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Iron Landscapes: National Space and the Railways in Interwar Czechoslovakia (Explorations in Mobility #5)
by Felix JeschkeThroughout the 1920s and 1930s, the newly formed country of Czechoslovakia built an ambitious national rail network out of what remained of the obsolete Habsburg system. While conceived as a means of knitting together a young and ethnically diverse nation-state, these railways were by their very nature a transnational phenomenon, and as such they simultaneously articulated and embodied a distinctive Czechoslovak cosmopolitanism. Drawing on evidence ranging from government documents to newsreels to train timetables, Iron Landscapes gives a nuanced account of how planners and authorities balanced these two imperatives, bringing the cultural history of infrastructure into dialogue with the spatial history of Central Europe.
Limits of Life: Reflections on Life, Death, and the Body in the Age of Technoscience
by Martin Eggen Mogseth & Fartein Hauan NilsenNew technologies and scientific imagination rearrange the boundary that we identify as the beginning and end of life. New techno-social constellations, such as the ever-increasing presence of digital avatars and genetic screenings, implore us to reconsider and transcend the existing definitions of life and death. Through a multidisciplinary approach, this volume explores how the limitations and perceived finality of life and death are reconstituted through engagements with modern technology.
Making Things Happen: Community Participation and Disaster Reconstruction in Pakistan (Catastrophes in Context #5)
by Jane Murphy ThomasDrawing on the Pakistan Earthquake Reconstruction and Recovery Project (PERRP), this volume explores the sociocultural side of post-disaster infrastructure reconstruction. As the latter is often fraught with delays and even abandonment—one cause being ineffective interactions between construction and local people—PERRP used anthropological and participatory approaches. Along with strong construction management, such approaches led to the rebuilding being completed on time. As disasters are increasing in number and intensity, so too will be the need for reconstruction, for which PERRP has lessons to offer.
The Meanings of a Disaster: Chernobyl and Its Afterlives in Britain and France (Environment in History: International Perspectives #20)
by Karena KalmbachThe disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was an event of obviously transnational significance—not only in the airborne particulates it deposited across the Northern hemisphere, but in the political and social repercussions it set off well beyond the Soviet bloc. Focusing on the cases of Great Britain and France, this innovative study explores the discourses and narratives that arose in the wake of the incident among both state and nonstate actors. It gives a thorough account of the stereotypes, framings, and “othering” strategies that shaped Western European nations’ responses to the disaster, and of their efforts to come to terms with its long-term consequences up to the present day.
Pacific Automobilism: Adventure, Status and the Carnival of Mobility, 1970–2015
by Gijs MomThe beginning of the 21st century has seen important shifts in mobility cultures around the world, as the West’s media-driven car culture has contrasted with existing local mobilities, from rickshaws in India and minibuses in Africa to cycling in China. In this expansive volume, historian Gijs Mom explores how contemporary mobility has been impacted by social, political, and economic forces on a global scale, as in light of local mobility cultures, the car as an ‘adventure machine’ seems to lose cultural influence in favor of the car’s status character.
Revealing the Invisible Mine: Social Complexities of an Undeveloped Mining Project (Pacific Perspectives: Studies of the European Society for Oceanists #8)
by Emilia SkrzypekExploring the social complexities of the Frieda River Project in Papua New Guinea, this book tells the story of local stakeholder strategies on the eve of industrial development, told largely from the perspective of the Paiyamo - one of the project’s so-called ‘impact communities’. Engaging ideas of knowledge, belief and personhood, it explains how fifty years of encounters with exploration companies shaped the Paiyamo’s aspirations, made them revisit and re-examine their past, and develop new strategies to move towards a better, more prosperous future.
Water, Life, and Profit: Fluid Economies and Cultures of Niamey, Niger
by Sara Beth Keough Scott M. YoungstedtWater, Life, and Profit offers a holistic analysis of the people, economies, cultural symbolism, and material culture involved in the management, production, distribution, and consumption of drinking water in the urban context of Niamey, Niger. Paying particular attention to two key groups of people who provide water to most of Niamey’s residents - door-to-door water vendors, and those that sell water in one-half liter plastic bags (sachets) on the street or in small shops –, the authors offer new insights into how Niamey’s water economies affect gender, ethnicity, class, and spatial structure today.
