The protection of our environment is one of the major problems in the society. More and more important physical and chemical mechanisms are to be added to the air pollution models. Moreover, new reliable and robust control strategies for keeping the pollution caused by harmful compounds under certain safe levels have to be developed and used in a routine way. Well based and correctly analyzed large mathematical models can successfully be used to solve this task. The use of such models leads to the treatment of huge computational tasks. The efficient solution of such problems requires combined research from specialists working in different fields. The aim of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (NATO ARW) entitled “Advances in Air Pollution Modeling for Environmental Security” was to invite specialists from all areas related to large-scale air pollution modeling and to exchange information and plans for future actions towards improving the reliability and the scope of application of the existing air pollution models and tools. This ARW was planned to be an interdisciplinary event, which provided a forum for discussions between physicists, meteorologists, chemists, computer scientists and specialists in numerical analysis about different ways for improving the performance and the quality of the results of different air pollution models.

The protection of our environment is one of the major problems in the society. More and more important physical and chemical mechanisms are to be added to the air pollution models. Moreover, new reliable and robust control strategies for keeping the pollution caused by harmful compounds under certain safe levels have to be developed and used in a routine way. Well based and correctly analyzed large mathematical models can successfully be used to solve this task. The use of such models leads to the treatment of huge computational tasks. The efficient solution of such problems requires combined research from specialists working in different fields. The aim of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (NATO ARW) entitled “Advances in Air Pollution Modeling for Environmental Security” was to invite specialists from all areas related to large-scale air pollution modeling and to exchange information and plans for future actions towards improving the reliability and the scope of application of the existing air pollution models and tools. This ARW was planned to be an interdisciplinary event, which provided a forum for discussions between physicists, meteorologists, chemists, computer scientists and specialists in numerical analysis about different ways for improving the performance and the quality of the results of different air pollution models.

Understanding the advancement of sustainable development is critical to managing human activities to avoid the overexploitation of resources and pollution of the environment beyond tolerable levels. Sustainable development involves not only preservation and care of the environment, but also recognition of the complex relations between economic, social and living systems. Environmental Modeling for Sustainable Regional Development: System Approaches and Advanced Methods presents processing methods and their applications, which are practical for decision making and task management at the regional level as well as for scientific studies in sustainable development assessment. This book serves as a reference guide for post-graduate students in the field of management as well as a critical guide for managers, government officials, and information professionals.

This book presents recent advances in computational optimization. The book includes important real problems like modeling of physical processes, parameter settings for controlling different processes, transportation problems, machine scheduling, air pollution modeling, solving multiple integrals and systems of differential and integral equations which describe real processes, solving engineering and financial problems. It shows how to develop algorithms for them based on new intelligent methods like evolutionary computations, ant colony optimization, constrain programming Monte Carlo method and others. This research demonstrates how some real-world problems arising in engineering, economics and other domains can be formulated as optimization problems.

In 1969 the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) established the Committee on Challenges of Modern Society (CCMS). The subject of air pol- tion was from the start, one of the priority problems under study within the fra- work of various pilot studies undertaken by this committee. The organization of a periodic conference dealing with air pollution modeling and its application has become one of the main activities within the pilot study relating to air pollution. The first five international conferences were organized by the United States as the pilot country; the second five by the Federal Republic of Germany; the third five by Belgium; the next four by The Netherlands; and the next five by Denmark; and with this one, the last three by Portugal. th This volume contains the papers and posters presented at the 27 NATO/CCMS International Technical Meeting on Air Pollution Modeling and Its Application held in Banff, Canada, 24-29 October 2004. The key topics at this ITM included: Role of Atmospheric Models in Air Pollution Policy and Abatement Strategies; Integrated Regional Modeling; Effects of Climate Change on Air Quality; Aerosols as Atmospheric Contaminants; New Developments; and Model Assessment and Verification. 104 participants from North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia attended th the 27 ITM. The conference was jointly organized by the University of Aveiro, Portugal (Pilot Country) and by The University of Calgary, Canada (Host Country). A total of 74 oral and 22 poster papers were presented during the conference.

Air pollution has been a major transboundary problem and a matter of global concern for decades. High concentrations of different air pollutants are particularly harmful to large cities residents, where numerous anthropogenic activities strongly influence the quality of air. Although there are many books on the subject, the one in front of you will hopefully fulfill some of the gaps in the area of air quality monitoring and modeling, and be of help to graduate students, professionals and researchers. The book is divided in five sections, dealing with mathematical models and computing techniques used in air pollution monitoring and forecasting; air pollution models and application; measuring methodologies in air pollution monitoring and control; experimental data on urban air pollution in China, Egypt, Northeastern U.S, Brazil and Romania; and finally, the health effects due to exposure to benzene, and on the influence of air pollutants on the acute respiratory diseases in children in Mexico.

This book presents research findings and conclusions that has been developed as algorithms or intelligent new methods solving problems in the fields of air pollution, climate and health, natural hazards and risks, water resources, human activities and management and informatics, remote sensing, high-performance computing and GIS for environmental monitoring and management. Environmental protection and disaster risk topics are challenging fields, that scientific world is trying to address as much as it can. Earthquakes, floods, fires, droughts, blizzards, dust storms, natural releases of toxic gases and liquids, diseases and other environmental variations affect hundreds of millions of people each year. Many disaster events are triggered by human activities. Dealing with these problems will require systems thinking and integrating multidisciplinary science. Actions in these directions are taken more and more in the recent years by political bodies, NGOs and scientific groups trying to find sustainable solutions for the future generations. Every point of view matter when it comes to our global home – The Planet Earth.