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Peace and Conflict Studies Research: A Qualitative Perspective
Robin Cooper and Laura Finley
This edited book is a new and valuable resource for students, teachers, and practitioners, providing a detailed exploration of how qualitative research can be applied in the field of peace and conflict studies. This book explores considerations and components of designing, conducting, and reporting qualitative research in this field, and also provide exemplars of recent empirical research in peace and conflict studies that employed qualitative methods. Scholars and researchers in peace and conflict studies and peace education face unique challenges in teaching, designing, and conducting qualitative research in these fields. This edited book discusses tips in designing qualitative studies in this area and for teaching emerging peace researchers best practices of qualitative inquiry. In addition, the book discusses some of the trends, challenges, and opportunities associated with research in peace and conflict studies and peace education.
Written at a level appropriate for both graduate students and active researchers, the primary audience for this book is those teaching and learning about the application of qualitative methods to peace and conflict studies, as well as those conducting research in this field. There are currently approximately 230 graduate programs in peace and conflict studies. This book also provides a useful tool for researchers and students in other academic disciplines who are interested in qualitative research. Such disciplines might include education, sociology, criminology, gender studies, psychology, political science, and others. -
Protein 14-3-3 (YWHA) isoforms and their roles in regulating mouse oocyte maturation
Santanu De
The 14-3-3 (YWHA) is a highly conserved, ubiquitously expressed protein family regulating important cellular processes including cell cycle. This work, for the first time, explored the differential expression and roles of 14-3-3 isoforms during mouse oocyte maturation.
All seven mammalian 14-3-3 isoforms were identified in mouse eggs and ovarian follicular cells including oocytes, by Western blotting. Immunocytochemical and immunohistochemical staining confirmed the presence of all 14-3-3 isoforms in oocytes, eggs and ovarian follicles with characteristic similarities and differences in their distributions.
Mammalian oocytes are arrested at meiosis prophase I by an inhibitory phosphorylation on Cyclin-Dependent Kinase I (CDK1), released by CDC25B phosphatase which is bound and inactivated in phosphorylated form by 14-3-3 in oocyte cytoplasm. Here, in situ Proximity Ligation Assays (PLA) revealed that all 14-3-3 isoforms interact with CDC25B in oocytes, with reduced interactions in eggs. Phosphorylation of CDC25B at Ser-149 was found to be reduced in eggs compared to oocytes. Microinjection of a translation-blocking morpholino oligonucleotide against 14-3-3eta mRNA caused germinal vesicle breakdown in significantly higher percentage of oocytes compared to oocytes injected with morpholinos targeting other 14-3-3 isoforms. Thus, interaction of 14-3-3eta with CDC25B is required for maintaining prophase I arrest in oocytes.
Protein 14-3-3eta was observed to accumulate and co-localize with alpha-tubulin at both meiosis I and II spindles during mouse oocyte maturation in vivo as well as in vitro. It interacts directly with alpha-tubulin with an accumulation of the interactions at meiotic spindles, detected by in situ PLA. In a significant 76% of mouse oocytes microinjected with the morpholino against 14-3-3eta mRNA, meiotic spindles were deformed or absent with clumped chromosomes, no accumulation of 14-3-3eta and no polar body formation. All control eggs showed normal, bipolar spindles with accumulation of 14-3-3eta. Therefore, 14-3-3eta is essential for normal meiotic spindle formation during in vitro maturation of mouse oocytes, in part by interacting with alpha-tubulin, to regulate the assembly of microtubules.
These studies reveal 14-3-3 isoform-specific interactions with key proteins involved in mouse oocyte maturation, such as CDC25B and alpha-tubulin. The results help to elucidate the roles of 14-3-3 proteins in mammalian oogenesis and reproductive development. -
9/11 and Collective Memory in US Classrooms: Teaching about Terror
Cheryl Lynn Duckworth
While current literature stresses the importance of teaching about the 9/11 attacks on the US, many questions remain as to what teachers are actually teaching in their own classrooms. Few studies address how teachers are using of all of this advice and curriculum, what sorts of activities they are undertaking, and how they go about deciding what they will do. Arguing that the events of 9/11 have become a "chosen trauma" for the US, author Cheryl Duckworth investigates how 9/11 is being taught in classrooms (if at all) and what narrative is being passed on to today’s students about that day.
