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Agricultural Drought in Slovakia: NDVI and Satellite Based Data (SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science)

by Veronika Zuzulová Jaroslav Vido Bernard Šiška

This book gives an insight into the evaluation of drought in Slovakia and provides an assessment of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) as a method suitable for an evaluation of drought in agricultural land. Dry seasons in the time series from 1960 to 2014 were determined according to the monthly Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). The field research was carried out on 12 sites including western Slovakia, Prešov, Trnava and Nitra regions. Data collected from satellite imagery, climate data analyses and drought indices was analysed to determine the value of NDVI as an evaluation tool.

The Practice of Theoretical Curiosity

by Mark Zuss

The desire for knowledge is an abiding facet of human experience and cultural development. This work documents curiosity as a sociohistorical force initiating research across the disciplines. Projects generated by theoretical curiosity are presented as historical and material practices emerging as expressions of embodied knowledge and experience. The shifting cultural, philosophical and practical relations between theory and curiosity are situated within classical, medieval, early modern and contemporary communities of practice. The Practice of Theoretical Curiosity advocates for a critical, aesthetic engagement in everyday life. Its purpose is to examine the pedagogical grounds and questions that motivate research programs in the sciences, education, technoculture and post-war social movements. Theoretical curiosity continually resists disciplinary limits. It is a core, embodied process uniting human pursuits of knowledge and power. This inquiry into inquiry itself offers an appreciation of the vital continuity between the senses, perception, and affect and concept development. It is informed by a critical reading of phenomenology as the embodied practice of researchers. This study sponsors a deepening of theory in practice and the practice of theoretical exploration. As a contribution to pedagogical practice, it offers a historical critique of the usually unquestioned philosophical, political and ethical grounds for educational, scientific and social research. The Practice of Theoretical Curiosity profiles significant alliances and persona as agents for the pursuit of novel and often controversial research, adventures and discovery. It claims that the place of technology and the technical is the primary channel for contemporary inquiry. The technosciences of genomics, artificial life and astrobiology are considered as contemporary extensions of a perennial desire to pursue and resist the limits of existing knowledge and representation.

Tissues, Cultures, Art (Palgrave BioArt)

by Ionat Zurr Oron Catts

Tissues, Cultures, Art narrates the twenty-five years of collaborative and sometimes provocative artistic practice and scholarly thought of Catts & Zurr, who pioneered the use of regenerative biology techniques to create Semi-Living art using living cells, tissues, and technological surrogate bodies. Through hands-on work in biological laboratories, the authors researched concepts such as partial-life and DNA-Chauvinism and explored the fantasies of living in a technologically mediated victimless utopia. The authors delve into life’s resistance to reductionism, systemisation and control, asking whether there is something unique to life without the need to resort to metaphysics. Their practices reach beyond the confines of art and are often cited as precursors to the cellular agriculture and biofabrication industries. Through a hybrid of personal reflections, poetics, and anecdotes with a more rigorous, scholarly approach – all illustrated with artworks - the authors present a critical view on the use of life as a raw material for human manipulation.

Curious Minds: The Power of Connection

by Perry Zurn Dani S. Bassett

An exhilarating, genre-bending exploration of curiosity&’s powerful capacity to connect ideas and people.Curious about something? Google it. Look at it. Ask a question. But is curiosity simply information seeking? According to this exhilarating, genre-bending book, what&’s left out of the conventional understanding of curiosity are the wandering tracks, the weaving concepts, the knitting of ideas, and the thatching of knowledge systems—the networks, the relations between ideas and between people. Curiosity, say Perry Zurn and Dani Bassett, is a practice of connection: it connects ideas into networks of knowledge, and it connects knowers themselves, both to the knowledge they seek and to each other. Zurn and Bassett—identical twins who write that their book &“represents the thought of one mind and two bodies&”—harness their respective expertise in the humanities and the sciences to get irrepressibly curious about curiosity. Traipsing across literatures of antiquity and medieval science, Victorian poetry and nature essays, as well as work by writers from a variety of marginalized communities, they trace a multitudinous curiosity. They identify three styles of curiosity—the busybody, who collects stories, creating loose knowledge networks; the hunter, who hunts down secrets or discoveries, creating tight networks; and the dancer, who takes leaps of creative imagination, creating loopy ones. Investigating what happens in a curious brain, they offer an accessible account of the network neuroscience of curiosity. And they sketch out a new kind of curiosity-centric and inclusive education that embraces everyone&’s curiosity. The book performs the very curiosity that it describes, inviting readers to participate—to be curious with the book and not simply about it.

