Mathematical Modeling In The Environment

This book has a dual objective: first to introduce the reader to some of the most important and widespread environmental issues of the day; and second to illustrate the vital role played by mathematical models in investigating these issues. The subjects covered are ground water contamination, air pollution, and hazardous materials emergencies. These issues are presented in their full real-world context and are used to develop important classical mathematical themes. The emphasis throughout is on fundamental principles and concepts, not on achieving technical mastery of state-of-the-art models.

The problems of interrelation between human economics and natural environment include scientific, technical, economic, demographic, social, political and other aspects that are studied by scientists of many specialities. One of the important aspects in scientific study of environmental and ecological problems is the development of mathematical and computer tools for rational management of economics and environment. This book introduces a wide range of mathematical models in economics, ecology and environmental sciences to a general mathematical audience with no in-depth experience in this specific area. Areas covered are: controlled economic growth and technological development, world dynamics, environmental impact, resource extraction, air and water pollution propagation, ecological population dynamics and exploitation. A variety of known models are considered, from classical ones (Cobb Douglass production function, Leontief input-output analysis, Solow models of economic dynamics, Verhulst-Pearl and Lotka-Volterra models of population dynamics, and others) to the models of world dynamics and the models of water contamination propagation used after Chemobyl nuclear catastrophe. Special attention is given to modelling of hierarchical regional economic-ecological interaction and technological change in the context of environmental impact. Xlll XIV Construction of Mathematical Models ...

Mathematical Models in Environmental Problems

This manual is meant to provide supplementary material and solutions to the exercises used in Charles Hadlock's textbook, Mathematical Modeling in the Environment. The manual is invaluable to users of the textbook as it contains complete solutions and often further discussion of essentially every exercise the author presents in his book. This includes both the mathematical/computational exercises as well as the research questions and investigations. Since the exercises in the textbook are very rich in content, (rather than simple mechanical problems), and cover a wide range, most readers will not have the time to work out every one on their own. Readers can thus still benefit greatly from perusing solutions to problems they have at least thought about briefly. Students using this manual still need to work out solutions to research questions using their own sources and adapting them to their own geographic locations, or to numerical problems using their own computational schemes, so this manual will be a useful guide to students in many course contexts. Enrichment material is included on the topics of some of the exercises. Advice for teachers who lack previous environmental experience but who want to teach this material is also provided and makes it practical for such persons to offer a course based on these volumes. This book is the essential companion to Mathematical Modeling in the Environment.

Can we coexist with the other life forms that have evolved on this planet? Are there realistic alternatives to fossil fuels that would sustainably provide for human society's energy needs and have fewer harmful effects? How do we deal with threats such as emergent diseases? Mathematical models—equations of various sorts capturing relationships between variables involved in a complex situation—are fundamental for understanding the potential consequences of choices we make. Extracting insights from the vast amounts of data we are able to collect requires analysis methods and statistical reasoning. This book on elementary topics in mathematical modeling and data analysis is intended for an undergraduate “liberal arts mathematics”-type course but with a specific focus on environmental applications. It is suitable for introductory courses with no prerequisites beyond high school mathematics. A great variety of exercises extends the discussions of the main text to new situations and/or introduces new real-world examples. Every chapter ends with a section of problems, as well as with an extended chapter project which often involves substantial computing work either in spreadsheet software or in the R statistical package.

Highlighting effective, analytical functions that have been found useful for the comparison of alternative management techniques to maximize water and nutrient resources, this reference describes the application of viable mathematical models in data analysis to increase crop growth and yields. Featuring solutions to various differential equations, the book covers the characteristics of the functions related to the phenomenological growth model. Including more than 1300 literature citations, display equations, tables, and figures and outlining an approach to mathematical crop modeling, Mathematical Models of Crop Growth and Yield will prove an invaluable resource.

Updated to textbook form by popular demand, this second edition discusses diverse mathematical models used in economics, ecology, and the environmental sciences with emphasis on control and optimization. It is intended for graduate and upper-undergraduate course use, however, applied mathematicians, industry practitioners, and a vast number of interdisciplinary academics will find the presentation highly useful. Core topics of this text are: · Economic growth and technological development · Population dynamics and human impact on the environment · Resource extraction and scarcity · Air and water contamination · Rational management of the economy and environment · Climate change and global dynamics The step-by-step approach taken is problem-based and easy to follow. The authors aptly demonstrate that the same models may be used to describe different economic and environmental processes and that similar investigation techniques are applicable to analyze various models. Instructors will appreciate the substantial flexibility that this text allows while designing their own syllabus. Chapters are essentially self-contained and may be covered in full, in part, and in any order. Appropriate one- and two-semester courses include, but are not limited to, Applied Mathematical Modeling, Mathematical Methods in Economics and Environment, Models of Biological Systems, Applied Optimization Models, and Environmental Models. Prerequisites for the courses are Calculus and, preferably, Differential Equations.

This short textbook introduces students to the concept of describing natural systems using mathematical models. We highlight the variety of ways in which natural systems lend themselves to mathematical description and the importance of models in revealing fundamental processes. The process of science via the building, testing and use of models (theories) is described and forms the structure of the book. The book covers a broad range from the molecular to ecosystems and whole-Earth phenomena. Themes running through the chapters include scale (temporal and spatial), change (linear and nonlinear), emergent phenomena and uncertainty. Mathematical descriptions are kept to a minimum and we illustrate mechanisms and results in graphical form wherever possible. Essential mathematical details are described fully, with the use of boxes. The mathematics supports but does not lead the text.