Using quantitative and qualitative data gathered from US middle and high school teachers, this volume reflects on foreign policy developments and trends since September 11th, 2001 and analyzes what this might suggest for future trends in U.S. foreign policy. The understanding that the "post-9/11 generation" has of what happened and what it means is significant to how Americans will view foreign policy in the coming decades (especially in the Islamic World) and whether it is likely to generate war or foster peace.
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Coral Research in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Joshua Feingold and Peter W. Glynn
This chapter summarizes the scientific knowledge of scleractinian corals in the Galapagos Archipelago. A general introduction to coral biology is followed by a brief history of coral research in the islands. Subsequent sections discuss responses of corals to broad-scale impacts, anthropogenic stress on Galapagos corals, and recommendations for management of this important resource. Following an initial period (1835-1960s) of cataloging the species present in the Galapagos Islands, research on coral ecology was initiated by Wellington in the 1970s. Glynn and Wellington more thoroughly examined the surprising abundance and distribution of corals and reef frameworks in the 1980s. Glynn and other workers then documented mass mortalities of corals due to the 1982-1983 ENSO disturbance. Subsequent research focused upon this natural phenomenon and its effect on coral distribution, ecology, and physiology. Most recently, resilience and recovery of coral populations were reported. Compared to most other regions, there is little anthropogenic impact to corals in the Galapagos Islands. However, climate change and ocean acidification have effects, and there is evidence of impacts associated with fisheries and tourism. Recommendations for management decisions conclude this chapter.
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Evaluating Water-Depth Variation and Mapping Depositional Facies on the Great Bahama Bank - a "Flat-Topped" Isolated Carbonate Platform
Paul Mitch Harris, James Ellis, and Samuel J. Purkis
Great Bahama Bank (GBB) has long served as a frequently visited and well-studied example of a flat-topped, isolated carbonate platform. As such, GBB stands behind much of our understanding of modern processes and products of carbonate sedimentation. The geological models derived from studies on GBB are commonly used to illustrate depositional facies variations and frequently serve as reservoir analogs.
We have used Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery and an extensive set of water depth measurements to first critically evaluate the magnitude and patterns of bathymetry across GBB. We then integrated the seafloor sample data of Reijmer et al (2009) along with a small number of additional samples with the Landsat imagery compiled into ArcGIS and analyzed with eCognition to develop a depositional facies map that is more robust than previous versions. The new maps, in our opinion, can serve as a template for better characterizing GBB at all scales, highlight future research areas where "ground-truthing" is needed to further investigate facies patterns, and facilitate better use of this isolated carbonate platform as an analog for both exploration- and reservoir-scale facies analysis. As examples of information that can be extracted from the maps, we analyze the platform margins of GBB with respect to their orientation, examine the relationship between water depth and facies type, interrogate facies position and breadth across the platform top, and relook at the occurences of whitings relative to the distribution of mud on the platform.
The geospatial data for GBB are compiled into a 3.9 GB GIS database which is included on the DVD of this digital publication. The GIS contains raw data, interpretive products, and visualization examples that were produced during the development of the water depth and facies maps of GBB, including the Landsat TM imagery, DEM, images developed by combining layers in the GIS, and facies and whitings maps. In addition, the Projects folder of the GIS contains files that automatically display images, maps, and DEMs with an appropriate symbology in ArcGIS version 10.1 (.mxd), ArcGIS Explorer version (Build) 1750 and 2500 (.nmf), and GlobalMapper version 14-1 (.wks).
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Localized Activity States for Neuronal Field Equations of Feature Selectivity in a Stimulus Space with Toroidal Topology
Evan Haskell and Vehbi Emrah Paksoy
Book Description: Nonlinear Dynamics of Complex Systems describes chaos, fractal and stochasticities within celestial mechanics, financial systems and biochemical systems. Part I discusses methods and applications in celestial systems and new results in such areas as low energy impact dynamics, low-thrust planar trajectories to the moon and earth-to-halo transfers in the sun, earth and moon. Part II presents the dynamics of complex systems including bio-systems, neural systems, chemical systems and hydro-dynamical systems. Finally, Part III covers economic and financial systems including market uncertainty, inflation, economic activity and foreign competition and the role of nonlinear dynamics in each.
