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Umweltschutztechnik und Umweltmanagement: Ein Kompendium für Studierende, Praktiker und Politiker (essentials)
by Ekbert Hering Wolfgang SchulzDie Autoren beschreiben Gefährdungspotenziale für Luft, Wasser und Boden und den globalen Klimawandel sowie Maßnahmen zur Gegensteuerung. Sie stellen Konzepte zur Abfallwirtschaft vor und verweisen auf die Verankerung des Umweltschutzes in Unternehmen durch ein effizientes Umweltmanagement und einer Ökobilanz. So können Leser die globale Aufgabe, die Umwelt zu schützen, mit nationalen und internationalen politischen Rahmenbedingungen und vor allem dem Wissen im Bereich der Naturwissenschaften einschätzen und Umweltschäden vermeiden oder ihre Auswirkungen verringern. Die Politik schafft dazu auf nationaler, europäischer und internationaler Ebene mit Gesetzen, Regelungen und Normen die Voraussetzungen.Die AutorenDr. rer. nat. Dr. rer. pol. Dr. h.c. Ekbert Hering lehrt und forscht an der Hochschule Aalen. Er ist Verfasser erfolgreicher Fachbücher in renommierten Verlagen. Dr. rer. nat. Wolfgang Schulz ist Leiter der Forschung und Entwicklung Sonderanalytik beim Zweckverband Landeswasserversorgung und Lehrbeauftragter an der Hochschule Aalen.
Un Remedio Teológico para la Crisis Ambiental
by Joseph HabamahirweLas conferencias internacionales sobre el medio ambiente, como la de Río en 1992, han hecho buenas políticas ambientales. Desafortunadamente, tales políticas no se han implementado lo suficiente. Esta situación refleja la falta de interés por parte de los países desarrollados, así como la falta de tenacidad por parte de los países en desarrollo. Por lo tanto, dicha tenacidad es necesaria para resolver el problema aparentemente insoluble de la contaminación ambiental. Las Naciones Unidas han establecido un Programa Ambiental (PNUMA) para abordar los problemas ambientales a nivel mundial. Aún así, hay mucho por hacer. Este libro presenta el estado de la actual crisis ambiental global, sus causas y efectos, tanto para los seres humanos como para la naturaleza misma. Hace un llamado a activistas ambientales, científicos, estudiantes, conferenciantes, líderes eclesiásticos y líderes políticos para detener esta crisis que podría persistir durante muchos años y empeorar progresivamente si el mundo no llega a una solución pronto.
Un Tejido Magico: El Bosque Tropical de Isla Barro Colorado (Spanish Edition)
by Christian Ziegler Egbert Giles LeighBarro Colorado Island is the crown jewel of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and the most thoroughly studied tropical rainforest on Earth. This book reveals the extreme interconnections of life in a tropical forest, with lavishly beautiful full-color photographs. It gives an eyewitness view of the fascinating biodiversity, ecology, and evolution of tropical forests. A Magic Web has particular value for scientists and environmentalists, as it offers a comprehensive review of more than 100 years of biological research of a tropical rainforest. It comprises the most important ecological and evolutionary processes that shape life in a tropical forest and contribute to its incredible diversity. Lastly, this beautiful volume clearly shows why the conservation of tropical forests are vital for Earth's future. Isla de Barro Colorado es la joya de la corona del Instituto Smithsonian de Investigaciones Tropicales, y la selva tropical más estudiado en la Tierra. Este libro revela las interconexiones extremas de la vida en un bosque tropical, con ricamente hermosas fotografías a todo color. Da una vista ocular de la fascinante biodiversidad, la ecología y la evolución de los bosques tropicales. Un Tejido Mágico tiene un valor especial para los científicos y los ecologistas, ya que ofrece una revisión completa de más de 100 años de investigación biológica de la selva tropical. Se compone de los procesos ecológicos y evolutivos más importantes que dan forma a la vida en un bosque tropical y contribuyen a su increíble diversidad. Por último, este hermoso volumen muestra claramente por qué la conservación de los bosques tropicales son vitales para el futuro de la Tierra.