The Driver in the Driverless Car: How Our Technology Choices Will Create the Future
by Alex Salkever Vivek WadhwaA computer beats the reigning human champion of Go, a game harder than chess. Another is composing classical music. Labs are creating life-forms from synthetic DNA. A doctor designs an artificial trachea, uses a 3D printer to produce it, and implants it and saves a child's life.Astonishing technological advances like these are arriving in increasing numbers. Scholar and entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa uses this book to alert us to dozens of them and raise important questions about what they may mean for us.Breakthroughs such as personalized genomics, self-driving vehicles, drones, and artificial intelligence could make our lives healthier, safer, and easier. But the same technologies raise the specter of a frightening, alienating future: eugenics, a jobless economy, complete loss of privacy, and ever-worsening economic inequality. As Wadhwa puts it, our choices will determine if our future is Star Trek or Mad Max. Wadhwa offers us three questions to ask about every emerging technology: Does it have the potential to benefit everyone equally? What are its risks and rewards? And does it promote autonomy or dependence? Looking at a broad array of advances in this light, he emphasizes that the future is up to us to create—that even if our hands are not on the wheel, we will decide the driverless car's destination.
The Future of Packaging: From Linear to Circular
by Tom SzakyOnly 35 percent of the 240 million metric tons of waste generated in the United States alone gets recycled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. This extraordinary collection shows how manufacturers can move from a one-way take-make-waste economy that is burying the world in waste to a circular, make-use-recycle economy. Steered by Tom Szaky, recycling pioneer, eco-capitalist, and founder and CEO of TerraCycle, each chapter is coauthored by an expert in his or her field. From the distinct perspectives of government leaders, consumer packaged goods companies, waste management firms, and more, the book explores current issues of production and consumption, practical steps for improving packaging and reducing waste today, and big ideas and concepts that can be carried forward.Intended to help every business from a small start-up to a large established consumer product company, this book serves as a source of knowledge and inspiration. The message from these pioneers is not to scale back but to innovate upward. They offer nothing less than a guide to designing ourselves out of waste and into abundance.
There's No Such Thing as an IT Project: A Handbook for Intentional Business Change
by Bob Lewis Dave KaiserLearn how to stop pouring vast sums of money into technology projects that don't have a lasting impact by closing the communication gap between IT and leadership.Too many businesses miss opportunity after opportunity to design, plan, and achieve intentional business change. Why? Because they charter projects focused on delivering software products: IT projects. But as this groundbreaking book points out, there's no such thing as an IT project—or at least there shouldn't be. It's always about intentional business change, or what's the point?It's time to stop providing simplistic, one-dimensional, all-you-gotta-do panaceas. When the only constant in business is change, truly useful IT has to help you change instead of build solutions that are obsolete even before they are completed. IT consultant Bob Lewis, author of the bestselling Bare Bones Project Management, has joined forces with seasoned CIO Dave Kaiser to give you the tools you need. It's a multidimensional, relentlessly practical guide. Condensed to handbook length and seasoned with Lewis's trademark sardonic humor, it's an enjoyable and digestible read as well.Lewis and Kaiser take you step by step through the process of building a collaboration between IT and the rest of the business that really works. Insisting on intentional business change takes patience, communication, and courage, but it has a huge payoff. More to the point, insist on anything else and every penny you spend will be a wasted dime and a waste of time.
Brexit, Tweeted: Polarization and Social Media Manipulation
by Marco BastosDissecting 45 million tweets from the period that followed the Brexit referendum, this book presents an extensive analysis of social media manipulation. The book examines emerging changes in partisan politics, nationalist and populist values, as well as broader societal changes that are feeding into polarization and echo-chamber communication. It pulls the curtain back on the techniques employed to interfere with, and potentially distort, the public discussion. Making complex data accessible to non-technical audiences, this unique post-mortem of the Brexit referendum contributes to our understanding of social media disinformation in the UK and beyond.