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Concise Encyclopaedia of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Matthew He
Concise Encyclopaedia of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, 2nd Edition is a fully revised and updated version of this acclaimed resource. The book provides definitions and often explanations of over 1000 words, phrases and concepts relating to this fast-moving and exciting field, offering a convenient, one-stop summary of the core knowledge in the area. This second edition is an invaluable resource for students, researchers and academics.
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Multimodal Composition: A Critical Sourcebook
Claire Lutkewitte
Multimodal Composition gives instructors a starting point for rethinking the kinds of texts they teach and produce. Chapters take up fundamental questions, such as What is multimodal composition, and why should I care about it? How do I bring multimodal composition into the classroom? How do I use multiple modes in my scholarship? With practical discussions about assessing student work and incorporating multiple modes into composition scholarship, this book provides a firm foundation for graduate teaching assistants and established instructors alike.
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Chapter 12: Forensic Animal DNA Analysis
Marilyn Menotti-Raymond, Victor A. David, Stephen J. O'Brien, Sree Kanthaswamy, Petar Projic, Vedrana Skaro, Gordan Lauc, and Adrian Linacre
Forensic DNA Applications: An Interdisciplinary Perspective was developed as an outgrowth of a conference held by the International Society of Applied Biological Sciences. The topic was human genome–based applications in forensic science, anthropology, and individualized medicine. Assembling the contributions of contributors from numerous regions around the world, this volume is designed as both a textbook for forensic molecular biology students and a reference for practitioners and those in the legal system.
The book begins with the history and development of DNA typing and profiling for criminal and civil purposes. It discusses the statistical interpretation of results with case examples, mitochondrial DNA testing, Y single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and short tandem repeats (STRs), and X SNP and STR testing. It also explores low copy number DNA typing, mixtures, and quality assurance and control.
The second section examines the collection and preservation of biological evidence under a variety of different circumstances and the identification of human remains—including in mass disaster settings. It discusses applications to bioterrorism investigations, animal DNA testing in criminal cases, pedigree questions and wildlife forensic problems, applications in forensic entomology, and forensic botany.
The third section explores recent developments and new technologies, including the rigorous identification of tissue of origin, mtDNA profiling using immobilized probe strips, chips and next-generation sequencing, the use of SNPs to ascertain phenotypic characteristics, and the "molecular autopsy" that looks at aspects of toxicogenetics and pharmacogenetics.
The book concludes with a discussion on law, ethics, and policy. It examines the use of DNA evidence in the criminal justice system in both the United States and Europe, ethical issues in forensic laboratory practices, familial searches, DNA databases, ancestry searches, physical phenotyping, and report writing. The contributors also examine DNA applications in immigration and human trafficking cases and international perspectives on DNA databases.
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Qualitative Case Study in Conflict Resolution
Ismael Muvingi and Cheryl Lynn Duckworth
This edited book is a new and valuable resource for students, teachers, and practitioners, providing a detailed exploration of how qualitative research can be applied in the field of peace and conflict studies. This book explores considerations and components of designing, conducting, and reporting qualitative research in this field, and also provide exemplars of recent empirical research in peace and conflict studies that employed qualitative methods. Scholars and researchers in peace and conflict studies and peace education face unique challenges in teaching, designing, and conducting qualitative research in these fields. This edited book discusses tips in designing qualitative studies in this area and for teaching emerging peace researchers best practices of qualitative inquiry. In addition, the book discusses some of the trends, challenges, and opportunities associated with research in peace and conflict studies and peace education.
Written at a level appropriate for both graduate students and active researchers, the primary audience for this book is those teaching and learning about the application of qualitative methods to peace and conflict studies, as well as those conducting research in this field. There are currently approximately 230 graduate programs in peace and conflict studies. This book also provides a useful tool for researchers and students in other academic disciplines who are interested in qualitative research. Such disciplines might include education, sociology, criminology, gender studies, psychology, political science, and others.