Un mar de esperanza: Soluciones ciudadanas para un planeta sostenible
by Andrea Sáenz-ArroyoUn viaje físico e intelectual por distintas sociedades que revela formas de relacionarnos con el planeta más amables e inteligentes. Abundan las historias apocalípticas sobre el desastre ambiental que nuestra forma de vivir ha ocasionado. ¿Cuál es el futuro de la humanidad ante la inminente tragedia de haber dañado profundamente a la Tierra, el único hogar con el que contamos hasta el día de hoy? En Un mar de esperanza, Andrea Sáenz-Arroyo, una bióloga marina con un doctorado en Economía ambiental, nos guía por un viaje personal a través de sociedades e ideas contrastantes, y llega a la siguiente conclusión: el arribo de la era de la comunicación nos revela que degradar nuestro entorno y despojar los recursos de otros para satisfacer nuestras necesidades no sólo es poco inteligente, sino evolutivamente inviable.La buena noticia es que formas distintas al modelo hegemónico que establece cómo relacionarnos conla naturaleza están por todos lados y la información fluye hoy en una especie de red neuronal. La gran característica que nos distingue de las demás especies -nuestra enorme capacidad de aprendizaje social- nos está llevando a adoptar rápidamente esas formas en nuestra vida diaria y, quizá lo más importante, a confrontar colectivamente lo que, gracias a nosotros mismos, amenaza nuestro bienestar: el cambio climático. En un lenguaje sencillo, capaz de captar la atención de un lector preocupado por su mundo, Sáenz-Arroyo nos guía por un viaje físico e intelectual en el que las distintas sociedades revelan una forma menos nociva de relacionarnos con el mundo natural. Cada capítulo relata un viaje a territorios contrastantes, conoceremos de cerca a los indígenas de las islas Fiji, los pescadores de Baja California y las amas de casa de California de la década de los setenta. Este viaje nos revela miradas fuera de lo convencional para vivir en armonía con la naturaleza. Un mar de esperanza es un libro para todas las personas sedientas de soluciones ante la crisis ambiental, un respiro fresco y, como su nombre lo dice, un aire esperanzador en esta tormenta global de desasosiego.
Un mundo de soluciones
by Marc GrañóHay un mundo de soluciones para frenar el cambio climático. Después de haber viajado por el mundo y ver la consecuencias del cambio climático, un zorro del ártico descubrirá algunas de las soluciones que tienen los humanos para reducir las emisiones de dióxido de carbono y, por lo tanto, salvar el planeta. Con la ayuda de una doctora muy especial, el zorro aprenderá que hay muchas herramientas para que entre todos frenemos el cambio climático. Este relato, que forma parte del libro Ahora o nunca de Marc Grañó, presenta de manera muy didáctica y positiva algunas de las posibles soluciones para ayudar al planeta entre todos.
Un remède théologique contre la crise environnementale: À la lumière de Jürgen Moltmann
by Joseph HabamahirweCe livre présente l’état actuel de la crise environnementale et offre des propositions pour l’empêcher. Les conférences internationales concernant l’environnement, comme celle à Rio en 1992, ont fait de bonnes politiques environnementales. Malheureusement, de telles politiques n’ont pas été suffisamment mises en œuvre. Cette situation reflète un manque d’intérêt de la part des pays développés aussi bien qu’un manque de ténacité des pays en voie de développement. Par conséquent, une telle ténacité est nécessaire afin de résoudre le problème apparemment intraitable de la pollution environnementale. Les Nations Unies ont établi un Programme Environnemental (PNUE) pour s’attaquer aux problèmes de l’environnement au niveau mondial. Il y a encore beaucoup à faire. Ce livre présente l’état actuel de la crise environnementale mondiale, ses causes et effets, à la fois pour les êtres humains et la nature elle-même. Il fait appel aux activistes de l’environnement, aux hommes de science, aux étudiants, aux conférenciers, aux chefs de l’Église et aux législateurs pour empêcher cette crise qui perdurerait pour des années à venir et se dégraderait au fur et à mesure si le monde n’arrive pas bientôt à une solution.