Traffic and Granular Flow 2019 (Springer Proceedings in Physics #252)

by Iker Zuriguel Angel Garcimartín Raúl Cruz Hidalgo

This book gathers contributions on a variety of flowing collective systems. While primarily focusing on pedestrian dynamics, they also reflect the latest developments in areas such as vehicular traffic and granular flows and address related emerging topics such as self-propelled particles, data transport, swarm behavior, intercellular transport, and collective dynamics of biological systems. Combining fundamental research and practical applications in the various fields discussed, the book offers a valuable asset for researchers and practitioners alike.

Complexity, Entropy And The Physics Of Information (Santa Fe Institute Ser)

by Wojciech H. Zurek

A must have for those with a deep commitment to the second law of thermodynamics, entropy, and information theory.

Characterisation of Soft Magnetic Materials Under Rotational Magnetisation

by Stanislaw Zurek

The book presents practical aspects related to the measurement of rotational power loss in soft magnetic materials. The book furthermore focuses on practical aspects of performing such measurements, the associated difficulties as well as solutions to the most common problems. Numerous practical aspects, hands-on experience, and most commonly encountered pitfalls are heavily discussed in the book. The text begins with introduction to magnetism, then follows with definitions of measurement methods of rotational power loss from physical viewpoint. Two chapters describe and detail the various sensors which can be employed for such measurements as well as all the aspects of designing, making, and using a magnetising apparatus. A synthesis of the likely optimal design of a magnetising apparatus is also given, preceded with the full reasoning based on all the research carried out to date. <P><P>Characterisation of Soft Magnetic Materials Under Rotational Magnetisation serves as an excellent starting point for any student having to perform magnetic measurements under rotational magnetisation, but also under 1D, 2D or 3D excitation. Because the methods, sensors, and apparatus are extensively discussed it will also be a great reference for more senior researchers and experts in the field. There is a whole chapter devoted to analysis of measurement uncertainty. This subject is rarely published for magnetic measurements, which makes it more difficult for all researchers to understand the concepts and methodology used in uncertainty estimation. This chapter not only introduces the whole subject, but also provides multiple step-by-step examples which can be easily followed, from very simple cases to much more complex ones. All equations are presented with full SI units which greatly helps in practical application of the presented methodology. Each chapter is written in such a way that it can be studied on its own, so that the reader can focus only on the specific aspects, as required.

Connecting Trees with People: Synergistic Strategies for Growing the Urban Forest (Future City #16)

by Naomi Zürcher

Written from the perspective of an urban forester and certified arborist, the reader will have a basic understanding of what makes a tree a tree in context to the philosophical and cultural underpinnings of Urban and Community Forestry, and learn how to implement model, time-tested global green practices and initiatives derived from citizen science.

Plant Synthetic Biology: Methods and Protocols (Methods in Molecular Biology #2379)

by Matias D. Zurbriggen

This volume provides methods on different aspects and applications on plants, algae, photosynthetic bacteria, synthetic construct design, and multiplex cloning. Chapters cover multiple aspects of synthetic metabolic, photosynthetic systems, metabolic and signaling pathways, advanced engineering of metabolic networks, isolation of organelles and co-culture of microorganisms, and methods for the on command manipulation of the relative stability of proteins. Written in the format of the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, each chapter includes an introduction to the topic, lists necessary materials and reagents, includes tips on troubleshooting and known pitfalls, and step-by-step, readily reproducible protocols. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Plant Synthetic Biology: Methods and Protocols aims to be a useful resource for both researchers starting to explore novel experimental avenues as well as for experts willing to expand their portfolio of tools and strategies.

