The Oxford Companion to Global Change

by David J. Cuff

2008

In recent years, global change has become increasingly important in technological, ecological and political spheres. This companion examines the environmental events of recent times, and investigates long-term trends as well as broader issues of global change.

Orthostatic Disorders of the Circulation

by David H.P. Streeten

2012 · Springer Science & Business Media

Most of us spend at least two-thirds of our lives either sitting or standing. It is somewhat surprising, therefore, to find not a single book devoted to disorders caused by derangements of the normal physiological adjustments to changes in posture. In fact, until very recently, medical students have not even been advised to measure the blood pressure and heart rate in the upright posture as part of the routine physical examination. Although Bradbury and Eggleston first described orthostatic hypotension as a consequence of autonomic insufficiency in 1925, interest in orthostatic disorders has been slow to develop in the subsequent years. It is well known that the change from recumbency to the standing posture stimulates neurological, endocrine, and cardiovascular adjustments that ensure maintenance of a normal circulation despite the effects of gravitational forces. The mechanisms of these physiological responses to orthostasis have been stud ied by many investigators. Some of the defects to which antigravitational com pensatory mechanisms are subject, such as postural hypotension resulting from autonomic failure, have been studied intensively and have become part of the general knowledge of most medical practitioners. Other orthostatic disorders such as various other postural abnormalities of blood pressure control, and orthostatic edema-have received far less attention and have been unable to compete with the more dramatic and life-threatening ailments of humankind for a place in our standard medical texts. These disorders often give rise to distressing symptoms and may lead to severe impairment of health.

Industrial Transformation in the Developing World

by Michael T. Rock, David P. Angel

2005 · OUP Oxford

'Grow first, clean up later' environmental strategies in the developing economies of East Asia - China, Korea, and Taiwan in Northeast Asia and Indonesia, Malaysia, the Phillippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam in Southeast Asia - pose a critical regional and global sustainability challenge in this area of continuing rapid urban-based industrial growth. It is the most polluted region in the world. Whilst being at the leading edge of the processes of urbanization, industrialization, and globalization these economies are in the midst, not at the end, of their urban-industrial transformations. During the next 25 years urban populations in the region are expected roughly to double, and most of the industrial capital stock that will be on the ground by 2030 has not yet been built. Given East Asia's growing size in the world's economy and ecology, and its increasingly polluted environment, this looming urban-industrial transformation is both a challenge and an opportunity. Unless steps are taken now to make this transformation more sustainable, East Asia's, and the world's, environmental future is likely to deteriorate seriously. Using detailed case studies and rigorous empirical analyses Rock and Angel, leading experts in this field, show that East Asian governments have found institutionally unique ways to overcome the sustainability challenge. As a result of these findings, they demonstrate how even low income economies in the rest of the world can use regulatory polices, industrial policies, and an openness to trade and foreign investment that will increase the competitiveness of their firms whilst improving their environmental performance, thus proving an important antidote to those who argue that poor countries cannot afford to clean up their environment whilst their economies remain under-developed.

A Select Bibliography of British and Irish University Theses about Maritime History, 1792 to 1990

by David M. Williams, Andrew P. White, International Maritime Economic History Association

1991 · Oxford University Press

This book provides a bibliography of a wide scope of British and Irish post-graduate theses of maritime economic and social history. Its intent is to make these informative, under-utilised texts more accessible for scholars, in response to the deep expansion of subject as a historical discipline. It aims to keep these texts, often unpublished, from lapsing into obscurity. The author takes a broad approach to the subject area, including strands more particular to science than the humanities, and history as recent as the year of publication, intending the resource to be as comprehensive as possible, and of maximum use to present and future scholars. The material is primarily gathered and cross-referenced from Roger R. Bilboul's Restrospective Index to Theses of Great Britain and Ireland 1716-1950, the ASLIB Index, and the Institute of Historical Research of the University of London. Each entry comprises Surname, Thesis Title (truncated for length where necessary), Degree Awarded, Awarding Institution, and Date. The database comprises 2500 entries, subdivided into twenty-five sections concerning: - the shipping business and all commercial/mercantile aspects of operation; exploration, cartography, and navigation; shipping and shipbuilding technologies; docks and harbours; maritime labour; maritime medical issues; naval history, piracy, privateering; international relations; maritime law; pollution and the maritime environment; fishing; sea-port communities; culture, literature, and art; maritime economics; marine architecture; coastal planning; tourism; and off-shore oil. The sections are further subdivided by location, and a geographical index is included for ease of reference. The author assures that the majority of theses are readily accessible.

Self-Organized Nanoscale Materials

by Motonari Adachi, David J. Lockwood

2006 · Springer Science & Business Media

First to review nanoscale self-assembly employing such a wide variety of methods Covers a wide variety physical, chemical and biological systems, phenomena, and applications First overviews of nanotube biotechnology and bimetallic nanoparticles