Un rimedio teologico alla crisi ambientale: Alla luce di Jürgen Moltmann
by Joseph HabamahirweLe conferenze internazionali sull'ambiente, come quella di Rio del 1992, hanno dato vita a buone politiche ambientali. Purtroppo, tali politiche non sono state attuate a sufficienza. Questa situazione riflette la mancanza di interesse da parte dei Paesi sviluppati e la mancanza di tenacia da parte dei Paesi in via di sviluppo. Per risolvere il problema apparentemente intrattabile dell'inquinamento ambientale è quindi necessaria una certa tenacia. Le Nazioni Unite hanno istituito un programma ambientale (UNEP) per affrontare i problemi ambientali a livello globale. Tuttavia, c'è ancora molto da fare. Questo libro presenta lo stato dell'attuale crisi ambientale globale, le sue cause e i suoi effetti, sia per gli esseri umani che per la natura stessa. Lancia un appello agli attivisti ambientali, agli scienziati, agli studenti, ai docenti, ai leader delle chiese e ai responsabili politici per fermare questa crisi che potrebbe protrarsi per molti anni a venire e peggiorare progressivamente se il mondo non troverà presto una soluzione.
Un-making Environmental Activism: Beyond Modern/Colonial Binaries in the GMO Controversy (Routledge Research in Place, Space and Politics)
by Doerthe RosenowMuch environmental activism is caught in a logic that plays science against emotion, objective evidence against partisan aims, and human interest against a nature that has intrinsic value. Radical activists, by contrast, play down the role of science in determining environmental politics, but read their solutions to environmental problems off fixed theories of domination and oppression. Both of these approaches are based in a modern epistemology grounded in the fundamental dichotomy between the human and the natural. This binary has historically come about through the colonial oppression of other, non-Western and often non-binary ways of knowing nature and living in the world. There is an urgent need for a different, decolonised environmental activist strategy that moves away from this epistemology, recognises its colonial heritage and finds a different ground for environmental beliefs and politics. This book analyses the arguments and practices of anti-GMO activists at three different sites – the site of science, the site of the Bt cotton controversy in India, and the site of global environmental protest – to show how we can move beyond modern/colonial binaries. It will do so in dialogue with Gilles Deleuze, Bruno Latour, María Lugones, and Gayatri C. Spivak, as well as a broader range of postcolonial and decolonial bodies of thought.
Un: Helping Teens and Young Adults Flourish in an Age of Anxiety
by Kate O’BrienEvery child is born a physical, emotional and spiritual being. As parents and caregivers, it is our role to nurture these qualities and help young people mature into confident embodied adults and responsible custodians of our communities, economies and the Earth. But as the scaffolding of the old world has crumbled, we know that many members of Gen Z are experiencing anxiety, depression, addiction and even suicidality at epidemic levels. We want our children to grow up in an environment where they feel safe, loved, and can enjoy a deep sense of belonging. The sensitive, the open-hearted and empathetic ones are the most affected and these are the very people we need most in society.With contributions and timely solutions from leading scientists, doctors, inspirational teachers, visionaries and wisdom holders from varying traditions, the stories of hope in UN:Stuck offer guidance that will help our children mature into confident embodied adults packed with empathy, curiosity and a real sense of playfulness. The chapter titles in this book are rungs on a ladder of hope: Awakened Awareness, Emotional/Ethical intelligence, Interrelatedness (Ukama), Ethical Activism, Meaning & Purpose, Resilience/Courage/Curiosity, Creativity and Inclusion/The Whole Being.The result is a truly 360° vision of how we can support our young people, based on storytelling and wisdom in a way that reconnects them at a fundamental level with their world and seeds hope for the future.
Un: Helping Teens and Young Adults Flourish in an Age of Anxiety
by Kate O’BrienEvery child is born a physical, emotional and spiritual being. As parents and caregivers, it is our role to nurture these qualities and help young people mature into confident embodied adults and responsible custodians of our communities, economies and the Earth. But as the scaffolding of the old world has crumbled, we know that many members of Gen Z are experiencing anxiety, depression, addiction and even suicidality at epidemic levels. We want our children to grow up in an environment where they feel safe, loved, and can enjoy a deep sense of belonging. The sensitive, the open-hearted and empathetic ones are the most affected and these are the very people we need most in society.With contributions and timely solutions from leading scientists, doctors, inspirational teachers, visionaries and wisdom holders from varying traditions, the stories of hope in UN:Stuck offer guidance that will help our children mature into confident embodied adults packed with empathy, curiosity and a real sense of playfulness. The chapter titles in this book are rungs on a ladder of hope: Awakened Awareness, Emotional/Ethical intelligence, Interrelatedness (Ukama), Ethical Activism, Meaning & Purpose, Resilience/Courage/Curiosity, Creativity and Inclusion/The Whole Being.The result is a truly 360° vision of how we can support our young people, based on storytelling and wisdom in a way that reconnects them at a fundamental level with their world and seeds hope for the future.
