Download or read book Astrobiology Future Perspectives written by P. Ehrenfreund and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2006-03-05 with total page 521 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Astrobiology, a new exciting interdisciplinary research field, seeks to unravel the origin and evolution of life wherever it might exist in the Universe. The current view of the origin of life on Earth is that it is strongly connected to the origin and evolution of our planet and, indeed, of the Universe as a whole. We are fortunate to be living in an era where centuries of speculation about the two ancient and fundamental problems: the origin of life and its prevalence in the Universe are being replaced by experimental science. The subject of Astrobiology can be approached from many different perspectives. This book is focused on abiogenic organic matter from the viewpoint of astronomy and planetary science and considers its potential relevance to the origins of life on Earth and elsewhere. Guided by the review papers in this book, the concluding chapter aims to identify key questions to motivate future research and stimulate astrobiological applications of current and future research facilities and space missions. Today’s rich array of new spacecraft, telescopes and dedicated scientists promises a steady flow of discoveries and insights that will ultimately lead us to the answers we seek.
Download or read book On the Future written by Martin Rees and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-10-05 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A provocative and inspiring look at the future of humanity and science from world-renowned scientist and bestselling author Martin Rees Humanity has reached a critical moment. Our world is unsettled and rapidly changing, and we face existential risks over the next century. Various outcomes—good and bad—are possible. Yet our approach to the future is characterized by short-term thinking, polarizing debates, alarmist rhetoric, and pessimism. In this short, exhilarating book, renowned scientist and bestselling author Martin Rees argues that humanity’s prospects depend on our taking a very different approach to planning for tomorrow. The future of humanity is bound to the future of science and hinges on how successfully we harness technological advances to address our challenges. If we are to use science to solve our problems while avoiding its dystopian risks, we must think rationally, globally, collectively, and optimistically about the long term. Advances in biotechnology, cybertechnology, robotics, and artificial intelligence—if pursued and applied wisely—could empower us to boost the developing and developed world and overcome the threats humanity faces on Earth, from climate change to nuclear war. At the same time, further advances in space science will allow humans to explore the solar system and beyond with robots and AI. But there is no “Plan B” for Earth—no viable alternative within reach if we do not care for our home planet. Rich with fascinating insights into cutting-edge science and technology, this accessible book will captivate anyone who wants to understand the critical issues that will define the future of humanity on Earth and beyond.
Download or read book Current and Future Perspectives of Ethnomathematics as a Program written by Milton Rosa and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-05 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This survey on the modernity of ethnomathematics addresses numerous themes related to both ethnomathematics and mathematics education. It offers a broader view of mathematics, including ideas, procedures, concepts, processes, methods, and practices rooted in distinct cultural environments. In addition, by reflecting on the social and political dimensions of ethnomathematics, another important aspect of this research program is the development of innovative approaches for a dynamic and glocalized society. Ethnomathematics recognizes that members of different cultures develop unique mathematical techniques, methods, and explanations that allow for an alternative understanding and transformation of societal norms. The theoretical basis of ethnomathematics offers a valid alternative to traditional studies of history, philosophy, cognition, and pedagogical aspects of mathematics. The current agenda for ethnomathematics is to continue an ongoing, progressive trajectory that contributes to the achievement of social justice, peace, and dignity for all. The debates outlined in this book share a few of the key ideas that provide for a clearer understanding of the field of ethnomathematics and its current state of the art by discussing its pedagogical actions, its contributions for teacher education, and its role in mathematics education.
Download or read book Our Continent Our Future written by P. Thandika Mkandawire and published by IDRC. This book was released on 2014-05-14 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our Continent, Our Future presents the emerging African perspective on this complex issue. The authors use as background their own extensive experience and a collection of 30 individual studies, 25 of which were from African economists, to summarize this African perspective and articulate a path for the future. They underscore the need to be sensitive to each country's unique history and current condition. They argue for a broader policy agenda and for a much more active role for the state within what is largely a market economy. Finally, they stress that Africa must, and can, compete in an increasingly globalized world and, perhaps most importantly, that Africans must assume the leading role in defining the continent's development agenda.