Creating Community-Led and Self-Build Homes: A Guide to Collaborative Practice in the UK
by Martin FieldIn Creating Community-Led and Self-Build Homes, Martin Field explores the ways in which people and communities across the UK have been striving to create the homes and neighbourhood communities they want. Giving context to contemporary practices in the UK, the book examines ‘self-build housing’ and ‘community-led housing’, discussing the commonalities and distinctions between these in practice, and what could be learned from other initiatives across Europe. Individual methods and models of local practice are explored - including cohousing, cooperatives, community land trusts, empty homes and other intentional communities - and an examination is made of what has constrained such initiatives to date and how future policies and practice might be shaped.
The Economy of Algorithms: AI and the Rise of the Digital Minions
by Marek KowalkiewiczAn informed general readership, including students and interested non-specialists. Academics from business, sociology, politics, management, science and technology studies and emerging fields such as critical algorithm studies will find it a stimulating and entertaining read. Reflective practitioners who are beginning to question the potential social impacts of their work (see current explosion of tech worker activism).
Living Data: Making Sense of Health Biosensing
by Celia Roberts Adrian MackenzieAs individuals increasingly seek ways of accessing, understanding and sharing data about their own bodies, this book offers a critique of the popular claim that ‘more information’ equates to ‘better health’. In a study that redefines the public, academic and policy related debates around health, bodies, information and data, the authors consider the ways in which the phenomenon of self-diagnosis has created alternative worlds of knowledge and practises which are often at odds with professional medical advice. With a focus on data that concerns significant life changes, this book explores the potential challenges related to people’s changing relationships with traditional health systems as access to, and control over, data shifts.
The Sun Also Rises in Portugal: Ambitions of Just Solar Energy Transitions
by Siddharth SareenAvailable open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Portugal is among the best-placed European countries to take advantage of solar power, having achieved a five-fold increase in installed capacity during 2017-2023 despite financial constraints. In 2023, its National Energy and Climate Plan set an ambitious target for a further eight-fold increase from 2.5 GW to 20.4 GW by 2030. How can such fast-paced deployment secure sociospatial justice? What insights do political economic dynamics hold for future transitions? Drawing on long-term, multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork, this book is a one-stop resource for policy makers, practitioners, scholars, and anyone interested in just solar energy transitions. Siddharth Sareen won the 2024 Nils Klim Prize, recognising his exemplary work in the search for renewable and sustainable sources of energy.
The Tensions of Algorithmic Thinking: Automation, Intelligence and the Politics of Knowing
by David BeerWe are living in algorithmic times. From machine learning and artificial intelligence to blockchain or simpler newsfeed filtering, automated systems can transform the social world in ways that are just starting to be imagined. Redefining these emergent technologies as the new systems of knowing, pioneering scholar David Beer examines the acute tensions they create and how they are changing what is known and what is knowable. Drawing on cases ranging from the art market and the smart home, through to financial tech, AI patents and neural networks, he develops key concepts for understanding the framing, envisioning and implementation of algorithms. This book will be of interest to anyone who is concerned with the rise of algorithmic thinking and the way it permeates society.
