River Publishers Series in Chemical, Environmental, and Energy Engineering – serie

In dealing with the IUCN, one must bear in mind that there never has been, and undoubtedly never will be, any other organization even remotely resembling it. Its peculiarities, subtleties and complexities are sometimes mind-boggling (Nicholson 1990 in Holdgate 1999: ix).Green Web-II investigates IUCN’s role in global biodiversity conservation policy as well as in national program development in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. It explores how nature protection priorities and approaches are promoted or addressed by IUCN, an international organization, and how environment conservation policies are created and maintained in states with different capacities of South Asia. It also evaluates IUCN's competency in bio-diversity, climate change, nature conservation and environmental policy formulation at global, regional and country level. This study is the first detailed scholarly study on the IUCN as an organization as well as on its efforts in biodiversity conservation. This book adds to our knowledge, firstly by contributing to a small but growing body of work on the sociology of international organizations. IOs, especially International Governmental Organizations (IGOs), have long been the subject of mostly political science. Secondly, it applies a fuller sociological imagination to the study of IOs by critically exploring one of the largest and most active nature conservation organizations in the world. Thirdly, it also explores how the IUCN actually goes about building protectoral programs with individual member nations.Additionally, the book explores the recent development of the green economy (GE) concepts into IUCN’s program planning today. The green economy initiative applies a people-first approach. Although the concept is relatively new, this research explores the theoretical development of a green economy and illustrates how this theory is applied in IUCN’s program planning to program implementation. Technical topics discussed in the book include: Motivation of Environment Conservation - How personal efforts make differenceRole of International Environment Conservation OrganizationsPolitical Economy of Organizations, Network theory, Institutional theory, Stakeholder theory, Governance theory Governance performances and CompetitivenessPopularity indicesKnowledge creation and diffusionConservation commons

Good engineers never stop looking for opportunities to improve the performance of their production systems. Performance enhancement methods are always carefully examined, and production data is analyzed in order to identify determining factors affecting performance.The two main activities of the production engineer in the petroleum and related industries are reservoir stimulation and artificial lift. The classic solution to maximizing a well's productivity is to stimulate it. The basis for selecting stimulation candidates should be a review of the well's actual and theoretical IPR. Low permeability wells often need fracturing on initial completion. In low permeability zones, additional post stimulation production can be significant to the economics, however, the production engineer needs to make management aware of the true long term potential or else overly optimistic projections can easily be made.The main purpose of stimulation is to enhance the property value by the faster delivery of the petroleum fluid and/or to increase ultimate economic recovery. The aim of reservoir stimulation is to bypass near-wellbore damage and return a well to its “natural” productivity / injectivity, to extend a conductive path deep into a formation and thus increase productivity beyond the natural level and to produce hydrocarbon from tight formation.The importance of reservoir stimulation is increasing due to following reasons: • Hydrocarbon fields in their mid-life• Production in these fields are in declining trend• The thrust area: Enhancement of productionHence, to improve productivity of the well matrix stimulation and hydraulic fracturing are intended to remedy, or even improve, the natural connection of the wellbore with the reservoir, which could delay the need for artificial lift.This book presents procedures taken in the Oil & Gas Industry for identifying well problems, and it suggests means of solving problems with the help of the Coil Tube unit which is used for improving well productivity and techniques like Acidizing and Hydraulic Fracturing.

If we assume recession as being the starting point for policy challenges, then we can interpret these economic downturns as opportunities for change and the reshaping of society, landscapes and the latent mechanisms of growth. This book illustrates different aspects of local strategic development introducing a novel interpretation of the intimate relationship between demographic and economic aspects in complex socio-environmental systems. A specific approach investigating the mechanisms of local development, cultural and environmental values within a strategic territorial vision, is proposed. Coming from and appealing to diverse academic backgrounds, our book address paradigmatic visions about regional and urban dynamics, focusing on landscape transformations and socioeconomic disparities. Technical topics discussed in the book include:Urban management; Metropolitan governance; ? Landscape; Spatial planning; Applied economics;Regional demography.

