The book presents the recent advancements in the area of sensors and sensing technology, specifically in environmental monitoring, structural health monitoring, dielectric, magnetic, electrochemical, ultrasonic, microfluidic, flow, surface acoustic wave, gas, cloud computing and bio-medical. This book will be useful to a variety of readers, namely, Master and PhD degree students, researchers, practitioners, working on sensors and sensing technology. The book will provide an opportunity of a dedicated and a deep approach in order to improve their knowledge in this specific field.

The last 30 years has seen the development of increasingly sophisticated models that quantify canopy carbon exchange. These models are now essential parts of larger models for prediction and simulation of crop production, climate change, and regional and global carbon dynamics. There is thus an urgent need for increasing expertise in developing, use and understanding of these models. This in turn calls for an advanced, yet easily accessible textbook that summarizes the “canopy science” and introduces the present and the future scientists to the theoretical background of the current canopy models. This book presents current knowledge of functioning of plant canopies, models and strategies employed to simulate canopy function, and the significance of canopy architecture, physiology and dynamics in ecosystems, landscape and biosphere.

Providing a unique overview to wheat and related species, this book comprises the proceedings of the 7th International Wheat Conference, held in Mar del Plata, Argentina, at the end of 2005. Leading scientists from all over the world, specialized in different areas that contribute to the better understanding of wheat production and use, review the present achievements and discuss the future challenges for the wheat crop.

Trees and forests are large and complex, but even something as difficult as the amount of wood they contain can be measured with quite unsophisticated equipment. Everyone, from professional foresters to the layperson, who works with forests and needs to measure them no matter where in the world, will appreciate this book. It summarises modern forest measurement techniques and describes why forests are measured, how to measure them, and the basis of the science behind these techniques. Professor Phil West has been a forest scientist for over 30 years. His research speciality is the mathematical modelling of forest growth behaviour. He is presently a forestry consultant and teaches forest measurement in the forestry school of Southern Cross University in northern New South Wales, Australia.

Roots represent half of the plant body – and arguably the more interesting half. Despite its obvious importance for the whole plant, until recently our knowledge of the root apparatus was very limited, mostly due to the inadequacy of the techniques available. Recent advances in the visualization and measurement of roots have resulted in significant progress in our understanding of root architecture, growth and behaviour. In this book international experts highlight the most advanced techniques, both lab and field methods, and discuss them in detail. Measuring Roots combines academic and practical aspects of this topic, making it a universal handbook for all researchers and others interested in root-measuring methods.

In this book, plant biology is considered from the perspective of plants and their surrounding environment, including both biotic and abiotic interactions. The intended audience is undergraduate students in the middle or final phases of their programs of study. Topics are developed to provide a rudimentary understanding of how plant-environment interactions span multiple spatiotemporal scales, and how this rudimentary knowledge can be applied to understand the causes of ecosystem vulnerabilities in the face of global climate change and expansion of natural resource use by human societies. In all chapters connections are made from smaller to larger scales of ecological organization, providing a foundation for understanding plant ecology. Where relevant, environmental threats to ecological systems are identified and future research needs are discussed. As future generations take on the responsibility for managing ecosystem goods and services, one of the most effective resources that can be passed on is accumulated knowledge of how organisms, populations, species, communities and ecosystems function and interact across scales of organization. This book is intended to provide some of that knowledge, and hopefully provide those generations with the ability to avoid some of the catastrophic environmental mistakes that prior generations have made.

Wine Science, Third Edition, covers the three pillars of wine science – grape culture, wine production, and sensory evaluation. It takes readers on a scientific tour into the world of wine by detailing the latest discoveries in this exciting industry. From grape anatomy to wine and health, this book includes coverage of material not found in other enology or viticulture texts including details on cork and oak, specialized wine making procedures, and historical origins of procedures. Author Ronald Jackson uniquely breaks down sophisticated techniques, allowing the reader to easily understand wine science processes. This updated edition covers the chemistry of red wine color, origin of grape varietyies, wine language, significance of color and other biasing factors to wine perception, various meanings and significance of wine oxidation. It includes significant additional coverage on brandy and ice wine production as well as new illustrations and color photos. This book is recommended for grape growers, fermentation technologists; students of enology and viticulture, enologists, and viticulturalists. NEW to this edition:* Extensive revision and additions on: chemistry of red wine color, origin of grape varietyies, wine language, significance of color and other biasing factors to wine perception, various meanings and significance of wine oxidation* Significant additional coverage on brandy and ice wine production* New illustrations and color photos