Download or read book The Exploration of Happiness written by Antonella Delle Fave and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-29 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This specially selected collection of landmark work from the Journal of Happiness Studies maps the current contours, and the likely future direction, of research in a field with a fast-rising profile. This volume, which inaugurates a series aiming to explore discrete topics in happiness and wellbeing studies, features selected articles published in the Journal of Happiness Studies during its first decade, which culminated in an ‘impact factor’ in 2011. As the introductory work in the series, it provides readers with a vital overview of the prominent issues, problems and challenges that well-being and happiness research has had to overcome since its appearance on the scientific stage. The journal’s very success evinces both the high scientific quality of the research covered, and the steadily growing interest in a subject that draws responses from a vast range of epistemological aiming points, taking in economics, sociology, psychology, philosophy, education and medicine. The series of volumes following this debut publication will represent a unique contribution to the literature in their multidisciplinary focus on particularized topics. It is reckoned that this will help strengthen cross-disciplinary synergies among authors investigating the same topic, as well as whet the appetite for happiness research among professionals and experts inhabiting a variety of academic domains. This volume addresses the theory of well-being and happiness, the different research approaches now probing their features and components, and the socio-economic and cultural issues that impact on their promotion..
Download or read book Future of Fisheries written by William W. Taylor and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 506 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Contains more than 70 short mentoring vignettes on past experiences and visions for the future authored by many notable mentors from the fisheries field."--Publisher's website.
Download or read book Nano Biopesticides Today and Future Perspectives written by Opender Koul and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2019-03-16 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nano-Biopesticides Today and Future Perspectives is the first single-volume resource to examine the practical development, implementation and implications of combining the environmentally aware use of biopesticides with the potential power of nanotechnology. While biopesticides have been utilized for years, researchers have only recently begun exploring delivery methods that utilize nanotechnology to increase efficacy while limiting the negative impacts traditionally seen through the use of pest control means. Written by a panel of global experts, the book provides a foundation on nano-biopesticide development paths, plant health and nutrition, formulation and means of delivery. Researchers in academic and commercial settings will value this foundational reference of insights within the biopesticide realm. - Provides comprehensive insights, including relevant information on environmental impact and safety, technology development, implementation, and intellectual property - Discusses the role of nanotechnology and its potential applications as a nanomaterial in crop protection for a cleaner and greener agriculture - Presents a strategic, comprehensive and forward-looking approach
Download or read book COVID 19 Current Challenges and Future Perspectives written by Anoop Kumar and published by Bentham Science Publishers. This book was released on 2021-03-03 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: COVID-19: Current Challenges and Future Perspectives informs readers about the current status of knowledge on COVID-19 infection. The book begins by presenting basic information about the history, epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment and preventive measures against COVID-19. The second part of the book contains information about the repurposing of drugs, herbal medicines, and immunotherapy against COVID-19 infections. Integrating both general and advanced information about Sars-cov-2, this book updates a wide range of readers including students, researchers (virologists, pharmacologists), health care professionals (physicians, nurses, pharmacists, paramedics) and the general public on novel coronaviruses and COVID-19.
Download or read book Exploring the Origin Extent and Future of Life written by Constance M. Bertka and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-09-03 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Philosophers, historians, ethicists, and theologians provide the perspectives of their fields on astrobiology for graduate students and researchers.
