In the summer of 1783, an unusual dry fog descended upon large parts of the northern hemisphere. The fog brought with it bloodred sunsets, a foul sulfuric odor, and a host of other peculiar weather events. Inspired by the Enlightenment, many naturalists attempted to find reasonable explanations for these occurrences. Between 8 June 1783 and 7 February 1784, a 27-kilometer-long fissure volcano erupted in the Icelandic highlands. It produced the largest volume of lava released by any volcanic eruption on planet Earth in the last millennium. In Iceland, the eruption led to the death of one-fifth of the population. The jetstream carried its volcanic gases further afield to Europe and beyond, where they settled as a fog, the origin of which puzzled naturalists and laypersons. "A Mist Connection" is an environmental history that documents the Laki eruption and its consequences for Iceland and the wider world. The book combines methods of historical disaster research, climate history, global history, history of science, and geology in an interdisciplinary approach. Icelandic flood lava eruptions of this scale have a statistical recurrence period of 200 to 500 years; it is crucial to understand their nature so that we can prepare for the next one. An eruption of this magnitude would surely be disastrous for our modern, globalized, and interconnected world.

This book describes the application of non-destructive geophysical methods in subsurface archaeological features. Such non-destructive methods are magnetometry, electrical resistance, electromagnetic conductivity, magnetic susceptibility and ground penetrating radar. This book also includes the last improvements in instrumentation, data processing, and interpretations of the collected data sets leading to the rapid progress in geophysical applications in the field of archaeological investigations. The book also provides complete case-studies and archaeological interpretation obtained our results carried out in different localities around the world.

Problems demanding globally optimal solutions are ubiquitous, yet many are intractable when they involve constrained functions having many local optima and interacting, mixed-type variables. The differential evolution (DE) algorithm is a practical approach to global numerical optimization which is easy to understand, simple to implement, reliable, and fast. Packed with illustrations, computer code, new insights, and practical advice, this volume explores DE in both principle and practice. It is a valuable resource for professionals needing a proven optimizer and for students wanting an evolutionary perspective on global numerical optimization.

Seneca's Natural Questions is an eight-book disquisition on the nature of meteorological phenomena, ranging inter alia from rainbows to earthquakes, from comets to the winds, from the causes of snow and hail to the reasons why the Nile floods in summer. Much of this material had been treated in the earlier Greco-Roman meteorological tradition, but what notoriously sets Seneca's writing apart is his insertion of extended moralizing sections within his technical discourse. How, if at all, are these outbursts against the luxury and vice that are apparently rampant in Seneca's first-century CE Rome to be reconciled with his main meteorological agenda? In grappling with this familiar question, The Cosmic Viewpoint argues that Seneca is no blinkered or arid meteorological investigator, but a creative explorer into nature's workings who offers a highly idiosyncratic blend of physico-moral investigation across his eight books. At one level, his inquiry into nature impinges on human conduct and morality in its implicit propagation of the familiar Stoic ideal of living in accordance with nature: the moral deviants whom Seneca condemns in the course of the work offer egregious examples of living contrary to nature's balanced way. At a deeper level, however, The Cosmic Viewpoint stresses the literary qualities and complexities that are essential to Seneca's literary art of science: his technical enquiries initiate a form of engagement with nature which distances the reader from the ordinary involvements and fragmentations of everyday life, instead centering our existence in the cosmic whole. From a figurative standpoint, Seneca's meteorological theme raises our gaze from a terrestrial level of existence to a more intuitive plane where literal vision gives way to 'higher' conjecture and intuition: in striving to understand meteorological phenomena, we progress in an elevating direction - a conceptual climb that renders the Natural Questions no mere store of technical learning, but a work that actively promotes a change of perspective in its readership.

This book includes a collection of research and practical papers from international research and technology activities on recent developments in infrastructure engineering. Sustainability is increasingly a key priority in engineering practices. With the aging transportation infrastructure and renewed emphasis on infrastructure renovation by transportation agencies, innovations are urgently needed to develop materials, designs, and practices to ensure the sustainability of transportation infrastructure.

An introduction to geomagnetic storms and the hazards they pose at the Earth’s surface Geomagnetic storms are a type of space weather event that can create Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GICs) which, once they reach Earth’s surface, can interfere with power grids and transport infrastructure. Understanding the characteristics and impacts of GICs requires scientific insights from solar physics, magnetospheric physics, aeronomy, and ionospheric physics, as well as geophysics and power engineering. Geomagnetically Induced Currents from the Sun to the Power Grid is a practical introduction for researchers and practitioners that provides tools and techniques from across these disciplines. Volume highlights include: Analysis of causes of geomagnetic storms that create GICs Data and methods used to analyze and forecast GIC hazard GIC impacts on the infrastructure of the bulk power system Analysis techniques used in different areas of GIC research New methods to validate and predict GICs in transmission systems

It is widely recognized that the degree of development of a science is given by the transition from a mainly descriptive stage to a more quantitative stage. In this transition, qualitative interpretations (conceptual models) are complemented with quantification (numerical models, both, deterministic and stochastic). This has been the main task of mathematical geoscientists during the last forty years - to establish new frontiers and new challenges in the study and understanding of the natural world. Mathematics of Planet Earth comprises the proceedings of the International Association for Mathematical Geosciences Conference (IAMG2013), held in Madrid from September 2-6, 2013. The Conference addresses researchers, professionals and students. The proceedings contain more than 150 original contributions and give a multidisciplinary vision of mathematical geosciences.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 5th Conference on Digital Encounters with Cultural Heritage, DECH 2017, and the First Workshop on Research and Education in Urban History in the Age of Digital Libraries, UHDL 2017, held in Dresden, Germany, in March 2017. The 11 revised full papers from DECH 2017 and two revised full papers from UHDL 2017 presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 33 joint submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on research on architectural and urban cultural heritage; technical access; systematization; education in urban history; organizational perspectives.

​The classical field dealing with earthquakes is called “earthquake engineering” and considered to be a branch of structural engineering. In projects dealing with strategies for earthquake risk mitigation, urban planning approaches are often neglected. Today interventions are needed on a city, rather than a building, scale. This work deals with the impact of earthquakes, including also a broader view on multihazards in urban areas. Uniquely among other works in the field, particular importance is given to urban planning issues, in conservation of heritage and emergency management. Multicriteria decision making and broad participation of those affected by disasters are included.