Neuromarketing

by Leon Zurawicki

Over the last 10 years advances in the new field of neuromarketing have yielded a host of findings which defy common stereotypes about consumer behavior. Reason and emotions do not necessarily appear as opposing forces. Rather, they complement one another. Hence, it reveals that consumers utilize mental accounting processes different from those assumed in marketers' logical inferences when it comes to time, problems with rating and choosing, and in post-purchase evaluation. People are often guided by illusions not only when they perceive the outside world but also when planning their actions - and consumer behavior is no exception. Strengthening the control over their own desires and the ability to navigate the maze of data are crucial skills consumers can gain to benefit themselves, marketers and the public. Understanding the mind of the consumer is the hardest task faced by business researchers. This book presents the first analytical perspective on the brain - and biometric studies which open a new frontier in market research.

Crustaceans: Endocrinology, Biology and Aquaculture

by Valerio Zupo

Anyone who attempts to study crustaceans soon realizes that there are many science fields involved. As a major subphylum of Arthropods—the largest phylum in the animal kingdom—crustaceans exhibit an extraordinary diversity of taxa, shapes, physiology and styles of life. These invertebrates play key ecological roles in all aquatic environments, while only a few species are adapted to sub-aerial and humid environments. Their evolutionary success is not only due to a wide set of morphological and biological adaptations, but also because of some key features, e.g., their peculiar endocrinology. In addition, crustaceans are characterized by chemical and optical sensors deserving attention because they play important biological roles, linked to chemical ecology issues, and their functioning is impaired by global changes and ocean acidification. Several crustaceans have critical roles in aquatic ecology (e.g., copepods in the plankton, amphipods and isopods in the benthos). Select species are technologically important as "models" for scientific research. Furthermore, aquaculture of several decapod crustaceans is important for providing high protein products to meet the need for nutrition. Understanding the physiology and ecology of crustaceans is important to fulfill these diverse purposes and practical applications. In this book, leading world scientists have pooled their excellence to provide vibrant and expert views of fundamental biological and physiological mechanisms involving crustaceans. To this end, a comprehensive view of crustacean endocrinology and reproductive ecology is provided, along with information about their molecular physiology, adaptations, aquaculture and welfare. In particular, we attempted to span the breadth of their adaptations, presenting behavioral and physiological peculiarities, considering key groups of crustaceans to describe general features and global biodiversity. This book is offered as a tool for students and scientists in various fields of physiological, ecological, biotechnological and aquacultural research.

Digital Transformation of the Laboratory: A Practical Guide to the Connected Lab

by Klemen Zupancic

This practical book in instrumental analytics conveys an overview of important methods of analysis and enables the reader to realistically learn the (principally technology-independent) working techniques the analytical chemist uses to develop methods and conduct validation. What is to be conveyed to the student is the fact that analysts in their capacity as problem-solvers perform services for certain groups of customers, i.e., the solution to the problem should in any case be processed in such a way as to be "fit for purpose". The book presents sixteen experiments in analytical chemistry laboratory courses. They consist of the classical curriculum used at universities and universities of applied sciences with chromatographic procedures, atom spectrometric methods, sensors and special methods (e.g. field flow fractionation, flow injection analysis and N-determination according to Kjeldahl). The carefully chosen combination of theoretical description of the methods of analysis and the detailed instructions given are what characterizes this book. The instructions to the experiments are so detailed that the measurements can, for the most part, be taken without the help of additional literature. The book is complemented with tips for effective literature and database research on the topics of organization and the practical workflow of experiments in analytical laboratory, on the topic of the use of laboratory logs as well as on writing technical reports and grading them (Evaluation Guidelines for Laboratory Experiments). A small introduction to Quality Management, a brief glance at the history of analytical chemistry as well as a detailed appendix on the topic of safety in analytical laboratories and a short introduction to the new system of grading and marking chemicals using the "Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS)", round off this book. This book is therefore an indispensable workbook for students, internship assistants and lecturers (in the area of chemistry, biotechnology, food technology and environmental technology) in the basic training program of analytics at universities and universities of applied sciences.