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Chapter 12: The Intersection of the Public and Private for Pashtun Women in Politics
Mary H. Schwoebel
A brutal gang-rape of a young woman in India in 2012 caused a global outcry against rising brutal violence against women. In response to the young woman's death and the protests that followed, the contributors analyze the position of women in South Asia, the issue of violence, women's political activism and gender inequalities.
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Part 5 - Senses of Place: Chapter 29: Zion Pioneers and Spirituality in the Land of Zion
Eileen M. Smith-Carvos
Zion National Park is one of the country’s most-visited and best-loved national parks. For the first time, lovers of the park have in one volume the best that has been written about the canyon. A Zion Canyon Reader is a collection of historical and literary accounts that presents diverse perspectives on Zion Canyon—and the surrounding southern Utah region—through the eyes of native inhabitants, pioneer settlers, boosters, explorers, artists, park rangers, developers, and spiritual seekers. Through the pages of this book, both the newest visitors to Zion and those who return to the park again and again will come to understand what this place has meant to different people over the centuries.
Among the works included are well-known historical accounts of exploration by John Wesley Powell, Clarence Dutton, and Everett Ruess. Writings by Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, Juanita Brooks, and others enlighten and excite in numerous memorable chapters. Here and there the book bears witness to conflicting viewpoints on controversies associated with the national park, especially development vs. preservation and locals vs. outsiders.
Lyman Hafen, author and executive director of the Zion Natural History Association, calls the book “the most comprehensive, insightful, and inspiring compilation of Zion writing ever assembled.” As readers learn about the plants, animals, geology, history, and people of Zion Canyon, they will discover unfamiliar corners of the park and see favorite hikes in a new light. -
The Near-Surface Layer of the Ocean: Structure, Dynamics and Applications
Alexander Soloviev and Roger Lukas
- Updating the previous edition of the book due to remarkable results from synthetic aperture radar satellites, from satellites which measure sea surface salinity, and computational fluid dynamic models open new opportunities in understanding the processes in the near-surface layer of the ocean
- Monitoring short surface waves has significantly progressed due to passive acoustic methods
- Gives a comprehensive account of the structures and dynamics of the near-surface layer of the ocean
- Clarifies theoretical concepts that are developed from fundamental physics and thermodynamics
- Shows results of major air-sea interaction experiments (including those obtained with the participation of the authors), included in the analysis
- Includes an overview of the results for important oceanographic applications such as remote sensing, climate, hurricane physics, oil spills, marine biology, optics and acoustics
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Coral Reefs of the Chagos Archipelago, Indian Ocean
Mebs Ateweberhan, Allen C. Chen, Alasdair Harris, Rachel Jones, Shashank Keshavmurthy, Carl Lundin, David Obura, Samuel J. Purkis, Peter Raines, Bernhard Riegl, Michael H. Schleyer, Anne L. S. Sheppard, Jerker Tamelander, John R. Turner, Shakil Visram, and Sung-Yin Yang
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Chapter 10: Chalcogenides and Non-oxides
Jacilynn A. Brant, Carl D. Brunetta, and Jennifer A. Aitken
Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry II reviews and examines topics of relevance to today’s inorganic chemists. Covering more interdisciplinary and high impact areas, Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry II includes biological inorganic chemistry, solid state chemistry, materials chemistry, and nanoscience. The work is designed to follow on, with a different viewpoint and format, from our 1973 work, Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry, edited by Bailar, Emeléus, Nyholm, and Trotman-Dickenson, which has received over 2,000 citations. The new work will also complement other recent Elsevier works in this area, Comprehensive Coordination Chemistry and Comprehensive Organometallic Chemistry, to form a trio of works covering the whole of modern inorganic chemistry. Chapters are designed to provide a valuable, long-standing scientific resource for both advanced students new to an area and researchers who need further background or answers to a particular problem on the elements, their compounds, or applications. Chapters are written by teams of leading experts, under the guidance of the Volume Editors and the Editors-in-Chief. The articles are written at a level that allows undergraduate students to understand the material, while providing active researchers with a ready reference resource for information in the field. The chapters will not provide basic data on the elements, which is available from many sources (and the original work), but instead concentrate on applications of the elements and their compounds.