Constitution 3.0
by Jeffrey Rosen Benjamin WittesAt the beginning of the twenty-first century, breathtaking changes in technology are posing stark challenges to our constitutional values. From free speech to privacy, from liberty and personal autonomy to the right against self-incrimination, basic constitutional principles are under stress from technological advances unimaginable even a few decades ago, let alone during the founding era. In this provocative collection, America's leading scholars of technology, law, and ethics imagine how to translate and preserve constitutional and legal values at a time of dizzying technological change. Constitution 3.0 explores some of the most urgent constitutional questions of the near future. Will privacy become obsolete, for example, in a world where ubiquitous surveillance is becoming the norm? Imagine that Facebook and Google post live feeds from public and private surveillance cameras, allowing 24/7 tracking of any citizen in the world. How can we protect free speech now that Facebook and Google have more power than any king, president, or Supreme Court justice to decide who can speak and who can be heard? How will advanced brain-scan technology affect the constitutional right against self-incrimination? And on a more elemental level, should people have the right to manipulate their genes and design their own babies? Should we be allowed to patent new forms of life that seem virtually human? The constitutional challenges posed by technological progress are wide-ranging, with potential impacts on nearly every aspect of life in America and around the world.The authors include Jamie Boyle, Duke Law School; Eric Cohen and Robert George, Princeton University; Jack Goldsmith, Harvard Law School; Orin Kerr, George Washington University Law School; Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law School; Stephen Morse, University of Pennsylvania Law School; John Robertson, University of Texas Law School; Christopher Slobogin, Vanderbilt Law School; O. Carter Snead, Notre Dame Law School; Jeffrey Rosen, George Washington University Law School; Benjamin Wittes, Brookings Institution; Tim Wu, Columbia Law School; and Jonathan Zittrain, Harvard Law School.
Cuba's Energy Future: Strategic Approaches to Cooperation
by Jonathan Benjamin-AlvaradoApproaching an uncertain future without Fidel Castro, and still reeling from a downturn at the end of the cold war, Cuba must act decisively to improve its economy and living conditions. One of the major challenges facing the impoverished island nation is securing access to energy resources that are sufficient to meet the needs of its revitalization and development goals. What steps can Cuba take to achieve both short- and long-term energy sustainability and self-sufficiency? In this timely analysis, Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado and his colleagues answer that question. Cuba's Energy Future sets the geostrategic context within which Cuba is operating. The book provides an overview of the evolving relations among Caribbean states and explains why Cuba and its longtime nemesis the United States should look for ways to cooperate on developing energy resources. The possible role of oil companies is explored, as is Cuba's energy relationship with Hugo Chavez's Venezuela.The second section of Cuba's Energy Future features economic and technical appraisals, economic projections, and trends affecting Cuba's energy needs, including oil and natural gas potential, the country's antiquated electric power sector, and the role of biofuels such as sugarcane ethanol. The concluding section focuses on the conditions necessary for, and the mutual benefits of, greater cooperative engagement with the United States.Contributors: Juan A. B. Belt (Chemonics International, formerly USAID), Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado (University of Nebraska-Omaha and University of Georgia), Amy Myers Jaffe (Rice University), Jorge R. Pi??n (Florida International University), Ronald Soligo (Rice University).
Digital Medicine
by Darrell M. West Edward Alan MillerInformation technology has dramatically changed our lives in areas ranging from commerce and entertainment to voting. Now, policy advocates and government officials hope to bring the benefits of enhanced information technology to health care. Already, consumers can access a tremendous amount of medical information online. Some physicians encourage patients to use email or web messaging to manage simple medical issues. Increasingly, health care products can be purchased electronically.Yet the promise of e-health remains largely unfulfilled. Digital Medicine investigates the factors limiting digital technology's ability to remake health care. It explores the political, social, and ethical challenges presented by online health care, as well as the impact that racial, ethnic, and other disparities are having on the e-health revolution. It examines the accessibility of health-related websites for different populations and asks how we can close access gaps and ensure the reliability and trustworthiness of the information presented online. Darrell West and Edward Miller use multiple sources, including original survey research and website analysis, to study the content, sponsorship status, and public usage of health care-related websites, as well as the relationship between e-health utilization and attitudes about health care in the United States. They also explore the use of health information technology in other countries. The result is an important contribution to our understanding of health information innovation in America and around the world.
