The abundance of agricultural production enjoyed in the United States is the result of a federal-state partnership that relies on land grant universities to respond to the needs of society through research, invention, problem-solving, outreach, and applied science and engineering. The Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department at Texas A&M University, established in 1915, has been an important part of that effort. Over the hundred years of its existence, it has successfully tackled the challenges of mechanization, electrification, irrigation, harvest, transport, and more to the benefit of agriculture in Texas, the United States, and the world. In this book, historian Henry Dethloff and current department chair Stephen Searcy explore the history of the department—its people, its activity, its growth—and project the department’s future for its second century, when its primary task will be to sustainably help meet the needs of a predicted 9.6 billion Earth residents and to recognize that societal food concerns are focused more and more on sustainable production and human health.

Basic Landscape Ecology is intended to be a starting point for the study of landscape ecology. The goal is to provide a contemporary synthesis of basic landscape ecological concepts with an applied interpretation. The text is divided into two sections. The first section, which consists of six chapters, is intended to provide a uniform background for students from various academic disciplines. The second section, which consists of four chapters, is intended to provide an examination of the substance of contemporary landscape ecology.

In this new, complete Guide to Texas Grasses, Robert B. Shaw and the team at the Texas A&M University Institute of Renewable Natural Resources provide an indispensable reference to the world’s most economically important plant family. After discussing the impact of grass on our everyday lives as food, biofuels, land restoration, erosion control, and water become ever more urgent issues worldwide—the book then provides:a description of the structure of the grass plant;details of the classification and distribution of Texas grasses;brief species accounts;distributional maps;color photographs;plus black-and-white drawings of 670 grass species—native, introduced, and ornamental. Scientific keys help identify the grasses to group, genera, and species, and an alphabetized checklist includes information on: origin (native or introduced); longevity (annual or perennial);growth season (cool or warm season); endangered status;and occurrence (by ecological zone). A glossary, literature citations, and a quick index to genera round out the book. Guide to Texas Grasses is a comprehensive treatment of Texas grasses meant to assist students, botanists, ecologists, agronomists, range scientists, naturalists, researchers, extension agents, and others who work with or are interested in these important plants.

The second edition of this handbook provides a state-of-the-art overview on the various aspects in the rapidly developing field of robotics. Reaching for the human frontier, robotics is vigorously engaged in the growing challenges of new emerging domains. Interacting, exploring, and working with humans, the new generation of robots will increasingly touch people and their lives. The credible prospect of practical robots among humans is the result of the scientific endeavour of a half a century of robotic developments that established robotics as a modern scientific discipline. The ongoing vibrant expansion and strong growth of the field during the last decade has fueled this second edition of the Springer Handbook of Robotics. The first edition of the handbook soon became a landmark in robotics publishing and won the American Association of Publishers PROSE Award for Excellence in Physical Sciences & Mathematics as well as the organization’s Award for Engineering & Technology. The second edition of the handbook, edited by two internationally renowned scientists with the support of an outstanding team of seven part editors and more than 200 authors, continues to be an authoritative reference for robotics researchers, newcomers to the field, and scholars from related disciplines. The contents have been restructured to achieve four main objectives: the enlargement of foundational topics for robotics, the enlightenment of design of various types of robotic systems, the extension of the treatment on robots moving in the environment, and the enrichment of advanced robotics applications. Further to an extensive update, fifteen new chapters have been introduced on emerging topics, and a new generation of authors have joined the handbook’s team. A novel addition to the second edition is a comprehensive collection of multimedia references to more than 700 videos, which bring valuable insight into the contents. The videos can be viewed directly augmented into the text with a smartphone or tablet using a unique and specially designed app. Springer Handbook of Robotics Multimedia Extension Portal: http://handbookofrobotics.org/

Written by four leading experts, this edition thoroughly introduces today's modern principles of petroleum production systems development and operation, considering the combined behaviour of reservoirs, surface equipment, pipeline systems, and storage facilities. The authors address key issues including artificial lift, well diagnosis, matrix stimulation, hydraulic fracturing and sand control. They show how to optimise systems for diverse production schedules using queuing theory, as well as linear and dynamic programming. Throughout, they provide both best practices and rationales, fully illuminating the exploitation of unconventional oil and gas reservoirs. Updates include: Extensive new coverage of hydraulic fracturing, including high permeability fracturing New sand and water management techniques * An all-new chapter on Production Analysis New coverage of digital reservoirs and self-learning techniques New skin correlations and HW flow techniques