COVID-19 has placed American higher education at a crossroads. This book is the roadmap. COVID-19 triggered an existential crisis for American higher education. Faced with few safe choices, most colleges and universities switched to remote learning during the 2020 spring semester. The future, however, provides more choices about how institutions can fulfill their mission of teaching and research. But how do we begin to make decisions in an uncertain and shifting environment? In this concise guide, authors Edward J. Maloney and Joshua Kim lay out clear ways colleges and universities can move forward in safe and effective ways. The Low-Density University presents fifteen scenarios for how colleges and universities can address the current crisis from a fully online semester to others with students in residence and in the classroom. How can changing the calendar or shifting to hybrid models of blended classrooms impact teaching, learning, and the college experience? Could we emerge from this crisis with new models that are better and more adapted to today's world? The Low-Density University focuses primarily on teaching and learning, but student life (housing, athletics, health, etc.) are core to the college experience. Can we devise safe and effective ways to preserve the best of that experience? The lessons here extend beyond the classroom. Just as the pandemic will change American higher education, the choices we make now will change what college looks like for generations to come.

Ultimately, the authors make a compelling case not only for this turn to learning but for creating new pathways for nonfaculty learning careers, understanding the limits of professional organizations and social media, and the need to establish this new interdisciplinary field of learning innovation.

Foams are gas filled integral structures in which the gas is finely dispersed throughout acontinuouslyconnected solid phase. The bulk density is usually substantially lower than that of the solid component, and for the foams which form the focus for this book the volume fraction of the gas phase is considerably greater than 0.5 and in most instances in excess of 0.9. Many ofthe materials encountered in every day experience, such as bread, plants and trees, structural materials for buildings, comfort materials for domestic and automotive seating, shock absorbers or car bumpers and materials for noise control, have one thing in common - the cellular nature of their physical structure. Whyare thesestructuressoimportantin the naturaland man-made world? The reasons are both technical and commercial. From a technical viewpoint cellular materials offer: 1. high specific stiffness and strength - making them suitable for structural applications; 2. closeto idealenergymanagement - hencetheir useinthermalandacoustic insulation, vibration damping, acoustic absorption and shock mitigation; and 3. comfort - hence their use for domestic and automotive seating.

Presents all of the key ideas needed to understand, design, implement and analyse iterative-based error correction schemes.

"Low-Density Polyethylene: Properties and Applications examines the rheology of low-density Poly(ethylene)-based systems. Processing this commodity, alone or in combination with different micro/nano-fillers, requires a deep knowledge of its rheological behavior in order to set up the process parameters. Following this, the comprehensive research progress on low-density polyethylene is reviewed, and the mechanisms of low-density polyethylene biodegradation are summarized. Additionally, the effect of microorganisms on low-density polyethylene and products of this degradation with their level of toxicity is discussed. Later, the authors focus on the different types of low-density polyethylene, microorganism-mediated degradation, changes in the physiological properties of low-density polyethylene post degradation and its applications in other fields. The detailed knowledge of preferential sorption is studied in an effort to reveal new information regarding low-density polyethylene properties. Consequently, the usage of low-density polyethylene in membrane separations is promoted"--

The first systematic, quantitative appraisal of power density, offering detailed reviews of power densities of renewable energy flows, fossil fuels, and all common energy uses. “There's no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil.” —Bill Gates In this book, Vaclav Smil argues that power density is a key determinant of the nature and dynamics of energy systems. Any understanding of complex energy systems must rely on quantitative measures of many fundamental variables. Power density—the rate of energy flux per unit of area—is an important but largely overlooked measure. Smil provides the first systematic, quantitative appraisal of power density, offering detailed reviews of the power densities of renewable energy flows, fossil fuels, thermal electricity generation, and all common energy uses. Smil shows that careful quantification, critical appraisals, and revealing comparisons of power densities make possible a deeper understanding of the ways we harness, convert, and use energies. Conscientious assessment of power densities, he argues, proves particularly revealing when contrasting the fossil fuel–based energy system with renewable energy conversions. Smil explains that modern civilization has evolved as a direct expression of the high power densities of fossil fuel extraction. He argues that our inevitable (and desirable) move to new energy arrangements involving conversions of lower-density renewable energy sources will require our society—currently dominated by megacities and concentrated industrial production—to undergo a profound spatial restructuring of its energy system.

Allee effects are relevant to biologists who study rarity, and to conservationists and managers who try and protect endangered populations. This book provides an overview of the Allee effect, the mechanisms which drive it and its consequences for population dynamics, evolution and conservation.

In an increasingly globalised world, despite reductions in costs and time, transportation has become even more important as a facilitator of economic and human interaction; this is reflected in technical advances in transportation systems, increasing interest in how transportation interacts with society and the need to provide novel approaches to understanding its impacts. This has become particularly acute with the impact that Covid-19 has had on transportation across the world, at local, national and international levels. Encyclopedia of Transportation, Seven Volume Set - containing almost 600 articles - brings a cross-cutting and integrated approach to all aspects of transportation from a variety of interdisciplinary fields including engineering, operations research, economics, geography and sociology in order to understand the changes taking place. Emphasising the interaction between these different aspects of research, it offers new solutions to modern-day problems related to transportation. Each of its nine sections is based around familiar themes, but brings together the views of experts from different disciplinary perspectives. Each section is edited by a subject expert who has commissioned articles from a range of authors representing different disciplines, different parts of the world and different social perspectives. The nine sections are structured around the following themes: Transport Modes; Freight Transport and Logistics; Transport Safety and Security; Transport Economics; Traffic Management; Transport Modelling and Data Management; Transport Policy and Planning; Transport Psychology; Sustainability and Health Issues in Transportation. Some articles provide a technical introduction to a topic whilst others provide a bridge between topics or a more future-oriented view of new research areas or challenges. The end result is a reference work that offers researchers and practitioners new approaches, new ways of thinking and novel solutions to problems. All-encompassing and expertly authored, this outstanding reference work will be essential reading for all students and researchers interested in transportation and its global impact in what is a very uncertain world. Provides a forward looking and integrated approach to transportation Updated with future technological impacts, such as self-driving vehicles, cyber-physical systems and big data analytics Includes comprehensive coverage Presents a worldwide approach, including sets of comparative studies and applications

An unusually multifaceted approach to American higher education that views institutions as complex organisms, Academia Next offers a fresh perspective on the emerging colleges and universities of today and tomorrow.