The definitive guide to creating fluorine-based compounds―and the materials of tomorrow

Discovered as an element by the French chemist Henri Moissan in 1886, through electrolysis of potassium fluoride in anhydrous hydrogen fluoride―”le fluor,” or fluorine, began its chemical history as a substance both elusive and dangerous. With a slight pale yellow hue, fluorine is at room temperature a poisonous diatomic gas. Resembling a spirit from a chemical netherworld, fluorine is highly reactive, difficult to handle, yet very versatile as a reagent―with the power to form compounds with almost any other element.

Agriculture in the Tropics is one of the most successful and widely read books in the Tropical Agriculture Series and offers a general account of all the factors that affect agriculture in the tropics. It details the economic and physical factors that affect tropical agriculture and discusses land management and the different types of farming systems in practice

This book illuminates the principles behind these triumphs, bringing this local knowledge into the mainstream. Landscape Agroecology will familiarize you with the concepts and terminology needed to understand this exciting new field: complementarity–usually defined in terms of plant-plant growth–expanded to include the rural countryside desirable agroecosystems properties–what an agroecosystem needs in order to overcome landscape stresses such as drought, flooding, insect infestation, etc.

The 1990s have seen significant changes in the financing and organization of research in agriculture and natural resources. In response the World Bank, in collaboration with the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, the UK Department for International Development, the International Food Policy Research Institute and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit, initiated a series of regional and country case studies to examine the impact of the changes.

Information technology is revolutionizing the handling of biological information. The British Society for Plant Pathology (BSPP) has been at the forefront of several initiatives in handling information electronically, and the Systematics Association has a long-standing involvement in computer-based species identification.

From the pre-historic era to modern times, cereal grains have been the most important source of human nutrition, and have helped sustain the increasing population and the development of human civilization. In order to meet the food needs of the 21st century, food production must be doubled by the year 2025, and nearly tripled by 2050. Such enormous increases in food productivity cannot be brought about by relying entirely on conventional breeding methods, especially on less land per capita, with poor quality and quantity of water, and under rapidly deteriorating environmental conditions.