Fixed-Time Cooperative Control of Multi-Agent Systems

by Zongyu Zuo Qing-Long Han Boda Ning

This monograph presents new theories and methods for fixed-time cooperative control of multi-agent systems. Fundamental concepts of fixed-time stability and stabilization are introduced with insightful understanding. This book presents solutions for several problems of fixed-time cooperative control using systematic design methods. The book compares fixed-time cooperative control with asymptotic cooperative control, demonstrating how the former can achieve better closed-loop performance and disturbance rejection properties. It also discusses the differences from finite-time control, and shows how fixed-time cooperative control can produce the faster rate of convergence and provide an explicit estimate of the settling time independent of initial conditions. This monograph presents multiple applications of fixed-time control schemes, including to distributed optimization of multi-agent systems, making it useful to students, researchers and engineers alike.

The Chang’E-1 Topographic Atlas of the Moon

by Wei Zuo Xin Ren Lingli Mu Jianjun Liu Chunlai Li

This atlas is based on the lunar global Digital Elevation Models (DEM) of Chang'E-1 (CE-1), and presents CCD stereo image data with digital photogrammetry. The spatial resolution of the DEM in this atlas is 500m, with horizontal accuracy of 192m and vertical accuracy of 120m. Color-shaded relief maps with contour lines are used to show the lunar topographical characteristics. The topographical data gathered by CE-1 can provide fundamental information for the study of lunar topographical, morphological and geological structures, as well as for lunar evolution research.

Modelling and Analysis of Fine Sediment Transport in Wave-Current Bottom Boundary Layer (IHE Delft PhD Thesis Series)

by Liqin Zuo

The evolution and utilization of estuarine and coastal regions are greatly restricted by sediment problems. This thesis aims to better understand fine sediment transport under combined action of waves and currents, especially in the wave-current bottom boundary layer (BBL). Field observations, experimental data analysis, theoretical analysis and numerical models are employed. Silt-dominated sediments are sensitive to flow dynamics and the suspended sediment concentration (SSC) increase rapidly under strong flow dynamics. This research unveils several fundamental aspects of silty sediment, i.e., the criterion of the incipient motion, the SSC profiles and their phase-averaged parameterization in wave-dominated conditions. An expression for sediment incipient motion is proposed for silt-sand sediment under combined wave and current conditions. A process based intra-wave 1DV model for flow-sediment dynamics near the bed is developed in combined wave-current conditions. The high concentration layer (HCL) was simulated and sensitivity analysis was carried out by the 1DV model on factors that impact the SSC in the HCL. Finally, based on the 1DV model, the formulations of the mean SSC profile of silt-sand sediments in wave conditions were proposed. The developed approaches are expected to be applied in engineering practice and further simulation.

Advanced Transmission Electron Microscopy: Imaging and Diffraction in Nanoscience

by Jian Min Zuo John C.H. Spence

This volume expands and updates the coverage in the authors' popular 1992 book, Electron Microdiffraction. As the title implies, the focus of the book has changed from electron microdiffraction and convergent beam electron diffraction to all forms of advanced transmission electron microscopy. Special attention is given to electron diffraction and imaging, including high-resolution TEM and STEM imaging, and the application of these methods to crystals, their defects, and nanostructures. The authoritative text summarizes and develops most of the useful knowledge which has been gained over the years from the study of the multiple electron scattering problem, the recent development of aberration correctors and their applications to materials structure characterization, as well as the authors' extensive teaching experience in these areas. Advanced Transmission Electron Microscopy: Imaging and Diffraction in Nanoscience is ideal for use as an advanced undergraduate or graduate level text in support of course materials in Materials Science, Physics or Chemistry departments.

