupling is provided. The author shows that the principal optical excitations of InSe films with the thickness from 1 to 15 layers broadly cover the visible spectrum, with the possibility of extending optical functionality into the infrared and THz range using intersubband transitions.
Theory of Spinors and Its Application in Physics and Mechanics
by Vladimir A. ZhelnorovichThis book contains a systematic exposition of the theory of spinors in finite-dimensional Euclidean and Riemannian spaces. The applications of spinors in field theory and relativistic mechanics of continuous media are considered. The main mathematical part is connected with the study of invariant algebraic and geometric relations between spinors and tensors. The theory of spinors and the methods of the tensor representation of spinors and spinor equations are thoroughly expounded in four-dimensional and three-dimensional spaces. Very useful and important relations are derived that express the derivatives of the spinor fields in terms of the derivatives of various tensor fields.The problems associated with an invariant description of spinors as objects that do not depend on the choice of a coordinate system are addressed in detail. As an application, the author considers an invariant tensor formulation of certain classes of differential spinor equations containing, in particular, the most important spinor equations of field theory and quantum mechanics. Exact solutions of the Einstein–Dirac equations, nonlinear Heisenberg’s spinor equations, and equations for relativistic spin fluids are given. The book presents a large body of factual material and is suited for use as a handbook. It is intended for specialists in theoretical physics, as well as for students and post-graduate students of physical and mathematical specialties.
Theory of Thermodynamic Measurements of Quantum Systems Far from Equilibrium (Springer Theses)
by Abhay ShastryThis thesis presents several related advances in the field of nonequilibrium quantum thermodynamics. The central result is an ingenious proof that the local temperature and voltage measurement in a nonequilibrium system of fermions exists and is unique, placing the concept of local temperature on a rigorous mathematical footing for the first time. As an intermediate step, a proof of the positivity of the Onsager matrix of linear response theory is given -- a statement of the second law of thermodynamics that had lacked an independent proof for 85 years. A new experimental method to measure the local temperature of an electron system using purely electrical techniques is also proposed, which could enable improvements to the spatial resolution of thermometry by several orders of magnitude. Finally, a new mathematically-exact definition for the local entropy of a quantum system in a nonequilibrium steady state is derived. Several different measures of the local entropy are discussed, relating to the thermodynamics of processes that a local observer with varying degrees of information about the microstates of the system could carry out, and it is shown that they satisfy a hierarchy of inequalities. Proofs of the third law of thermodynamics for generic open quantum systems are presented, taking into account the entropic contribution due to localized states. Appropriately normalized (per-state) local entropies are defined and are used to quantify the departure from local equilibrium.
Thermal Energy Storage with Phase Change Materials: A Literature Review of Applications for Buildings Materials (SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology)
by João M.P.Q. Delgado Joana C. Martinho Ana Vaz Sá Ana S. Guimarães Vitor AbrantesThis short book provides an update on various methods for incorporating phase changing materials (PCMs) into building structures. It discusses previous research into optimizing the integration of PCMs into surrounding walls (gypsum board and interior plaster products), trombe walls, ceramic floor tiles, concrete elements (walls and pavements), windows, concrete and brick masonry, underfloor heating, ceilings, thermal insulation and furniture an indoor appliances.Based on the phase change state, PCMs fall into three groups: solid–solid PCMs, solid–liquid PCMs and liquid–gas PCMs. Of these the solid–liquid PCMs, which include organic PCMs, inorganic PCMs and eutectics, are suitable for thermal energy storage. The process of selecting an appropriate PCM is extremely complex, but crucial for thermal energy storage. The potential PCM should have a suitable melting temperature, and the desirable heat of fusion and thermal conductivity specified by the practical application. Thus, the methods of measuring the thermal properties of PCMs are key.With suitable PCMs and the correct incorporation method, latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) can be economically efficient for heating and cooling buildings. However, several problems need to be tackled before LHTES can reliably and practically be applied.
Think Little: Essays (Counterpoints #1)
by Wendell BerryFirst published in 1972, “Think Little” is cultural critic and agrarian Wendell Berry at his best: prescient about the dire environmental consequences of our mentality of greed and exploitation, yet hopeful that we will recognize war and oppression and pollution not as separate issues, but aspects of the same. “Think Little” is presented here alongside one of Berry’s most popular and personal essays, “A Native Hill.” This gentle essay of recollection is told alongside a poetic lesson in geography, as Berry explains at length and in detail, that what he stands for is what he stands on.Each palm–size book in the Counterpoints series is meant to stay with you, whether safely in your pocket or long after you turn the last page. From short stories to essays to poems, these little books celebrate our most–beloved writers, whose work encapsulates the spirit of Counterpoint Press: cutting–edge, wide–ranging, and independent.
