Cradle of civilization

A cradle of civilization is a location and a culture where civilization was created independent of other civilizations in other locations. The formation of urban settlements (cities) is the primary characteristic of a society that can be characterized as "civilized". Other characteristics of civilization include a sedentary non-nomadic population, monumental architecture, the existence of social classes and inequality, and the creation of a writing system for communication. The transition from simpler societies to the complex society of a civilization is gradual. Scholars generally acknowledge six cradles of civilization. Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient India, and Ancient China are believed to be the earliest in the Old World. Cradles of civilization in the New World are the Caral-Supe civilization of coastal Peru and the Olmec civilization of Mexico. All of the cradles of civilization depended upon agriculture for sustenance (except possibly Caral-Supe which may have depend

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Unstable flow

David Andrew Barry

More than ever before, a compelling need exists for an encyclopedic resource about soil – the rich mix of mineral particles, organic matter, gases, and soluble compounds that foster both plant and animal growth. Civilization depends more on the soil as human populations continue to grow and increasing demands are placed upon available resources. The Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment is a comprehensive and integrated consideration of a topic of vital importance to human societies in the past, present, and future. This important work encompasses the present knowledge of the world's variegated soils, their origins, properties, classification, and roles in the biosphere. A team of outstanding, international contributors has written over 250 entries that cover a broad range of issues facing today's soil scientists, ecologists, and environmental scientists. This four-volume set features thorough articles that survey specific aspects of soil biology, ecology, chemistry and physics. Rounding out the encyclopedia's excellent coverage, contributions cover cross-disciplinary subjects, such as the history of soil utilization for agricultural and engineering purposes and soils in relation to the remediation of pollution and the mitigation of global climate change. This comprehensive, yet accessible source is a valuable addition to the library of scientists, researchers, students, and policy makers involved in soil science, ecology, and environmental science. Also available online via ScienceDirect – featuring extensive browsing, searching, and internal cross-referencing between articles in the work, plus dynamic linking to journal articles and abstract databases, making navigation flexible and easy. For more information, pricing options and availability visit www.info.sciencedirect.com.

Elsevier Science Limited2005

Demodulation of time series highlights impacts of hydrologic drivers on the Everglades ecosystem

Andrea Rinaldo

In the context of climatic uncertainty and potential climatic change, incorporating climatic variability and change in eco-hydrological analysis, as well as understanding the impact of such variability on ecosystems, is of crucial importance. The latter is particularly true for those complex ecosystems, such as wetlands, which cradle large varieties of species, many of which rare or endangered. Focusing on the Everglades wetlands, we investigate the presence of non-stationary elements in the seasonal cycle of precipitation, temperature and stage level and examine their correlation and potential impact on the ecosystem's flora and fauna. To this aim, we revisit demodulation techniques and demonstrate their validity for the diagnosis of long-term trends in the amplitude and phase of seasonal patterns of hydrologic series. We then analyse historical records of fauna and flora components of the Everglades in order to reveal potential relationships with hydrological trends. We observe that the seasonal patterns of all the time series analysed are non-stationary. In addition, we observe that the amplitude of seasonal oscillations of all hydro-climatic drivers is strongly correlated with anomalies in records of wading birds population and plant carbon assimilation. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Wiley-Blackwell2015

Middle East

The Middle East (term originally coined in English ) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage as a

Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civ

City

A city is a human settlement of a notable size. It can be defined as a permanent and densely settled place with administratively defined boundaries whose members work primarily on non-agricultural t

AR-367: Environmental histories

Le cours vise à familiariser les étudiants avec l'histoire de l'environnement et des paysages, et avec la façon dont les différentes préoccupations environnementales, qui vont affecter de plus en plus fortement la conception des villes et de l'architecture.

AR-154: Environmental history and theories I

Le cours vise a familiariser les etudiants avec l'histoire de l'environnement et des paysages, et avec la maniere dont les preoccupations environnementales amenent a repenser aujourd'hui le sens et les principes de l'architecture et des disciplines de projet.

HUM-333: Ethics of emerging technologies

This course examines key technological developments and challenges from an ethical and policy perspective. The primary aim of this course is to get students to think critically about the ethical-social dimensions of technology, taking into account both normative and applied ethics questions.