Quantifying and Modeling Soil Structure Dynamics emphasizes a systems approach to how soil structure changes in response to inputs and to the environment. Soil structure is a dynamic, complex system affected by tillage, wheel traffic, roots, soil life, shrink–swell, and freeze–thaw. In turn, soil structure affects root growth and function, soil fauna, solute transport, water infiltration, gas exchange, thermal and electrical conductivities, traffic bearing capacity, and more. Ignoring soil structure or viewing it as “static” can lead to poor predictions and management. Readers will especially appreciate the description of soil structure influence on endpoints, such as environmental contamination and efficient water use, and how models should be adjusted to include dynamic soil structure components for accurate outputs.

Quantifying and Managing Soil Functions in Earth's Critical Zone: Combining Experimentation and Mathematical Modelling, Volume 142, the latest in the Advances in Agronomy series continues its reputation as a leading reference and first-rate source for the latest research in agronomy. Each volume contains an eclectic group of reviews by leading scientists throughout the world. Five volumes are published yearly, ensuring that the authors' contributions are disseminated to the readership in a timely manner. As always, the subjects covered are varied and exemplary of the myriad of subject matter dealt with by this long-running serial. - Includes numerous, timely, state-of-the-art reviews on the latest advancements in agronomy - Features distinguished, well recognized authors from around the world - Builds upon this venerable and iconic review series - Covers the extensive variety and breadth of subject matter in the crop and soil sciences

Model Validation and Uncertainty Quantification, Volume 3. Proceedings of the 33rd IMAC, A Conference and Exposition on Balancing Simulation and Testing, 2015, the third volume of ten from the Conference brings together contributions to this important area of research and engineering. The collection presents early findings and case studies on fundamental and applied aspects of Structural Dynamics, including papers on: Uncertainty Quantification & Model Validation Uncertainty Propagation in Structural Dynamics Bayesian & Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods Practical Applications of MVUQ Advances in MVUQ & Model Updating

Soil organic matter (SOM) represents a major pool of carbon within the biosphere, roughly twice than in atmospheric CO2. SOM models embody our best understanding of soil carbon dynamics and are needed to predict how global environmental change will influence soil carbon stocks. These models are also required for evaluating the likely effectiveness of different mitigation options. The first important step towards systematically evaluating the suitability of SOM models for these purposes is to test their simulations against real data. Since changes in SOM occur slowly, long-term datasets are required. This volume brings together leading SOM model developers and experimentalists to test SOM models using long-term datasets from diverse ecosystems, land uses and climatic zones within the temperate region.

This Special Issue titled “Soil Erosion and Sustainable Land Management” presents 13 chapters organized into four main parts. The first part deals with assessment of soil erosion that covers historical sediment dating to understand past environmental impacts due to tillage; laboratory simulation to clarify the effect of soil surface microtopography; integrated field observation and the random forest machine learning algorithm to assess watershed-scale soil erosion assessment; and developing the sediment delivery distributed (SEDD) model for sub-watershed erosion risk prioritization. In Part II, the factors controlling soil erosion and vegetation degradation as influenced by topographic positions and climatic regions; long-term land use change; and improper implementation of land management measures are well dealt with. Part III presents different land management technologies that could reduce soil erosion at various spatial scales; improve land productivity of marginal lands with soil microbes; and reclaim degraded farmland using dredged reservoir sediments. The final part relates livelihood diversification to climate vulnerability as well as the coping strategy to the adverse impacts of soil erosion through sustainable land management implementation which opens prospects for policy formulation. The studies cover regions of Africa, Europe, North America and Asia, being dominantly conducted under the framework of international scientific collaborations through employing a range techniques and scales, from the laboratory to watershed scales. We believe those unique features of the book could attract the interest of the wider scientific community worldwide.

Volume 1 briefly reviews selected “Approaches to Soil Health Analysis” including a brief history of the concept, challenges and opportunities, meta-data and assessment, applications to forestry and urban land reclamation, and future soil health monitoring and evaluation approaches. Volume 2 focuses on “Laboratory Methods for Soil Health Analysis” including an overview and suggested analytical approaches intended to provide meaningful, comparable data so that soil health can be used to guide restoration and protection of our global soil resources.

Topics in Model Validation and Uncertainty Quantification, Volume : Proceedings of the 31st IMAC, A Conference and Exposition on Structural Dynamics, 2013, the fifth volume of seven from the Conference, brings together contributions to this important area of research and engineering. The collection presents early findings and case studies on fundamental and applied aspects of Structural Dynamics, including papers on: Uncertainty Quantification & Propagation in Structural Dynamics Robustness to Lack of Knowledge in Design Model Validation

This proceedings consists of 162 selected papers presented at the 2nd Annual International Conference on Mechanics and Mechanical Engineering (MME2015), which was successfully held in Chengdu, China between December 25-27, 2015.MME2015 is one of the key international conferences in the fields of mechanics, mechanical engineering. It offers a great opportunity to bring together researchers and scholars around the globe to deliver the latest innovative research and the most recent developments in the field of Mechanics and Mechanical Engineering.MME2015 received over 400 submissions from about 600 laboratories, colleges and famous institutes. All the submissions have undergone double blind reviewed to assure the quality, reliability and validity of the results presented. These papers are arranged into 6 main chapters according to their research fields. These are: 1) Applied Mechanics 2) Mechanical Engineering and Manufacturing Technology 3) Material Science and Material Engineering 4) Automation and Control Engineering 5) Electrical Engineering 6) System Modelling and Simulation.This proceedings will be invaluable to academics and professionals interested in Mechanics and Mechanical Engineering.

Soil-Foundation-Structure Interaction contains selected papers presented at the International Workshop on Soil-Foundation-Structure Interaction held in Auckland, New Zealand from 26-27 November 2009. The workshop was the venue for an international exchange of ideas, disseminating information about experiments, numerical models and practical en