Unberechenbares Klima: Ursachen und Unsicherheiten des Klimawandels
by Klaus DethloffDie Veränderungen unseres Klimas sind allgegenwärtig spürbar, das allgemeine Verständnis der Prozesse dahinter aber mit Informationen überschwemmt und vielfach gefiltert. Es fehlt ein tieferer Blick, um Klarheit über die beteiligten Prozesse zu erhalten und nicht zuletzt eigene Handlungsräume zu erkennen. Dieses Buch präsentiert den ungeschminkten Stand des Wissens und Nichtwissens zu den komplexen Ursachen des Klimawandels auf der Basis von globalen Datensätzen und Modellsimulationen. Nicht erschrecken – Der Anspruch besteht darin zu vereinfachen, ohne zu verfälschen. Klimaänderungen werden nicht nur durch Strahlungsprozesse, sondern auch die nichtlineare Dynamik des Atmosphäre-Meereis-Ozeansystems bestimmt. Die Dynamik des Planeten befindet sich nur teilweise in unserer Hand, denn neben dem menschlichen Einfluss durch Treibhausgase und Aerosole generiert das Klimasystem seine eigene interne Variabilität. Die globale Reduktion des Ausstoßes schädlicher Treibhausgase ist eine unerlässliche Maßnahme in allen Strategien zur Bewältigung des Klimawandels. Aber bleibt dessen Begrenzung ein unerfüllter Wunsch? Ein Buch, das von einem international ausgewiesenem Experten in der Arktisforschung geschrieben wurde, und komplexe Sachverhalte unseres Klimasystems für jeden interessierten Leser – den Naturwissenschaftler und den Laien - aufschlüsselt. Und das mit dem klaren Ziel aufzuzeigen, dass der Klimawandel nicht aufgehalten, sondern maximal in dessen Auswirkung auf unsere Lebenswelt begrenzt werden kann.
Unbestimmt und relativ?: Das Weltbild der modernen Physik
by Meinard Kuhlmann Helmut FinkQuantentheorie und Relativitätstheorie haben das Weltbild der Physik revolutioniert. Beide Theorien gelten jedoch als unanschaulich und schwer verständlich. Dieses Sachbuch schafft neue Zugänge und lädt zum Mitdenken ein. Renommierte Experten aus Physik und Philosophie erläutern Grundbegriffe, Erkenntnisfortschritte und Deutungsfragen zu Raum, Zeit und Materie.Dabei kommen typische Themen aus der Philosophie der Physik zur Sprache, wie etwa die Interpretationsdebatte der Quantentheorie oder Modellbildungen in der Kosmologie. Weltbildrelevante Fragen nach dem Verhältnis von Mathematik, Empirie und Anschauung oder nach der Verlässlichkeit physikalischer Erkenntnis erfordern die Verbindung von Physik und Philosophie, von fachwissenschaftlicher Grundlagenforschung und methodenkritischer Reflexion. Der thematische Bogen geht zurück auf ein hochkarätig besetztes Symposium mit populärwissenschaftlicher Ausrichtung. Das Buch enthält Beiträge von Andreas Bartels, Robert Harlander, Paul Hoyningen-Huene, Gert-Ludwig Ingold, Claus Kiefer, Meinard Kuhlmann, Klaus Mainzer, Oliver Passon, Manfred Stöckler, Rüdiger Vaas und Reinhard Werner.
Unbottled: The Fight against Plastic Water and for Water Justice
by Daniel JaffeeAn exploration of bottled water's impact on social justice and sustainability, and how diverse movements are fighting back. In just four decades, bottled water has transformed from a luxury niche item into a ubiquitous consumer product, representing a $300 billion market dominated by global corporations. It sits at the convergence of a mounting ecological crisis of single-use plastic waste and climate change, a social crisis of affordable access to safe drinking water, and a struggle over the fate of public water systems. Unbottled examines the vibrant movements that have emerged to question the need for bottled water and challenge its growth in North America and worldwide. Drawing on extensive interviews with activists, residents, public officials, and other participants in controversies ranging from bottled water's role in unsafe tap water crises to groundwater extraction for bottling in rural communities, Daniel Jaffee asks what this commodity's meteoric growth means for social inequality, sustainability, and the human right to water. Unbottled profiles campaigns to reclaim the tap and addresses the challenges of ending dependence on packaged water in places where safe water is not widely accessible. Clear and compelling, it assesses the prospects for the movements fighting plastic water and working to ensure water justice for all.