We are living today in a multicultural world, surrounded by people from different backgrounds, cultures and religions. Establishing tolerance and peace has become crucial. Without these qualities, social stability and communal harmony are threatened; and acceptance of each other remains elusive.Spreading a culture of tolerance and peace is necessary to address contemporary issues of world peace, this includes reflection on the importance of refusing violence and adopting a more peaceful means for resolving disagreements and conflicts. This book, written by the world’s foremost thinkers in this area, aims to increase feelings of openness and respect toward others, solidarity and sharing based on a sense of security in one's own identity and a capacity to recognize the many dimensions of being human in different cultural and social contexts.Topics discussed in the book include: Promoting Tolerance and Peace Teaching Tolerance and Peace Human Values Intercultural / Interreligious dialogue Human Fraternity document

The book “Economic Inequality – Trends, Traps and Trade-offs” presents the unexplored issues of economic inequality, including case studies of various countries. Inequality is a chronic divisive factor of society. It is well known that inequalities (such as economic, social, cultural, religious, geographical, etc.) have been omnipresent in human society. Inequalities can be found within each family, each community, and each nation and thus globally. Inequality is a major cause of political, economic, social instability, and creates crisis and conflict within society. A major cause of inequality is unequal, uneven, biased, power centric distributions of human economic, social, political, cultural and spiritual human necessities.The edited book examines the major parameters of the socio-economic issues of inequality and focuses on the key economic issues of inequality, namely, income and wealth distribution, equity & equality of outcome, and equality of opportunities. Economic inequality is measured by wealth, income dsiproportions in distribution and consumption patterns in a specific area. Mostly, inequality is measured using various statistical tools including the Gini Coefficient, inequality adjusted human development index, 20:20 ratio, Palma ratio, Hoover index, Galt score, Coefficient of variation, Theil index, wage share etc. However, not all income can be measured by these tools. By using case studies, this book encourages us to reframe economic development through the lens of growing inequalities and disparities. Economic growth per se is disproportional, and the efforts of scholars, practitioners and policymakers should be directed to empower the marginalized of society in a way that ‘no one should left behind’ (UN Slogan).

The book covers basic approaches to the nuclear fuel state of energy reactors in the last stages of the nuclear fuel cycle, these have been developed by the authors based on Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) operational experience. The book starts by looking at the physical safety basis of water-water energetic reactor (WWER) nuclear fuel. It goes on to discuss modern approaches to the heat exchange modelling in nuclear power plant equipment. Next, the safety criteria when making a decision about dry storage for WWER-1000 fuel assembly are discussed. Then the effect of reactor capacity cyclic changes on energy accumulation of creep formations in fuel cladding is covered in full, along with a chapter on the analysis of WWER-1000 fuel cladding failure. Finally, the book finishes with a description of thermal safety criteria for dry storage of spent nuclear fuel.The book is essential reading for anyone concerned with NPP maintenance and safety.

Processes driving urban growth are inherently related to multiple socio-economic factors, making the analysis of urban form and functions a challenging and complicated endeavour. Several fundamental factors and contextual indicators contribute to identify the main determinants of urban growth, that include economic and demographic variables, the socio-spatial structure, territorial patterns, institutional, religious and cultural attributes. Understanding spatio-temporal patterns of economic resilience can support the adoption of explicit developmental policies addressing specificities and local weaknesses of regional contexts.Thirty years after the seminal work entitled 'The Mediterranean City in Transition' by Lila Leontidou, the present contribution re-formulates a narrative framework interpreting the medium-term evolution of Southern European cities and generalises this frame to the analysis of other metropolitan areas with similar morphological and functional characteristics worldwide. Going beyond traditional Mediterranean discourses grounded on economic backwardness, social secularism, and demographic mix, an original interpretation of Mediterranean urbanities is proposed related to the local governance, real estate bubbles, land-use mix, and deregulation in urban expansion. Focusing on socioeconomic development processes in the Northern Mediterranean, the lost opportunity to reduce regional disparities and to give value to scenic and cultural values of the cities and the surrounding countryside are additional issues considered in this vision. Basing on a narrative analysis of ecologically fragile and socially fragmented Mediterranean contexts, the pervasiveness of a structural crisis - affecting regional and country economic systems, while infiltrating in the institutions, local governance systems, and the society, is finally debated as a contribution to a better understanding of complex urbanities worldwide.

