The book brings together contributions from over 35 Portuguese geomorphologists, presenting a thorough overview of the main highlights of the landscape of Portugal's mainland, Azores and Madeira. The book, which is a tribute to Professor António de Brum Ferreira, first President of the Portuguese Association of Geomorphologists and former Professor at the University of Lisbon, who passed away in January 2013, is organized in 3 parts: a) Introduction, which presents a general framework of the physical geography of Portugal, b) Geomorphological landscapes, presenting ca. 30 short papers with regional focus on key geomorphological areas, c) Applied geomorphology, providing an updated vision on the protection of geomorphological heritage with a focus on geoparks, as well as on Geomorphological hazards in Portugal. This first book ever to concentrate on the geomorphology of Portugal will surely become a benchmark for Portuguese geomorphology.

The combined finite discrete element method is a relatively new computational tool aimed at problems involving static and / or dynamic behaviour of systems involving a large number of solid deformable bodies. Such problems include fragmentation using explosives (e.g rock blasting), impacts, demolition (collapsing buildings), blast loads, digging and loading processes, and powder technology. The combined finite-discrete element method - a natural extension of both discrete and finite element methods - allows researchers to model problems involving the deformability of either one solid body, a large number of bodies, or a solid body which fragments (e.g. in rock blasting applications a more or less intact rock mass is transformed into a pile of solid rock fragments of different sizes, which interact with each other). The topic is gaining in importance, and is at the forefront of some of the current efforts in computational modeling of the failure of solids. * Accompanying source codes plus input and output files available on the Internet * Important applications such as mining engineering, rock blasting and petroleum engineering * Includes practical examples of applications areas Essential reading for postgraduates, researchers and software engineers working in mechanical engineering.

In this sweeping history, bestselling author Amy Chua explains how globally dominant empires—or hyperpowers—rise and why they fall. In a series of brilliant chapter-length studies, she examines the most powerful cultures in history—from the ancient empires of Persia and China to the recent global empires of England and the United States—and reveals the reasons behind their success, as well as the roots of their ultimate demise. Chua's analysis uncovers a fascinating historical pattern: while policies of tolerance and assimilation toward conquered peoples are essential for an empire to succeed, the multicultural society that results introduces new tensions and instabilities, threatening to pull the empire apart from within. What this means for the United States' uncertain future is the subject of Chua's provocative and surprising conclusion.

Traversing landscapes and expediting travel, railroads have allowed us to conquer once elusive frontiers to improve both transportation and commerce. Railroad design has changed remarkably little in the years since the invention of the steam engine, yet trains remain a prevalent form of transport and the railways. The bridges that have been developed to support them continue to be a vital part of infrastructures in countries around the world. This engaging volume examines the evolution of railways, railcars, and bridges, as well as the lives of pioneers and tycoons in the railroad business.

Physics is really important to game programmers who need to know how to add physical realism to their games. They need to take into account the laws of physics when creating a simulation or game engine, particularly in 3D computer graphics, for the purpose of making the effects appear more real to the observer or player.The game engine ne

This publication is a summary of good practice on the use of rock in engineering works for rivers, coasts and seas. It has incorporated all the significant advances in knowledge that have occured over the past 10-15 years.

This book attempts to redress the imbalance in knowledge of southern and northern agriculture before the Civil War. Against the rich historical analysis and description of the slave South must be compared the relative paucity of quantitative analysis, and even description, of antebellum northern agriculture. The study is the first of its kind to organize a large sample of quantitative data drawn from across the northern tier of the United States. The temporal coverage is the second half of the nineteenth century with the primary emphasis on the late antebellum period. What emerges is a detailed quantitative description and analysis of norther agriculture. This compelling picture provides not merely a statistical profile but also a revealing insight into american behavior and attitudes in the nineteenth century. The northern United States throughout most of the nineteenth century, with its peculiar notions of independence, mobility, equality, and agrarianism, was even perceived by contemporaries as an experiment. Yeoman agriculture represented the economic foundation for this ideal world whose success or failure largely depended upon how closely the agricultural ideal could be approached. Analytically, measuring the agricultural record indirectly assesses the success of this entire vision of democratic America. This clear recurrent theme that emerges throughout the book is the tension that existed between national pursuit of a new kind of social order characterized by individualism, independence, and self-containment founded upon a tightly knit family system, on the one side, and the drive for a market-oriented, capitalistic national economy in which farming assumed the trappings of a business enterprise, on the other. Conflict was inevitable. Ultimately, the forces of market capitalism based upon interdependent national economic system dominated, but the national split personality, though overwhelmed by the onrushing forces of the business system and corporate industrial enterprise, persisted into the twentieth century reappearing as periodical agrarian unrest even into the current decade. -- publisher description.