Unbound: How Eight Technologies Made Us Human and Brought Our World to the Brink
by Richard L. CurrierAlthough we usually think of technology as something unique to modern times, our ancestors began to create the first technologies millions of years ago in the form of prehistoric tools and weapons. Over time, eight key technologies gradually freed us from the limitations of our animal origins. The fabrication of weapons, the mastery of fire, and the technologies of clothing and shelter radically restructured the human body, enabling us to walk upright, shed our body hair, and migrate out of tropical Africa. Symbolic communication transformed human evolution from a slow biological process into a fast cultural process. The invention of agriculture revolutionized the relationship between humanity and the environment, and the technologies of interaction led to the birth of civilization. Precision machinery spawned the industrial revolution and the rise of nation-states; and in the next metamorphosis, digital technologies may well unite all of humanity for the benefit of future generations. Synthesizing the findings of primatology, paleontology, archeology, history, and anthropology, Richard Currier reinterprets and retells the modern narrative of human evolution that began with the discovery of Lucy and other Australopithecus fossils. But the same forces that allowed us to integrate technology into every aspect of our daily lives have also brought us to the brink of planetary catastrophe. Unbound explains both how we got here and how human society must be transformed again to achieve a sustainable future. Technology: "The deliberate modification of any natural object or substance with forethought to achieve a specific end or to serve a specific purpose. ”
Unbounded Functionals in the Calculus of Variations: Representation, Relaxation, and Homogenization (Monographs and Surveys in Pure and Applied Mathematics)
by Luciano CarboneOver the last few decades, research in elastic-plastic torsion theory, electrostatic screening, and rubber-like nonlinear elastomers has pointed the way to some interesting new classes of minimum problems for energy functionals of the calculus of variations. This advanced-level monograph addresses these issues by developing the framework of a gener
Unbounded Self-adjoint Operators on Hilbert Space
by Konrad SchmüdgenThe book is a graduate text on unbounded self-adjoint operators on Hilbert space and their spectral theory with the emphasis on applications in mathematical physics (especially, Schrödinger operators) and analysis (Dirichlet and Neumann Laplacians, Sturm-Liouville operators, Hamburger moment problem) . Among others, a number of advanced special topics are treated on a text book level accompanied by numerous illustrating examples and exercises. The main themes of the book are the following: - Spectral integrals and spectral decompositions of self-adjoint and normal operators - Perturbations of self-adjointness and of spectra of self-adjoint operators - Forms and operators - Self-adjoint extension theory :boundary triplets, Krein-Birman-Vishik theory of positive self-adjoint extension
Unbowed: One Woman's Story
by Wangari MaathaiIn Unbowed, Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai recounts her extraordinary journey from her childhood in rural Kenya to the world stage. When Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977, she began a vital poor people's environmental movement, focused on the empowerment of women, that soon spread across Africa. Persevering through run-ins with the Kenyan government and personal losses, and jailed and beaten on numerous occasions, Maathai continued to fight tirelessly to save Kenya's forests and to restore democracy to her beloved country. Infused with her unique luminosity of spirit, Wangari Maathai's remarkable story of courage, faith, and the power of persistence is destined to inspire generations to come.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Unbreakable: Building the Resilience of the Poor in the Face of Natural Disasters
by Adrien Vogt-Schilb Stephane Hallegatte Rozenberg Mook Bangalore'Economic losses from natural disasters totaled $92 billion in 2015.' Such statements, all too commonplace, assess the severity of disasters by no other measure than the damage inflicted on buildings, infrastructure, and agricultural production. But $1 in losses does not mean the same thing to a rich person that it does to a poor person; the gravity of a $92 billion loss depends on who experiences it. By focusing on aggregate losses--the traditional approach to disaster risk--we restrict our consideration to how disasters affect those wealthy enough to have assets to lose in the first place, and largely ignore the plight of poor people. This report moves beyond asset and production losses and shifts its attention to how natural disasters affect people's well-being. Disasters are far greater threats to well-being than traditional estimates suggest. This approach provides a more nuanced view of natural disasters than usual reporting, and a perspective that takes fuller account of poor people's vulnerabilities. Poor people suffer only a fraction of economic losses caused by disasters, but they bear the brunt of their consequences. Understanding the disproportionate vulnerability of poor people also makes the case for setting new intervention priorities to lessen the impact of natural disasters on the world's poor, such as expanding financial inclusion, disaster risk and health insurance, social protection and adaptive safety nets, contingent finance and reserve funds, and universal access to early warning systems. Efforts to reduce disaster risk and poverty go hand in hand. Because disasters impoverish so many, disaster risk management is inseparable from poverty reduction policy, and vice versa. As climate change magnifies natural hazards, and because protection infrastructure alone cannot eliminate risk, a more resilient population has never been more critical to breaking the cycle of disaster-induced poverty.