Download or read book Shape Memory Alloy Engineering written by Antonio Concilio and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2014-09-25 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shape Memory Alloy Engineering introduces materials, mechanical, and aerospace engineers to shape memory alloys (SMAs), providing a unique perspective that combines fundamental theory with new approaches to design and modeling of actual SMAs as compact and inexpensive actuators for use in aerospace and other applications. With this book readers will gain an understanding of the intrinsic properties of SMAs and their characteristic state diagrams, allowing them to design innovative compact actuation systems for applications from aerospace and aeronautics to ships, cars, and trucks. The book realistically discusses both the potential of these fascinating materials as well as their limitations in everyday life, and how to overcome some of those limitations in order to achieve proper design of useful SMA mechanisms. Discusses material characterization processes and results for a number of newer SMAs Incorporates numerical (FE) simulation and integration procedures into commercial codes (Msc/Nastran, Abaqus, and others) Provides detailed examples on design procedures and optimization of SMA-based actuation systems for real cases, from specs to verification lab tests on physical demonstrators One of the few SMA books to include design and set-up of demonstrator characterization tests and correlation with numerical models
Download or read book The Future of Diversity written by INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE. and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers new perspectives on the concept of diversity and the role diversity can play in the world of work of the future.Scholars and practitioners from various disciplines and backgrounds reflect on the most appropriate interventions to create a more inclusive labour market for all. They explore the economic case for diversity and diversity management strategies, finding that diversity and inclusion must go hand in hand.The authors show that biases and stereotypes that lead to discrimination and violence – whether in blatant or more subtleforms such as microaggressions – are a major impediment to diversity. However, cultural change in the workplace cannotbe obtained with one-off policies and the effectiveness of prodiversity initiatives may depend on variables outside the labourmarket. Legal protections from discrimination and provisions forequal opportunities for “diverse persons” are often not enoughto deliver outcomes of equality and inclusion.The book also sheds light on the policy dilemma between respecting individuals with all their particularities and countering structural inequalities, which often requires categorization into groups. The authors remind us that there is diversity within diversity: not everyone receiving the same label has the same needs.The book covers issues such as gender equality and mainstreaming, migration and ethnic diversity, racism, violence against LGBTI people and age discrimination. Tools used in one area to overcome exclusion are often also applicable in others. The future of diversity is thus a rich source of inspiration for anyone wishing to move towards greater justice in the labour market.
Download or read book Thinking the Future written by Clem Sunter and published by Penguin Random House South Africa. This book was released on 2021-07-01 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do you know how to think about the future? All our decisions are about the future, whether it’s tomorrow, next year or the next decade, yet our choices are often undermined by desires, expectations and common mental mistakes – making assumptions, worrying about things we can’t control, missing signals because we’re distracted by the noise. But if you can learn how to think, you can learn how to look ahead. Isaac Newton said: ‘If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.’ In Thinking the Future, Clem Sunter and Mitch Ilbury teach us the futurist’s art of decision-making by reimagining seminal concepts from some of history’s greatest thinkers. They encourage foxy, flexible mindsets and reject the popular but misleading self-help tenet that you can decide your fate through the relentless pursuit of a single goal. An uncertain world demands a more dynamic approach. The point is not to forecast one outcome but to plot multiple scenarios of what could happen. Using scenario-planning techniques, we can all harness the power to work towards the future we want, avoid the ones we don’t, and prepare ourselves for the possible risks and opportunities no matter what transpires.
Download or read book Future Orientation written by Rachel Seginer and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-04-21 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By contemporary I mean a present with an anticipated future, for we must do our best to overcome clinical habits which make us assume that we have done our part if we have clari?ed the past. (Erikson, 1968, pp. 30–31). The scope of time ahead which in?uences present behavior, and is therefore to be regarded as part of the present life-space, increases during development. This change in time perspective is one of the most fundamental facts of development. Adolescence seems to be a period of particularly deep change in respect to time perspective. (Lewin, 1939, p. 879). I chose to open this book with two excerpts from Erikson’s and Lewin’s writings because they indicate that future orientation has had its deep roots in psychol- ical thinking, and call readers’ attention to the long standing interest in two f- damental issues: the motivational power of constructed future images and their development across age. More speci?cally, Erikson and Lewin’s writings und- score the importance of future thinking for in?uencing present behavior tendencies, and point out that the ability to think about the future and realize the “scope of time ahead” increase with age, and reach a special developmental signi?cance in adolescence.
