This book provides guidelines for using a new approach of resampling the Cs-137 radionuclide tracer which is used to estimate soil erosion rates. The Cs-137 resampling approach will improve significantly the use of the Cs-137 method for assessment of soil erosion, because resampling the radionuclide repeatedly (at least two times, but more sampling campaigns are possible) allows to avoid several methodological difficulties associated with Cs-137 method, namely the problems with small-scale spatial heterogeneity, the question of representativeness of reference site, reference samples, and inappropriate time extent of evaluated period. All these methodological problems are very important for reliability and accuracy of erosion rates estimated by Cs-137 method. If using single sampling approach, the small-scale spatial heterogeneity can be overcome by high number of sampling points, but this is time and labour demanding solution increasing the expenses of the erosion research.

This book addressed the pressing challenges of climate change, land scarcity, and food security, offering a comprehensive synthesis of research on using, managing, and reclaiming marginal lands in Africa. Unfavourable climatic conditions and rapid population growth intensify competition for land, putting pressure on traditional agricultural soils thus necessitating a transition towards underutilized marginal lands. Reclaiming these damaged and undervalued areas through various technologies presents a promising path not only to food independence but also to second-generation biofuel feedstock production, utilizing excess biomass from these revived lands. While recent years have seen increased focus on restoring degraded lands, a crucial gap remains i.e. a unified knowledge base detailing the efficacy of various reclamation technologies. This book fills that void, empowering farmers and policymakers with the insights they need to make informed decisions, mobilize resources effectively, and ultimately help Africa meet its projected 60% food demand increase.

The objective of this book is to present protocols, methodologies, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) used for the identification of sources, transport, and fate of agro-contaminants and illustrate them with several case studies of successful applications. The Soil and Water Management & Crop Nutrition (SWMCN) Subprogramme of the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, through a Coordinated Research Project (CRP) in partnership with national and international research institutes, developed and evaluated a set of analytical techniques (the toolbox). The toolbox integrates multiple isotope tracers that provide information on the origins and pathways of multiple pollutants through agro-ecosystems, thereby providing more accurate guidance on mitigations. However, land management strategies to address and control the transport of pollutants from soil to water bodies remain the shared responsibility of farm and aquaculture operators, agro-chemical manufacturers, and policymakers in food and agriculture as well as the mining sectors. This book is structured into eight chapters covering (i) an overview of the book’s content, (ii) guidelines for designing water sampling programmes, (iii) the use of mixing models applicable to tracers for water pollution studies, (iv) compound-specific isotope analyses to investigate pesticide degradation in agricultural catchments, (v) the use of stable oxygen isotope composition of phosphate to investigate phosphorous in soil-plant continuum, (vi) the use of stable sulphur isotopes to disentangle agro-pollutants from other contaminants, (vii) nuclear tools used in sediment source apportionment, and (viii) the conclusions and perspectives forward. The book offers up-to-date information, and we hope it is a great source of information for students, researchers, and policymakers. The SWMCN subprogramme thanks all the contributors involved in the preparation of this publication.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of piezoelectric sensor devices and instrumentation and their use for chemical and biochemical analysis. Sensors relying on established transducers, such as the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and the surface acoustic wave resonator (SAW) are covered, and novel devices like surface transverse wave (STW) resonators, film bulk acoustic resonators (FBAR) as well as non-piezoelectric devices with mass-sensitive properties are presented. As their name implies, such devices respond directly to mass changes on their surfaces and thus address the most fundamental quality of any analytes.

The complexity of food chemistry makes it a challenging subject for students studying in a food science course. Although there are excellent food chemistry books available in the market they have two major flaws: they are either encyclopedic or they are not pitched correctly to undergraduate food science students. The first problem creates difficulties for students to identify what is important and how much they need to know. The second problem arises when the book is written by authors that are not food scientists (e.g., chemists), they are not academics that are engaged with teaching or they are not sufficiently qualified to teach. In this case, it is difficult to find links between the chemistry of foods and its relevance to applications or, quite frequently, future employment prospects of the student.