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Atlas of Saudi Arabian Red Sea Marine Habitats
Andrew Bruckner, Gwilym Rowlands, Bernhard Riegl, Samuel J. Purkis, A Williams, and Philip Renaud
The Red Sea is a narrow, but relatively deep, oceanic trough that extends for over 1900 km, between 13º and 28º N latitude. It has a total surface area of roughly 438,000 km², with a width of approximately 180 km in the north, and 354 km at its widest point in the south. The Red Sea narrows to about 29 km in the Strait of Bab el Mandab, where it joins the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. The maximum depth is over 2200 m, with an average depth of 490 m. The Red Sea is shallowest at the southern end, with depths of only 130 m in the Strait of Bab el Mandab. It is the world’s northernmost tropical sea, with extensive shallow shelves that support complex coral reefs and associated ecosystems.
The Red Sea is part of the tropical Indo-Pacific Ocean, which encompasses the largest marine ecosystem on earth and also the most diverse. Much of the Saudi Arabian Red Sea coastline is characterized by coastal fringing reefs that are narrow, extending tens of meters from shore before plummeting to deep water. However, several regions in Saudi Arabia contain extensive seagrass beds, offshore reef habitats, mangroves, and algal flats. These areas support a wide range of reef morphologies, such as barrier reefs, patch reefs, ridge reefs, atolls, tower reefs, pinnacles, pillars, and spur and groove structures, as well as diverse coral communities growing on algalderived limestone structures (Sheppard et al. 1992).
Over a four year period, the Living Oceans Foundation has been involved in a massive scale marine habitat research project in the Red Sea. The results are now published in this first ever atlas of the Red Sea marine habitats of offshore coral reefs. It is available for download in both English and Arabic.
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Chapter 1: Physics Overview of Solar Energy
Diego Castano
Undoubtedly the most important factor in the study of solar energy is the sun, the local star and the gravitational stake to which the earth is tethered. The standard theories of particle physics and cosmology describe the Big Bang as the moment of creation of space, time, matter, and energy. In thermodynamics, the universe is divided into two parts, the system under consideration and its surroundings. All exchanges between system and surroundings are done across a boundary, the real or effective surface separating the two. In the photovoltaic effect, like in the photoelectric effect, light energy is absorbed by electrons, but, unlike in the photoelectric effect, the electrons are not ejected from the semiconductor. The photosynthetic mechanism absorbs light energy by using pigments, especially chlorophyll (Chl) molecules. Photosynthetic organisms only need 1% of the solar spectrum to provide enough biomass and oxygen to support life on earth.
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How the Irish and Scots Became Indians: Colonial Traders and Agents and the Southeastern Tribes
James E. Doan
A leading journal of Irish Studies, New Hibernia Review opens each issue with a personal essay. For the first time, here is a selection of the finest of these, of which four have been recognized as "Notable Essays of the Year" in Best American Essays. This engaging collection sheds light on the perplexing state of being an Irish American-though the question is usually posed in deflected ways. Often deeply personal, each account in Extended Family: Essays on Being Irish American from New Hibernia Review tackles this question with verve; the conclusions range from the piquant, to the humorous, to the bittersweet. This book marks a welcome re-evaluation of the Irish Diaspora that is sure to challenge and stimulate our current understandings. James Silas Rogers has previously co-edited After the Flood: Irish America, 1945 - 1960 and published a poetry chapbook, Sundogs. He is the editor of New Hibernia Review at the University of St. Thomas, and served as president of the American Conference for Irish Studies from 2009 to 2011. "This elegantly written volume, gathered from many voices, shows that "Irish" is in the eyes of the beholder."-Irish Music & Dance Assoc. April 2013 "Luminous meditations on Irish life, heritage and experience... [the book] succeeds as well as it does by offering personal as well as political readings of contemporary Irish American experience."--Irish Voice
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The Vampire in Native American and Mesoamerican Lore
James E. Doan
Since the publication of John Polidori’s The Vampyre (1819), the vampire has been a mainstay of Western culture, appearing consistently in literature, art, music (notably opera), film, television, graphic novels and popular culture in general. Even before its entrance into the realm of arts and letters in the early nineteenth century, the vampire was a feared creature of Eastern European folklore and legend, rising from the grave at night to consume its living loved ones and neighbors, often converting them at the same time into fellow vampires.