Getting Inside Your Head: What Cognitive Science Can Tell Us about Popular Culture

by Lisa Zunshine

Using the psychological concept called theory of mind, Lisa Zunshine explores the appeal of movies, novels, paintings, musicals, and reality television.Winner of the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title of the Choice ACRLWe live in other people's heads: avidly, reluctantly, consciously, unaware, mistakenly, and inescapably. Our social life is a constant negotiation among what we think we know about each other's thoughts and feelings, what we want each other to think we know, and what we would dearly love to know but don't.Cognitive scientists have a special term for the evolved cognitive adaptation that makes us attribute mental states to other people through observation of their body language; they call it theory of mind. Getting Inside Your Head uses research in theory of mind to look at movies, musicals, novels, classic Chinese opera, stand-up comedy, mock-documentaries, photography, and reality television. It follows Pride and Prejudice’s Mr. Darcy as he tries to conceal his anger, Tyler Durden as he lectures a stranger at gunpoint in Fight Club, and Ingrid Bergman as she fakes interest in horse races in Notorious.This engaging book exemplifies the new interdisciplinary field of cognitive cultural studies, demonstrating that collaboration between cognitive science and cultural studies is both exciting and productive.

The Secret Life of Literature

by Lisa Zunshine

An innovative account that brings together cognitive science, ethnography, and literary history to examine patterns of &“mindreading&” in a wide range of literary works.For over four thousand years, writers have been experimenting with what cognitive scientists call &“mindreading&”: constantly devising new social contexts for making their audiences imagine complex mental states of characters and narrators. In The Secret Life of Literature, Lisa Zunshine uncovers these mindreading patterns, which have, until now, remained invisible to both readers and critics, in works ranging from The Epic of Gilgamesh to Invisible Man. Bringing together cognitive science, ethnography, and literary studies, this engaging book transforms our understanding of literary history. Central to Zunshine&’s argument is the exploration of mental states &“embedded&” within each other, as, for instance, when Ellison&’s Invisible Man is aware of how his white Communist Party comrades pretend not to understand what he means, when they want to reassert their position of power. Paying special attention to how race, class, and gender inform literary embedments, Zunshine contrasts this dynamic with real-life patterns studied by cognitive and social psychologists. She also considers community-specific mindreading values and looks at the rise and migration of embedment patterns across genres and national literary traditions, noting particularly the use of deception, eavesdropping, and shame as plot devices. Finally, she investigates mindreading in children&’s literature. Stories for children geared toward different stages of development, she shows, provide cultural scaffolding for initiating young readers into a long-term engagement with the secret life of literature.

Strange Concepts and the Stories They Make Possible: Cognition, Culture, Narrative

by Lisa Zunshine

In this fresh and often playful interdisciplinary study, Lisa Zunshine presents a fluid discussion of how key concepts from cognitive science complicate our cultural interpretations of "strange" literary phenomena.From Short Circuit to I, Robot, from The Parent Trap to Big Business, fantastic tales of rebellious robots, animated artifacts, and twins mistaken for each other are a permanent fixture in popular culture and have been since antiquity. Why do these strange concepts captivate the human imagination so thoroughly? Zunshine explores how cognitive science, specifically its ideas of essentialism and functionalism, combined with historical and cultural analysis, can help us understand why we find such literary phenomena so fascinating.Drawing from research by such cognitive evolutionary anthropologists and psychologists as Scott Atran, Paul Bloom, Pascal Boyer, and Susan A. Gelman, Zunshine examines the cognitive origins of the distinction between essence and function and how unexpected tensions between these two concepts are brought into play in fictional narratives. Discussing motifs of confused identity and of twins in drama, science fiction’s use of robots, cyborgs, and androids, and nonsense poetry and surrealist art, she reveals the range and power of key concepts from science in literary interpretation and provides insight into how cognitive-evolutionary research on essentialism can be used to study fiction as well as everyday strange concepts.

Microbial Probiotics for Agricultural Systems: Advances in Agronomic Use (Sustainability in Plant and Crop Protection)

by Doris Zúñiga-Dávila Fernando González-Andrés Ernesto Ormeño-Orrillo

The book is a comprehensive compilation of the most recent advances in the practical approach of the use of microbial probiotics for agriculture. Unlike the rest of the publications about biofertilizers, this book bridges the gap between the lab studies (molecular, physiological, omics, etc.) and the agronomic application.