Going Mobile
by Darrell M. WestThe world is going mobile at an astounding pace. Estimates show 80 percent of global Internet access will take place through mobile devices by 2016. Smartphones, tablets, and handheld devices have reshaped communications, the global economy, and the very way in which we live. The revolution is an electronic nirvana: for the first time in human history we have sophisticated digital applications to help us learn, access financial and health care records, connect with others, and build businesses. But the one trillion dollar mobile industry is still relatively young. Leaders in both the public and private sectors need to figure out how to apply mobile technologies or mobile devices to optimize education, health care, public safety, disaster preparedness, and economic development. And the ever-expanding mobile frontier presents new challenges to law, policy, and regulations and introduces new tensions; one person's idea of cautious deliberation can be another's idea of a barrier to innovation.In Going Mobile, Darrell M. West breaks down the mobile revolution and shows how to maximize its overall benefits in both developed and emerging markets.Contents1. The Emergence of Mobile Technology2. Driving Global Entrepreneurship3. Alleviating Poverty4. Invention and the Mobile Economy5. Mobile Learning6. Improving Health Care7. Medical Devices and Sensors8. Shaping Campaigns and Public Outreach9. Disaster Relief and Public Safety10. Looking Ahead
Abiotic Stresses in Crop Plants
by Usha Chakraborty Bishwanath ChakrabortyThis book is based to a great extent on the biochemical and molecular mechanisms of tolerance of commonly encountered abiotic stresses in nature. This book will deal with increasing temperature, water, salinity, and heavy metals and ozone, and how these abiotic stresses can be managed by microbes through their alleviation mechanisms. Water stress includes both drought and flooding. 1st section outlines the relevance of abiotic stresses in present day environmental conditions. The 2nd section deals with three major stresses - temperature, water and salinity and the metabolic changes and protective adjustments in plants for withstanding these stresses. The 3rd section deals with the role of heavy metals and ozone. The final section is devoted to general abiotic stresses and their alleviation by microbes. These offer a cost-effective and eco-friendly means of combating different stresses.
Advances in Fig Research and Sustainable Production
by Arpan Modi Belit Balci Avital Bechar David Ben-Yakir H Zafer Can Yafit Cohen Alain Costa Dan Eisikowitch Toufic Elbeaino Mahua Ghara Ali Muhammet Gündesli Hidetoshi Ikegami Burhanettin Imrak Esref M Irget Ebru N. Kafkas Salih Kafkas Kumar Lama Simcha Lev-Yadun Margarita López Corrales Huiqin Ma Alberto Martin Kamil M. Meriç Dvora Namdar Betül K. Özer Reut Peer Antonio Piga Victor Rodov Manuel Joaquín Serradilla Sánchez Kenta Shirasawa Fatih Sen Ece Tirkaz Eleni Tsantili Ferit Turanli Christian Ponce Vera Yanlei Zhai Irit Ziffer Daniel ValeroThe common fig (Ficus carica L.) is one of the oldest fruits domesticated by humans, and is native to southwest Asia and the Mediterranean. Figs have been associated with health and prosperity since ancient times. They are rich in fibre, potassium, calcium, and iron, as well as being an important source of vitamins, amino acids, and antioxidants. In recent years, increased consumption has caused fig production to shift to new countries such as Mexico, Brazil, India, and China. However, fig is a challenging fruit crop to grow. It is susceptible to insect pests and diseases as well as injuries from abiotic stress during fruit development and ripening. As a delicate fruit it also requires complicated postharvest procedures and climate change presents additional challenges. Comprising 29 chapters written by international experts, the book includes sections on: History Biology and Orchard Management Fruit Ripening and Postharvest Management Pests and Diseases Omics Analysis Cultivars and Breeding Products and Trade. This volume serves as a comprehensive reference for current and future practices of fig production, consumption, research and innovation, and is essential for academic researchers, and those involved in research and development in the fig industry.