A major question exists within vampire scholarship: to what extent is this creature a product of European cultural forms, or is the vampire indeed a universal, perhaps even archetypal figure? In this collection of sixteen original essays, the contributors shed light on this question. One essay traces the origins of the legend to the early medieval Norse draugr, an “undead” creature who reflects the underpinnings of Dracula, the latter first appearing as a vampire in Anglo-Irish Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, Dracula.
In addition to these investigations of the Western mythic, literary and historic traditions, other essays in this volume move outside Europe to explore vampire figures in Native American and Mesoamerican myth and ritual, as well as the existence of similar vampiric traditions in Japanese, Russian and Latin American art, theatre, literature, film, and other cultural productions.
The female vampire looms large, beginning with the Sumerian goddess Lilith, including the nineteenth-century Carmilla, and moving to vampiresses in twentieth-century film, literature, and television series. Scientific explanations for vampires and werewolves constitute another section of the book, including eighteenth-century accounts of unearthing, decapitation and cremation of suspected vampires in Eastern Europe. The vampire’s beauty, attainment of immortality and eternal youth are all suggested as reasons for its continued success in contemporary popular culture.
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Adapting Dracula to an Irish Context: Reconfiguring the Universal Vampire
James E. Doan and Barbara Brodman
In the predecessor to this book, The Universal Vampire: Origins and Evolution of a Legend, Broadman and Doan presented discussions of the development of the vampire in the West from the early Norse draugr figure to the medieval European revenant and ultimately to Dracula, who first appears as a vampire in Anglo-Irish Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula, published in 1897. The essays in that collection also looked at the non-Western vampire in Native American and Mesoamerican traditions, Asian and Russian vampires in popular culture, and the vampire in contemporary novels, film and television. The essays in this collection continue that multi-cultural and multigeneric discussion by tracing the development of the post-modern vampire, in films ranging from Shadow of a Doubt to Blade, The Wisdom of Crocodiles and Interview with the Vampire; the male and female vampires in the Twilight films, Sookie Stackhouse novels and True Blood television series; the vampire in African American women's fiction, Anne Rice's novels and in the post-apocalyptic I Am Legend; vampires in Japanese anime; and finally, to bring the volumes full circle, the presentation of a new Irish Dracula play, adapted from the novel and set in 1888.
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Images of the Modern Vampire: The Hip and the Atavistic
James E. Doan and Barbara Brodman
In the predecessor to this book, The Universal Vampire: Origins and Evolution of a Legend, Brodman and Doan presented discussions of the development of the vampire in the West from the early Norse draugr figure to the medieval European revenant and ultimately to Dracula, who first appears as a vampire in Anglo-Irish Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, published in 1897. The essays in that collection also looked at the non-Western vampire in Native American and Mesoamerican traditions, Asian and Russian vampires in popular culture, and the vampire in contemporary novels, film and television. The essays in this collection continue that multi-cultural and multigeneric discussion by tracing the development of the post-modern vampire, in films ranging from Shadow of a Doubt to Blade, The Wisdom of Crocodiles and Interview with the Vampire; the male and female vampires in the Twilight films, Sookie Stackhouse novels and TrueBlood television series; the vampire in African American women’s fiction, Anne Rice’s novels and in the post-apocalyptic I Am Legend; vampires in Japanese anime; and finally, to bring the volumes full circle, the presentation of a new Irish Dracula play, adapted from the novel and set in 1888.
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The Universal Vampire: Origins and Evolution of a Legend
James E. Doan and Barbara Brodman
Since the publication of John Polidori’s The Vampyre (1819), the vampire has been a mainstay of Western culture, appearing consistently in literature, art, music (notably opera), film, television, graphic novels and popular culture in general. Even before its entrance into the realm of arts and letters in the early nineteenth century, the vampire was a feared creature of Eastern European folklore and legend, rising from the grave at night to consume its living loved ones and neighbors, often converting them at the same time into fellow vampires.