Download or read book Global Perspectives on Megatrends written by Berthold Kuhn and published by Ibidem Press. This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Berthold M. Kuhn and Dimitrios L. Margellos analyze future global trends. They discuss megatrends such as climate change and sustainability, digitalization, growing inequalities, urbanization and smart cities, green economy, and sustainable finance, as well as new trends in democracy and governance, migration, and culture.
Download or read book Seeing the Future written by Kourken Michaelian and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Episodic memory is a major area of research in psychology. Initially viewed as a distinct store of information derived from experienced episodes, episodic memory is understood today as a form of mental "time travel" into the personal past. Recent research has revealed striking similarities between episodic memory-past-oriented mental time travel-and future-oriented mental time travel (FMTT). Seeing the Future: Theoretical Perspectives on Future-Oriented Mental Time Travel brings together leading contributors in both empirical and theoretical disciplines to present the first interdisciplinary look at the human ability to imagine future scenarios. Chapters focus on the challenging conceptual and theoretical questions raised by FMTT, covering themes such as: varieties of future-oriented cognition; relationships between FMTT and episodic memory; subjective temporality in FMTT; the self in FMTT; and functional, evolutionary and comparative, developmental, and clinical perspectives on FMTT. With its focus on the conceptual issues at the heart of fast-developing research on FMTT, this edited volume will serve graduate students to senior scholars working on or interested in FMTT and related areas as a synthesis of current theoretical thinking and a source of questions for future FMTT research.
Download or read book Predicting Future Oceans written by William Cheung and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2019-08-17 with total page 584 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Predicting Future Oceans: Sustainability of Ocean and Human Systems Amidst Global Environmental Change provides a synthesis of our knowledge of the future state of the oceans. The editors undertake the challenge of integrating diverse perspectives—from oceanography to anthropology—to exhibit the changes in ecological conditions and their socioeconomic implications. Each contributing author provides a novel perspective, with the book as a whole collating scholarly understandings of future oceans and coastal communities across the world. The diverse perspectives, syntheses and state-of-the-art natural and social sciences contributions are led by past and current research fellows and principal investigators of the Nereus Program network. This includes members at 17 leading research institutes, addressing themes such as oceanography, biodiversity, fisheries, mariculture production, economics, pollution, public health and marine policy. This book is a comprehensive resource for senior undergraduate and postgraduate readers studying social and natural science, as well as practitioners working in the field of natural resources management and marine conservation. - Provides a synthesis of our knowledge on the future state of the oceans - Includes recommendations on how to move forwards - Highlights key social aspects linked to ocean ecosystems, including health, equity and sovereignty
Download or read book Artificial Intelligence for a Better Future written by Bernd Carsten Stahl and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-03-17 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book proposes a novel approach to Artificial Intelligence (AI) ethics. AI offers many advantages: better and faster medical diagnoses, improved business processes and efficiency, and the automation of boring work. But undesirable and ethically problematic consequences are possible too: biases and discrimination, breaches of privacy and security, and societal distortions such as unemployment, economic exploitation and weakened democratic processes. There is even a prospect, ultimately, of super-intelligent machines replacing humans. The key question, then, is: how can we benefit from AI while addressing its ethical problems? This book presents an innovative answer to the question by presenting a different perspective on AI and its ethical consequences. Instead of looking at individual AI techniques, applications or ethical issues, we can understand AI as a system of ecosystems, consisting of numerous interdependent technologies, applications and stakeholders. Developing this idea, the book explores how AI ecosystems can be shaped to foster human flourishing. Drawing on rich empirical insights and detailed conceptual analysis, it suggests practical measures to ensure that AI is used to make the world a better place.