Advances in PGPR Research
by P. C. Abhilash Betina Cecilia Agaras Gautam Anand Laith K. Al-Ani Fabiola Padilla Arizmendi Fatima Berenice Salazar-Badillo Mansi Bakshi E. J. Bedmar Adrien Biessy Virendra S. Bisaria Kartikay Bisen Marieta Marin Bruzos Jesús Salvador López-Bucio Jose López-Bucio Randy Ortiz-Castro Jorge Armando Mauricio-Castillo Vasvi Chaudhry Niladri Chaudhry Manoj Kumar Chitara Pooja Choudhary Manish Kumar Dubey Pradeep Kumar Dubey Rama Kant Dubey Sheikh Adil Edirisi Martin Filion Elisabetta Franchi Deepika Goyal Natalia Cripps-Guazzone Robert Hill Antonio Castellano-Hinojosa Angela Cristina Ikeda María Fernanda Nieto-Jacobo Madhu Kamle Diwakar Kandula Dr Chetan Keswani Gagan Kumar Punam Kumari Richard Daniel Lally Robert Lawry Guillermo Nogueira-López Anupam Maharshi Shrikant S. Mantri Rafael Jorge Marcillo Dmitri V. MavrodiRhizosphere biology is approaching a century of investigations wherein growth-promoting rhizomicroorganisms (PGPR) have attracted special attention for their ability to enhance productivity, profitability and sustainability at a time when food security and rural livelihood are a key priority. Bio-inputs - either directly in the form of microbes or their by-products - are gaining tremendous momentum and harnessing the potential of agriculturally important microorganisms could help in providing low-cost and environmentally safe technologies to farmers.One approach to such biologically-based strategies is the use of naturally occurring products such as PGPR. Advances in PGPR Research explores recent developments and global issues in biopesticide research, presented via extended case studies and up-to-date coverage of: · Low input biofertilizers and biofungicides used for sustainable agriculture. · Molecular techniques to enhance efficacy of microbial inputs. · Intellectual property issues in PGPR research. Written by an international team of experts, this book considers new concepts and global issues in biopesticide research and evaluates the implications for sustainable productivity. It is an invaluable resource for researchers in applied agricultural biotechnology, microbiology and soil science, and also for industry personnel in these areas.
Afghanistan-Pakistan Shared Waters: State of the Basins
by Alias Wardak Arif Anwar Fazilda Nabeel Hassaan Furqan Inayatullah Jan Karthikeyan Matheswaran Marie-Charlotte Buisson Muhammad Shahid Iqbal Muhammad Tousif Bhatti Muhammad Zia Hashmi Mujib Ahmad Azizi Paul Pavelic Shakeel Hayat Taimoor AkhtarThere is currently no water cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Of the nine rivers that flow across the border, none possess a formal agreement or mechanism to manage shared water resources. Further, there is very little information available about the status of environment, hydrology and water resources management for these river basins that could be used as a starting point for dialogues on transboundary water coordination. This State of the Basins book co-develops an overview of the three most important river basins, in collaboration with international experts and water professionals from Afghanistan and Pakistan. It covers water resources, land resources, ecological health, environment, climate change, and the social and economic conditions for sustainable management of these precious resources. It will inform decision making within the two countries, and begin to establish benefits that can accrue from more active collaboration on these shared waters. This book: · Focuses on portions of the Indus shared by Afghanistan and Pakistan. · Features extensive engagement and co-development with Afghan and Pakistani professionals. · Is the first book on the shared waters in the Indus, developed in the context of regional realities associated with post-August 2021 Taliban takeover. The book is aimed at students and researchers in water rights and resources, and government decision makers, private sector investors, donors, intermediary organizations that work directly with farmers, researchers and students. It is a reference book for graduate students and researchers working on these basins, and on transboundary river basin management in Asia and beyond.
Agricultural Markets in a Transitioning Economy
by Jean Fantle-Lepczyk Catherine Chan-HalbrendtThis book presents major challenges and opportunities facing agriculture sectors in the wake of the transition from a planned to market economy. Using Albania as a case study, it examines the shift from communism to free markets and the lasting effects of such change on agricultural production and education. Using primary research sources to give readers an accurate portrayal of the path that lies ahead for many developing countries, the book also looks at the future of agriculture in transitioning economies.