Uncertain Climes: Debating Climate Change in Gilded Age America
by Joseph GiacomelliUncertain Climes looks to the late nineteenth century to reveal how climate anxiety was a crucial element in the emergence of American modernity. Even people who still refuse to accept the reality of human-induced climate change would have to agree that the topic has become inescapable in the United States in recent decades. But as Joseph Giacomelli shows in Uncertain Climes, this is actually nothing new: as far back as Gilded Age America, climate uncertainty has infused major debates on economic growth and national development. In this ambitious examination of late-nineteenth-century understandings of climate, Giacomelli draws on the work of scientists, foresters, surveyors, and settlers to demonstrate how central the subject was to the emergence of American modernity. Amid constant concerns about volatile weather patterns and the use of natural resources, nineteenth-century Americans developed a multilayered discourse on climate and what it might mean for the nation’s future. Although climate science was still in its nascent stages during the Gilded Age, fears and hopes about climate change animated the overarching political struggles of the time, including expansion into the American West. Giacomelli makes clear that uncertainty was the common theme linking concerns about human-induced climate change with cultural worries about the sustainability of capitalist expansionism in an era remarkably similar to the United States’ unsettled present.
Uncertain Path: A Search for the Future of National Parks
by William C. TweedIn this provocative walking meditation, writer and former park ranger William Tweed takes us to California’s spectacular High Sierra to discover a new vision for our national parks as they approach their 100th anniversary. Tweed, who worked among the Sierra Nevada’s big peaks and big trees for more than thirty years, has now hiked more than 200 miles along California’s John Muir Trail in a personal search for answers: How do we address the climate change we are seeing even now—in melting glaciers in Glacier National Park, changing rainy seasons on Mt Rainer, and more fire in the West’s iconic parks. Should we intervene where we can to preserve biodiversity? Should the parks merely become ecosystem museums that exhibit famous landscapes and species? Asking how we can make these magnificent parks relevant for the next generation, Tweed, through his journey, ultimately shows why we must do just that.
Uncertainties and Limitations in Simulating Tropical Cyclones
by Asuka Suzuki-ParkerThe thesis work was in two major parts: development and testing of a new approach to detecting and tracking tropical cyclones in climate models; and application of an extreme value statistical approach to enable assessment of changes in weather extremes from climate models. The tracking algorithm applied a creative phase-space approach to differentiate between modeled tropical cyclones and their mid-latitude cousins. A feature here was the careful attention to sensitivity to choice of selection parameters, which is considerable. The major finding was that the changes over time were relatively insensitive to these details. This new approach will improve and add confidence to future assessments of climate impacts on hurricanes. The extremes approach utilized the Generalized Pareto Distribution (one of the standard approaches to statistics of extremes) applied to present and future hurricane distributions as modeled by a regional climate model, then applied the changes to current observations to extract the changes in the extremes. Since climate models cannot resolve these extremes directly, this provides an excellent method of determining weather extremes in general. This is of considerable societal importance as we are most vulnerable to such extremes and knowledge of their changes enables improved planning and adaptation strategies.
