Green Chemistry and the Ten Commandments of Sustainability, 2nd ed, was written to provide an overview of the emerging discipline of green chemistry along with the fundamental chemical principles needed to understand this science. The second edition follows the first edition published in 2004 under the title of Green Chemistry: Fundamentals of Sustainable Chemical Science and Technology, from which it differs by the inclusion of an additional chapter, Chapter 14, “The Ten Commandments of Sustainability.”

In recent years, the use of ground penetrating radar (GPR) to investigate the shallow subsurface has transformed the study of sediments. GPR is now an accepted and widely applied tool for the earth scientist, enabling a non-destructive investigation of both modern and ancient sediments. Based on the rapid growth of this field, we organised an international research meeting entitled Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) in Sediments: Applications and Interpretation that was held at the Geological Society of London and the University College of London in August 2001.

Ground support has been used to stabilise underground excavations in rock since Roman times. In a review of the evolution of ground support and reinforcement, Brown (1999) refers to De Re Metallica (Agricola 1556), which describes timbering in shafts, tunnels and drifts used as a means of protection against collapse and risk of injury. Stabilisation of the immediate boundary of a rock mass surrounding an excavation is often referred to as ‘local support’. Until the 1950s, timbering remained one of the main means of local support. Since then, it has gradually been replaced by internal reinforcement techniques, such as dowels installed inside a drilled hole.

The need for hydrological research, basic as well as applied, is substantial to help rationally manage the world’s water resources. To satisfy this need, and the interest of Member States, UNESCO, in 1975, launched a long-term intergovernmental programme, the International Hydrological Programme (IHP), to follow the first worldwide programme devoted to scientific study of the hydrological cycle, the International Hydrological Decade (1965–1974). Although the IHP is basically a scientific and educational programme, UNESCO endeavours to direct programme activities towards the practical solutions of the world’s very real water resource problems, while maintaining the IHP scientific concept <...>