p="" This book comprises select proceedings of the First International Conference on Urban Science and Engineering. The focus of the conference was on the milieu of urban planning while applying technology which ensures better urban life, coupled with sensitivity to depleting natural resources and focus on sustainable development. The contents focus on sustainable infrastructure, mobility and planning, urban water and sanitization, green construction materials, optimization and innovation in structural design, and more. This book aims to provide up-to-date and authoritative knowledge from both industrial and academic worlds, sharing best practice in the field of urban science and engineering. This book is beneficial to students, researchers, and professionals working in the field of smart materials and sustainable development. ^

This open access book, written by world experts in aquaponics and related technologies, provides the authoritative and comprehensive overview of the key aquaculture and hydroponic and other integrated systems, socio-economic and environmental aspects. Aquaponic systems, which combine aquaculture and vegetable food production offer alternative technology solutions for a world that is increasingly under stress through population growth, urbanisation, water shortages, land and soil degradation, environmental pollution, world hunger and climate change.

"The vertical farm is a world-changing innovation whose time has come. Dickson Despommier's visionary book provides a blueprint for securing the world's food supply and at the same time solving one of the gravest environmental crises facing us today."--Sting Imagine a world where every town has their own local food source, grown in the safest way possible, where no drop of water or particle of light is wasted, and where a simple elevator ride can transport you to nature's grocery store - imagine the world of the vertical farm. When Columbia professor Dickson Despommier set out to solve America's food, water, and energy crises, he didn't just think big - he thought up. Despommier's stroke of genius, the vertical farm, has excited scientists, architects, and politicians around the globe. Now, in this groundbreaking book, Despommier explains how the vertical farm will have an incredible impact on changing the face of this planet for future generations. Despommier takes readers on an incredible journey inside the vertical farm, buildings filled with fruits and vegetables that will provide local food sources for entire cities. Vertical farms will allow us to: - Grow food 24 hours a day, 365 days a year - Protect crops from unpredictable and harmful weather - Re-use water collected from the indoor environment - Provide jobs for residents - Eliminate use of pesticides, fertilizers, or herbicides - Drastically reduce dependence on fossil fuels - Prevent crop loss due to shipping or storage - Stop agricultural runoff Vertical farms can be built in abandoned buildings and on deserted lots, transforming our cities into urban landscapes which will provide fresh food grown and harvested just around the corner. Possibly the most important aspect of vertical farms is that they can built by nations with little or no arable land, transforming nations which are currently unable to farm into top food producers. In the tradition of the bestselling The World Without Us, The Vertical Farm is a completely original landmark work destined to become an instant classic.

This edited book elucidates the evolution of plant virus, genomic structure, diversity, plant-virus interaction, subcellular movement etc. The book reviews the biological machineries which allow the emergence of virus populations adapted by plant. The main objective of this book is the demonstration of a clear synergistic effect of plant viruses, an effect that was unexpectedly as important as applied alone. Ornamental plants are very popular and economically important worldwide. The international market of ornamentals is constantly expanding. Viruses and viroids can significantly reduce both decorative value and quality of propagated material of ornamentals. Due to the wide range of ornamental plant species and cultivars and their wide geographical distribution, the diversity of viruses that infect them is also high. The new emerging viruses are the causal agent for the economic loss of many important ornamental plants. Therefore, this book also adds value to current knowledge of virus stress response in ornamental plants and will provide the groundwork necessary for building future strategies for product enhancement. This book is of interest to teachers, researchers, capacity builders and policymakers. It can serve as additional reading material for undergraduate and graduate students of virology, agriculture and plant sciences.

The State of the World's Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture is FAO's first flagship publication on the global status of land and water resources. It is an 'advocacy' report, to be published every three to five years, and targeted at senior level decision makers in agriculture as well as in other sectors. SOLAW is aimed at sensitizing its target audience on the status of land resources at global and regional levels and FAO's viewpoint on appropriate recommendations for policy formulation. SOLAW focuses on these key dimensions of analysis: (i) quantity, quality of land and water resources, (ii) the rate of use and sustainable management of these resources in the context of relevant socio-economic driving factors and concerns, including food security and poverty, and climate change. This is the first time that a global, baseline status report on land and water resources has been made. It is based on several global spatial databases (e.g. land suitability for agriculture, land use and management, land and water degradation and depletion) for which FAO is the world-recognized data source. Topical and emerging issues on land and water are dealt with in an integrated rather than sectoral manner. The implications of the status and trends are used to advocate remedial interventions which are tailored to major farming systems within different geographic regions.