Uncertainty Management for Robust Industrial Design in Aeronautics: Findings and Best Practice Collected During UMRIDA, a Collaborative Research Project (2013–2016) Funded by the European Union (Notes on Numerical Fluid Mechanics and Multidisciplinary Design #140)
by Charles Hirsch Dirk Wunsch Jacek Szumbarski Łukasz Łaniewski-Wołłk Jordi Pons-PratsThis book covers cutting-edge findings related to uncertainty quantification and optimization under uncertainties (i.e. robust and reliable optimization), with a special emphasis on aeronautics and turbomachinery, although not limited to these fields. It describes new methods for uncertainty quantification, such as non-intrusive polynomial chaos, collocation methods, perturbation methods, as well as adjoint based and multi-level Monte Carlo methods. It includes methods for characterization of most influential uncertainties, as well as formulations for robust and reliable design optimization. A distinctive element of the book is the unique collection of test cases with prescribed uncertainties, which are representative of the current engineering practice of the industrial consortium partners involved in UMRIDA, a level 1 collaborative project within the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). All developed methods are benchmarked against these industrial challenges. Moreover, the book includes a section dedicated to Best Practice Guidelines for uncertainty quantification and robust design optimization, summarizing the findings obtained by the consortium members within the UMRIDA project. All in all, the book offers a authoritative guide to cutting-edge methodologies for uncertainty management in engineering design, covers a wide range of applications and discusses new ideas for future research and interdisciplinary collaborations.
Uncertainty Management in Remote Sensing of Climate Data: Summary of a Workshop
by National Research Council of the National AcademiesGreat advances have been made in our understanding of the climate system over the past few decades, and remotely sensed data have played a key role in supporting many of these advances. Improvements in satellites and in computational and data-handling techniques have yielded high quality, readily accessible data. However, rapid increases in data volume have also led to large and complex datasets that pose significant challenges in data analysis. Uncertainty characterization is needed for every satellite mission and scientists continue to be challenged by the need to reduce the uncertainty in remotely sensed climate records and projections. The approaches currently used to quantify the uncertainty in remotely sensed data lack an overall mathematically based framework. An additional challenge is characterizing uncertainty in ways that are useful to a broad spectrum of end-users. In December 2008, the National Academies held a workshop, summarized in this volume, to survey how statisticians, climate scientists, and remote sensing experts might address the challenges of uncertainty management in remote sensing of climate data. The workshop emphasized raising and discussing issues that could be studied more intently by individual researchers or teams of researchers, and setting the stage for possible future collaborative activities.
Uncertainty Quantification and Predictive Computational Science: A Foundation for Physical Scientists and Engineers
by Ryan G. McClarrenThis textbook teaches the essential background and skills for understanding and quantifying uncertainties in a computational simulation, and for predicting the behavior of a system under those uncertainties. It addresses a critical knowledge gap in the widespread adoption of simulation in high-consequence decision-making throughout the engineering and physical sciences. Constructing sophisticated techniques for prediction from basic building blocks, the book first reviews the fundamentals that underpin later topics of the book including probability, sampling, and Bayesian statistics. Part II focuses on applying Local Sensitivity Analysis to apportion uncertainty in the model outputs to sources of uncertainty in its inputs. Part III demonstrates techniques for quantifying the impact of parametric uncertainties on a problem, specifically how input uncertainties affect outputs. The final section covers techniques for applying uncertainty quantification to make predictions under uncertainty, including treatment of epistemic uncertainties. It presents the theory and practice of predicting the behavior of a system based on the aggregation of data from simulation, theory, and experiment. The text focuses on simulations based on the solution of systems of partial differential equations and includes in-depth coverage of Monte Carlo methods, basic design of computer experiments, as well as regularized statistical techniques. Code references, in python, appear throughout the text and online as executable code, enabling readers to perform the analysis under discussion. Worked examples from realistic, model problems help readers understand the mechanics of applying the methods. Each chapter ends with several assignable problems. Uncertainty Quantification and Predictive Computational Science fills the growing need for a classroom text for senior undergraduate and early-career graduate students in the engineering and physical sciences and supports independent study by researchers and professionals who must include uncertainty quantification and predictive science in the simulations they develop and/or perform.
Uncertainty Quantification for Hyperbolic and Kinetic Equations (SEMA SIMAI Springer Series #14)
by Shi Jin Lorenzo PareschiThis book explores recent advances in uncertainty quantification for hyperbolic, kinetic, and related problems. The contributions address a range of different aspects, including: polynomial chaos expansions, perturbation methods, multi-level Monte Carlo methods, importance sampling, and moment methods. The interest in these topics is rapidly growing, as their applications have now expanded to many areas in engineering, physics, biology and the social sciences. Accordingly, the book provides the scientific community with a topical overview of the latest research efforts.