This Is Not A Drill: An Extinction Rebellion Handbook
by Extinction RebellionExtinction Rebellion are inspiring a whole generation to take action on climate breakdown. Now you can become part of the movement - and together, we can make history.It's time. This is our last chance to do anything about the global climate and ecological emergency. Our last chance to save the world as we know it. Now or never, we need to be radical. We need to rise up. And we need to rebel.Extinction Rebellion is a global activist movement of ordinary people, demanding action from Governments. This is a book of truth and action. It has facts to arm you, stories to empower you, pages to fill in and pages to rip out, alongside instructions on how to rebel - from organising a roadblock to facing arrest. By the time you finish this book you will have become an Extinction Rebellion activist. Act now before it's too late.
This Land: How Cowboys, Capitalism, and Corruption are Ruining the American West
by Christopher KetchamA hard-hitting look at the battle now raging over the fate of the public lands in the American West--and a plea for the protection of these last wild placesThe public lands of the western United States comprise some 450 million acres of grassland, steppe land, canyons, forests, and mountains. It's an American commons, and it is under assault as never before.Journalist Christopher Ketcham has been documenting the confluence of commercial exploitation and governmental misconduct in this region for over a decade. His revelatory book takes the reader on a journey across these last wild places, to see how capitalism is killing our great commons. Ketcham begins in Utah, revealing the environmental destruction caused by unregulated public lands livestock grazing, and exposing rampant malfeasance in the federal land management agencies, who have been compromised by the profit-driven livestock and energy interests they are supposed to regulate. He then turns to the broad effects of those corrupt politics on wildlife. He tracks the Department of Interior's failure to implement and enforce the Endangered Species Act--including its stark betrayal of protections for the grizzly bear and the sage grouse--and investigates the destructive behavior of U.S. Wildlife Services in their shocking mass slaughter of animals that threaten the livestock industry. Along the way, Ketcham talks with ecologists, biologists, botanists, former government employees, whistleblowers, grassroots environmentalists and other citizens who are fighting to protect the public domain for future generations. This Land is a colorful muckraking journey--part Edward Abbey, part Upton Sinclair--exposing the rot in American politics that is rapidly leading to the sell-out of our national heritage. The book ends with Ketcham's vision of ecological restoration for the American West: freeing the trampled, denuded ecosystems from the effects of grazing, enforcing the laws already in place to defend biodiversity, allowing the native species of the West to recover under a fully implemented Endangered Species Act, and establishing vast stretches of public land where there will be no development at all, not even for recreation.
Thomas Berry: A Biography (G - Reference, Information And Interdisciplinary Subjects)
by Mary Evelyn Tucker John Grim Andrew AngyalThomas Berry (1914–2009) was one of the twentieth century’s most prescient and profound thinkers. As a cultural historian, he sought a broader perspective on humanity’s relationship to the earth in order to respond to the ecological and social challenges of our times. This first biography of Berry illuminates his remarkable vision and its continuing relevance for achieving transformative social change and environmental renewal.Berry began his studies in Western history and religions and then expanded to include Asian and indigenous religions, which he taught at Fordham University, Barnard College, and Columbia University. Drawing on his explorations of history, he came to see the evolutionary process as a story that could help restore the continuity of humans with the natural world. Berry urged humans to recognize their place on a planet with complex ecosystems in a vast, evolving universe. He sought to replace the modern alienation from nature with a sense of intimacy and responsibility. Berry called for new forms of ecological education, law, and spirituality, as well as the creation of resilient agricultural systems, bioregions, and ecocities. At a time of growing environmental crisis, this biography shows the ongoing significance of Berry’s conception of human interdependence with the earth as part of the unfolding journey of the universe.
Thomas-Fermi Model for Mesons and Noise Subtraction Techniques in Lattice QCD (Springer Theses)
by Suman BaralThis thesis make significant contributions to both the numerical and analytical aspects of particle physics, reducing the noise associated with matrix calculations in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and modeling multi-quark mesonic matters that could be used to investigate particles previously unseen in nature. Several methods are developed that can reduce the statistical uncertainty in the extraction of hard-to-detect lattice QCD signals from disconnected diagrams. The most promising technique beats competing methods by 1700 percent, leading to a potential decrease in the computation time of quark loop quantities by an order of magnitude. This not only increases efficiency but also works for QCD matrices with almost-zero eigenvalues, a region where most QCD algorithms break down. This thesis also develops analytical solutions used to investigate exotic particles, specifically the Thomas-Fermi quark model, giving insight into possible new states formed from mesonic matter. The main benefit of this model is that it can work for a large number of quarks which is currently almost impossible with lattice QCD. Patterns of single-quark energies are observed which give the first a priori indication that stable octa-quark and hexadeca-quark versions of the charmed and bottom Z-meson exist.