Designing Exoskeletons

by Luis Adrian Zuñiga-Aviles Giorgio Mackenzie Cruz-Martinez

Designing Exoskeletons focuses on developing exoskeletons, following the lifecycle of an exoskeleton from design to manufacture. It demonstrates how modern technologies can be used at every stage of the process, such as design methodologies, CAD/CAE/CAM software, rapid prototyping, test benches, materials, heat and surface treatments, and manufacturing processes. Several case studies are presented to provide detailed considerations on developing specific topics. Exoskeletons are designed to provide work-power, rehabilitation, and assistive training to sports and military applications. Beginning with a review of the history of exoskeletons from ancient to modern times, the book builds on this by mapping out recent innovations and state-of-the-art technologies that utilize advanced exoskeleton design. Presenting a comprehensive guide to computer design tools used by bioengineers, the book demonstrates the capabilities of modern software at all stages of the process, looking at computer-aided design, manufacturing, and engineering. It also details the materials used to create exoskeletons, notably steels, engineering polymers, composites, and emerging materials. Manufacturing processes, both conventional and unconventional are discussed—for example, casting, powder metallurgy, additive manufacturing, and heat and surface treatments. This book is essential reading for those in the field of exoskeletons, such as designers, workers in research and development, engineering and design students, and those interested in robotics applied to medical devices.

Rising to the Challenge of Transforming Higher Education

by Lucia Zundans-Fraser Alan Bain

Creating a successful and distinctive approach to learning and teaching at scale is a challenge facing all universities. This brief presents the Self-Organizing University (SOU), a transformational whole-of-organization solution for the design, delivery, and evaluation of learning and teaching in all its forms. It describes the elements of the SOU approach along with the implementation process and expected outcomes. It also explains the rationale and research base for each element of the model and how they are connected to create a university-wide model of learning and teaching. It includes guidance for anyone responsible for institutional improvement in the learning and teaching space.

Newton on the Tee

by John Zumerchik

Like no other sport, golf obsesses those poor souls who hope to master its subtleties and abundant complexities. One shot is hit like a dream, the next a nightmare. As a result, the game's disciples have embraced any and all techniques endorsed by pros and hackers, poets and philosophers (these days a good walk is often spoiled by tripping over a sandtrap's worth of Zen meditations and mystical tomes). But while so many have journeyed through golf's metaphysics, no one has presented a readable, compelling look at the science of the game -- until now. In Newton on the Tee, accomplished science writer John Zumerchik examines, explores, and explains to us the endless details that make golf such a tantalizing pursuit. Written in language accessible to even the most scientifically disinclined, Zumerchik's book delves into areas of supreme importance to every golfer, including: The Physics of the Sweet Swing: The universal principles shared by all those rhythmic and well-timed swings you see on TV but not in the mirror Mind Over Muscle: How the brain affects and controls the movements of the body (and why confidence is the golfer's most indispensable tool) Getting the Ball from Here to There: Decoding the vagaries of launch angles, spin, lift, and gravity that make the difference between walking happily down the fairway and tramping into the bunkers Probability and Statistics: Understanding the mathematics of golf, and a by-the-numbers appraisal of golf's greatest legends With a firm grasp of both his subject and his 7-iron, Zumerchik takes the reader through all these topics and more, in an entertaining and enlightening work that will give every golfer something to chew on besides his or her nails, and make clear and comprehensible the hundred-and-thirty-five things you shouldn't think about during your backswing.

Chemistry

by Steven Zumdahl Susan Zumdahl

Never HIGHLIGHT a Book Again! Virtually all of the testable terms, concepts, persons, places, and events from the textbook are included. Cram101 Just the FACTS101 studyguides give all of the outlines, highlights, notes, and quizzes for your textbook with optional online comprehensive practice tests. Only Cram101 is Textbook Specific. Accompanys: 9781133611097 .

World of Chemistry

by Steven S. Zumdahl Susan L. Zumdahl Donald J. Decoste

NIMAC-sourced textbook

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Showing 26 through 50 of 73,250 results