A major question exists within vampire scholarship: to what extent is this creature a product of European cultural forms, or is the vampire indeed a universal, perhaps even archetypal figure? In this collection of sixteen original essays, the contributors shed light on this question. One essay traces the origins of the legend to the early medieval Norse draugr, an “undead” creature who reflects the underpinnings of Dracula, the latter first appearing as a vampire in Anglo-Irish Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, Dracula.
In addition to these investigations of the Western mythic, literary and historic traditions, other essays in this volume move outside Europe to explore vampire figures in Native American and Mesoamerican myth and ritual, as well as the existence of similar vampiric traditions in Japanese, Russian and Latin American art, theatre, literature, film, and other cultural productions.
The female vampire looms large, beginning with the Sumerian goddess Lilith, including the nineteenth-century Carmilla, and moving to vampiresses in twentieth-century film, literature, and television series. Scientific explanations for vampires and werewolves constitute another section of the book, including eighteenth-century accounts of unearthing, decapitation and cremation of suspected vampires in Eastern Europe. The vampire’s beauty, attainment of immortality and eternal youth are all suggested as reasons for its continued success in contemporary popular culture.
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Chapter 5: Artificial Photosynthesis Ruthenium Complexes
Dimitri Giarikos
This technical book explores current and future applications of solar power as an unlimited source of energy that earth receives every day. Photosynthetic organisms have learned to utilize this abundant source of energy by converting it into high-energy biochemical compounds. Inspired by the efficient conversion of solar energy into an electron flow, attempts have been made to construct artificial photosynthetic systems capable of establishing a charge separation state for generating electricity or driving chemical reactions. Another important aspect of photosynthesis is the CO2 fixation and the production of high energy compounds. Photosynthesis can produce biomass using solar energy while reducing the CO2 level in air. Biomass can be converted into biofuels such as biodiesel and bioethanol. Under certain conditions, photosynthetic organisms can also produce hydrogen gas which is one of the cleanest sources of energy.
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Coral Reef Remote Sensing: A Guide for Mapping, Monitoring and Management
James A. Goodman, Samuel J. Purkis, and Stuart R. Phinn
Remote sensing stands as the defining technology in our ability to monitor coral reefs, as well as their biophysical properties and associated processes, at regional to global scales. With overwhelming evidence that much of Earth’s reefs are in decline, our need for large-scale, repeatable assessments of reefs has never been so great. Fortunately, the last two decades have seen a rapid expansion in the ability for remote sensing to map and monitor the coral reef ecosystem, its overlying water column, and surrounding environment. Remote sensing is now a fundamental tool for the mapping, monitoring and management of coral reef ecosystems. Remote sensing offers repeatable, quantitative assessments of habitat and environmental characteristics over spatially extensive areas. As the multi-disciplinary field of coral reef remote sensing continues to mature, results demonstrate that the techniques and capabilities continue to improve. New developments allow reef assessments and mapping to be performed with higher accuracy, across greater spatial areas, and with greater temporal frequency. The increased level of information that remote sensing now makes available also allows more complex scientific questions to be addressed. As defined for this book, remote sensing includes the vast array of geospatial data collected from land, water, ship, airborne and satellite platforms. The book is organized by technology, including: visible and infrared sensing using photographic, multispectral and hyperspectral instruments; active sensing using light detection and ranging (LiDAR); acoustic sensing using ship, autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and in-water platforms; and thermal and radar instruments.
Emphasis and Audience This book serves multiple roles. It offers an overview of the current state-of-the-art technologies for reef mapping, provides detailed technical information for coral reef remote sensing specialists, imparts insight on the scientific questions that can be tackled using this technology, and also includes a foundation for those new to reef remote sensing. The individual sections of the book include introductory overviews of four main types of remotely sensed data used to study coral reefs, followed by specific examples demonstrating practical applications of the different technologies being discussed. Guidelines for selecting the most appropriate sensor for particular applications are provided, including an overview of how to utilize remote sensing data as an effective tool in science and management. The text is richly illustrated with examples of each sensing technology applied to a range of scientific, monitoring and management questions in reefs around the world. As such, the book is broadly accessible to a general audience, as well as students, managers, remote sensing specialists and anyone else working with coral reef ecosystems.
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