The Urban Forest in the Age of Urbanization seeks to reflect on the connotation of urban forestry in line with related emergent holistic theories. Today, much of the planet is urbanised and planners debate “Planetary Urbanization”, economists discuss “The Global City”, ecologists describe the planet’s biodiversity hotspots, and climate scientists warn of a “global” crisis. We might think therefore that focusing on forestation approaches at the Urban and peri-urban “edge”, might be reductionist. However, if the city is everywhere, and everything is a city, if the urbanised world now is a chain of metropolitan areas connected by places and corridors of communication, then what is not urban? And above all, which forests are not urban forests?Starting from the dualism between city and forest and its evolution towards holism, the book seeks to create a framework of dialectical approaches. The case studies included analyse a wide range of urbanisation “processes” to review the practical approaches of urban forestry, in line with the global crisis of the era of globalisation, when climate change, population growth, implosions and explosions of urbanisation, lack of arable land and food are unavoidable.

Well activation is one of the most important aspects in the oil and gas industries and nitrogen gas is predominately used. The gas, being light, is sent down the producing reservoir which will enhance the production or improve the flow of crude oil. In addition to the methods used to increase production there are several problems like sand production and water production from the producing wells.Sand production occurs when the destabilizing stresses at the formation face exceed the strength of the natural arching tendencies and/or grain-to-grain cementation strength. Ideally, during oil production, the formation should be porous, permeable and well consolidated through which hydrocarbons can easily flow into the production wells. But sometimes, especially during production from unconsolidated sandstone reservoirs, the produced hydrocarbons may also carry large amounts of sand into the well bore and sand entering production wells is one of the oldest problems faced by oil companies and one of the toughest to solve. These unconsolidated formations may not restrain grain movement, and produce sand along with the fluids especially at high rates.Water production is also a problem that many reservoir or production engineers face in day-to-day life. As engineers we should be able to decide whether water control solutions should be applied or not. The excess production of water is caused by the depletion of the reservoir and simply sweeps away most of the oil that the reservoir can produce.This book gives an information how well activation using nitrogen is carried out, and how sand control and water control issues can be resolved.

Cisterns: Sustainable Development, Architecture and Energy was written on beliefs that based on historical evidence and actual findings, Iran is most probably the country where cisterns, or Aub-anbars in Farsi, were first developed and built. Therefore, it is quite natural for the author to name cisterns in the text Aub-anbars, as it has been called for centuries in this country, the translation of the same name having been used in other countries too. Although in some books, journals and papers published out of Iran by foreign and Iranian scholars, the names Cistern or Water Reservoir have been used. The word Aub-anbar is a compound noun in Farsi; Aub means water and Anbar means tank/reservoir. Putting them together gives the noun Aub-anbarand it should be used as one word.People of the region wanting reserved cool water whether in cities or in different locations across the harsh desert during their travel. Queen Zubeida, the wife of Khalifa Haroon Al-Rasheed in 750 AD built one of these cistern closer to the town of Hiyal in Saudi Arabia so that the Pilgrims? Caravans going to Mecca will have cool, fresh water. This book consists of 11-chapters with full analysis, illustrations and photographs. It makes interesting readings to those interested into vernacular architecture, traditional buildings and creative thinking.

Although more than 70% of the globe is covered with water, only a small portion is suitable for direct human use, making the scarcity of freshwater one of our plant's most serious challenges. In this context "desalination", defined as "the removal of salt from water", is one of the possible solutions for overcoming our planet's municipal and industrial thirst. By drawing upon the authoritative expertise of a remarkable team of international authors, this book aims to provide an encompassing and "multidisciplinary" introduction to various aspects of desalination. The forte of this publication is that it does not overtly focus on a particular sub-topic of desalination, but rather addresses the topic as a whole. In other words, the unique assortment of reader-friendly chapters is designed to strike a delicate balance between the technical and non-technical. The book is divided into five general sections:The first section presents an overview of water scarcity, followed by a review of integrated water management and the alternatives to desalination. The fundamentals of desalination are provided, including simple water chemistry;The second section covers the conventional technologies of today, including thermal and membrane desalination processes. The topics of pre- and post- treatment are given due credit, as no desalination plant can operate without them;The third section reviews the history of how desalination technologies originated, including a review of today's R&D activities and cutting edge research. The processes and engineering applied for membrane manufacturing are also presented;Section four is concerned with energy and environmental issues, including the application of renewable and nuclear energy, minimization of energy usage and the water-energy-nexus, brine management, and environmental impacts;Finally, section five covers the social and commercial issues, ranging from rural desalination, to the politics of desalination. Desalination costs and feasibility are presented, as well as issues in business development and the future market prospects.Effectively, A Multidisciplinary Introduction to Desalination aims to be a holistic go-to-compendium for anyone seeking a balanced understanding of the various facets of desalination