This book provides a historical treatment of scientific control in experimentation in the longue durée. The introduction distinguishes four related strands in the history of experimental control: the development of practices to stabilize experimental conditions; the career of the comparative design; the unfolding of methodological discussions about control practices and designs; and the history of the term “control”. Each chapter brings these distinctions to bear on specific historical episodes. The focus is on experiments with complex, elusive phenomena such as perception and learning, irregular movements, and unobservable elements. Such experiments bring control issues to the fore because they are difficult to design and stabilize and often controversial. Together, the chapters show that the local context shapes what exactly is controlled, how control can be accomplished, and how controls are justified. They also show that control strategies and methodological ideas often remain stable for a long time and change only gradually. This book, as well as the volume on analysis and synthesis in experimentation by the same editors, contains contributions by an array of experts from multiple disciplines, making it suitable for historians and philosophers of science and students alike.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) theory, its applications, and advanced techniques to improve the quality and speed of NMR data acquisition. In this book, the author expands his outstanding Ph.D. thesis and provides a valuable resource for researchers, professionals, and students in the field of NMR spectroscopy.

Acknowledging all important new trends, this book provides an overview of the recent advances and applications in fluorescence imaging.

The combined application of spectroscopic methods has proven particularly effective in analytical chemistry. The techniques of absorption spectroscopy and mass spectrometry show the enduring relevance of the chemical analysis of prescription medications, plastics, dyes, and pesticides despite its long history. This book spells out which methods in which cases produce the most comprehensive results.

This thesis, encompassing both theory to experiment, guides the reader in a pedagogical way through the author’s attempts to resolve the mystery of the so-called MiniBooNE anomaly, where unexpected neutrino oscillations were reported, potentially explainable by the existence of light sterile neutrinos, but in contradiction with several null results. Within this context, this thesis reports one of the first analyses searching for an excess of electrons in the MicroBooNE experiment finding no excess of events and narrowing down the possible explanations for the anomaly. Additionally, this thesis explores non-minimal heavy neutral leptons as potential explanations for the MiniBooNE excess. To search for evidence for this particle, the author performs an analysis using data from the T2K experiment, which searched for pairs of electrons using a gas argon time projection. This thesis provides a comprehensive explanation of the MiniBooNE anomaly and test of its possibile explanation with liquid and gas time projection chambers.

This thesis, encompassing both theory to experiment, guides the reader in a pedagogical way through the author’s attempts to resolve the mystery of the so-called MiniBooNE anomaly, where unexpected neutrino oscillations were reported, potentially explainable by the existence of light sterile neutrinos, but in contradiction with several null results. Within this context, this thesis reports one of the first analyses searching for an excess of electrons in the MicroBooNE experiment finding no excess of events and narrowing down the possible explanations for the anomaly. Additionally, this thesis explores non-minimal heavy neutral leptons as potential explanations for the MiniBooNE excess. To search for evidence for this particle, the author performs an analysis using data from the T2K experiment, which searched for pairs of electrons using a gas argon time projection. This thesis provides a comprehensive explanation of the MiniBooNE anomaly and test of its possibile explanation with liquid and gas time projection chambers.

The book reports the results on the fate of POPs in the abiotic and biotic components of the aquatic environment North Pacific Ocean (include Russian part of North Pacific), possible health risks for coastal residents Pacific Ocean exposed to these hazardous pollutants are systematized. In particular, indicator organisms (fish, birds, and mammals), indicating the pollution of the region, were identified; the possible ways of xenobiotic transfer from the sea to the land are shown; the targets of POPs impact on living organisms were determined; the time of circulation of pollutants in the biosphere was determined; a list of “priority” toxicants for the region based on quality screening was compiled; the risks to human health from the consumption of contaminated aquatic organisms were assessed; the levels of POPs in the human body were measured.

This handbook is unique in its comprehensive coverage of the subject and focus on practical applications in diverse fields. It includes methods for sample preparation, the role of certified reference materials, calibration methods and statistical evaluation of the results. Problems concerning inorganic and bioinorganic speciation analysis, as well as special aspects such as trace analysis of noble metals, radionuclides and volatile organic compounds are also discussed.

This book provides information about plant–environment studies and challenges for plant improvement to achieve food security. Plants face a wide range of environmental challenges, which are expected to become more intense as a result of global climate change. Plant–environment interactions play an important role in the functioning of ecosystems. There are habitats throughout the world that present challenges to crop plants, such as through a lack of water and excessive, or toxic, salts in the soil. Soil properties represent a strong selection pressure for plant diversity and influence the structure of plant communities and participate to the generation and maintenance of biodiversity. Plant communities selected by environment grow by modifying soil physical, chemical, and biological properties, with consequent effects on survival and growth of plants. The complexity of plant–environment interactions has recently been studied by developing a trait-based approach in which responses and effects of plants on environment were quantified and modeled. This fundamental research on plant–environment interaction in ecosystems is essential to transpose knowledges of functional ecology to environmental management.