from meandering molecules to the spreading of plants, humans, and ideas /
First Statement of Responsibility
Gero Vogl.
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.
Cham, Switzerland :
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
Springer,
Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.
[2019]
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item
1 online resource (x, 157 pages) :
Other Physical Details
illustrations
INTERNAL BIBLIOGRAPHIES/INDEXES NOTE
Text of Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
CONTENTS NOTE
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Intro; Acknowledgements; Contents; 1 Introduction; 2 The Invention of the Flux; 2.1 The Flux of Heat in Solid Matter; 2.2 The Flux of Particles; References; 3 The Mystery of the Unceasing Motion: Brown, Einstein, Perrin; 3.1 The Brownian Motion; 3.2 Surprise by Albert Einstein; 3.3 Jean Baptiste Perrin's Experimental Verification of Einstein's Suggestion: How to Show That Atoms Are Real; References; 4 The Invasions of Genes and Plants; 4.1 Robert Luther's Forgotten Discovery; 4.2 The Wave of Advance of R.A. Fisher; 4.3 The Spread of the Oak After the Last Ice Age
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4.4 The Invasion of Non-native Plants in the Wake of Globalization4.4.1 Ragweed, An Allergenic Invader: Observations and Their Modelling; 4.4.2 Predictions for the Future Spread of Ragweed; 4.4.3 Pollen Distribution; 4.4.4 The Additional Burden of Climate Change and Its Costs; 4.5 What Can We Learn by Comparing Past, Present and Future?; References; 5 Have Europeans Always Arrived from the Near East?; 5.1 Early Migrations: Conclusions from Archaeology on the Spread of the Neolithic; 5.2 A Comparison of the Genes of Contemporary Europeans
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5.3 Finally, Archaeogenetics with Genes from Neolithic and Palaeolithic Skeletons5.4 Neolithic and Modern Immigrations from the Near East: What Can We Learn from Similarities and Differences?; References; 6 The Puzzles of the First American Immigration; 6.1 A Bunch of Riddles; 6.2 How to Overcome the Canadian Ice Sheet?; 6.3 The Riddle of the Palaeo-Indians' Rapid Population Increase; 6.4 The Riddle of the Palaeo-Indians' Extremely Fast Arrival in Patagonia; References; 7 The Diffusion of the Black Death and Today's Global Epidemics; 7.1 The Black Death
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7.2 The Spread of Epidemics in the Twenty-First Century7.2.1 Random Walk; 7.2.2 Long Distance Spread; 7.3 What Has Changed with Globalization?; References; 8 Language Invasion and Language Death; 8.1 The Invasion of the Indo-European Languages; 8.2 Currently Endangered Languages; 8.2.1 Gaelic in Scotland, Studied Using Reaction-Diffusion Equations; 8.2.2 Slovenian in Austria, Studied Using an Agent-Based Model; 8.3 What Happens to Languages in the Era of Globalization?; References; 9 The Diffusion of Ideas; 9.1 The Diffusion of Innovations
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9.2 Current Example: The Rise of Wind Power and Its Opposition9.3 Open Innovation: Brave New World; 9.4 Diffusion of Science Fiction into Real Decision; 9.5 Uprooting and Unsettling: Diffusion of Futures Is Too Fast for the Average Citizen; References; Index
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SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
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This easy-to read book looks at the many ways in which diffusion bears on processes that involve dispersion, starting from the Brownian motion of molecules, covering the invasion of exotic plants, migration of populations, epidemics, and extending to the spreading of languages and ideas. Recently, there has been a growing interest in understanding migrations, diffusion and spreading outside the "hard" natural sciences of physics and chemistry, for example the spreading of plants introduced as a result of globalization. Another fascinating story is that of human migration in the distant past, i.e. the immigration of our ancestors who brought agriculture from the Near East, or the fast spread of the Palaeo-Indians into the Americas after the end of the Ice Age. Likewise, the spread of languages in the past, and even more so the current spread and retreat of languages will be described here in terms of diffusion. By understanding these principles, there is hope that some of the less common languages that are threatened by globalization can be saved. Another important implication discussed by the author concerns the outbreak of epidemics; these may be mitigated if we understand their spreading mechanism. Last but not least the spreading of ideas and innovations, a process which changes the world sometimes faster than we wish, can also be usefully described in this picture.