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Measuring Shadows: Kepler’s Optics of Invisibility
by Raz Chen-MorrisIn Measuring Shadows, Raz Chen-Morris demonstrates that a close study of Kepler’s Optics is essential to understanding his astronomical work and his scientific epistemology. He explores Kepler’s radical break from scientific and epistemological traditions and shows how the seventeenth-century astronomer posited new ways to view scientific truth and knowledge. Chen-Morris reveals how Kepler’s ideas about the formation of images on the retina and the geometrics of the camera obscura, as well as his astronomical observations, advanced the argument that physical reality could only be described through artificially produced shadows, reflections, and refractions.Breaking from medieval and Renaissance traditions that insisted upon direct sensory perception, Kepler advocated for instruments as mediators between the eye and physical reality, and for mathematical language to describe motion. It was only through this kind of knowledge, he argued, that observation could produce certainty about the heavens. Not only was this conception of visibility crucial to advancing the early modern understanding of vision and the retina, but it affected how people during that period approached and understood the world around them.
Measuring Space Power: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation on Europe (SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology)
by Marco Aliberti Matteo Cappella Tomas HrozenskyThis book provides an in-depth investigation of the concept of space power and devises a novel conceptual framework for empirically measuring and comparing different typologies of space actors on the basis of clearly defined criteria. In turn, the book identifies a comprehensive set of conditions required to achieve and maintain the status of space power and explores the main political, security, and socio-economic stakes involved. Building on this basis, the book conducts a comparative assessment of the major space actors, the underlying aim of which is to examine Europe’s relative position in the space arena and put into perspective its proclaimed goal to assert itself as a space power, with all of the means and resources this would entail. Given its scope, the book represents a valuable and versatile tool to support European decision-making and offers key insights for executives, space professionals and scholars alike.
Measuring Technology and Mechatronics Automation in Electrical Engineering
by Zhixiang HouMeasuring Technology and Mechatronics Automation in Electrical Engineering includes select presentations on measuring technology and mechatronics automation related to electrical engineering, originally presented during the International Conference on Measuring Technology and Mechanatronics Automation (ICMTMA2012). This Fourth ICMTMA, held at Sanya, China, offered a prestigious, international forum for scientists, engineers, and educators to present the state of the art of measuring technology and mechatronics automation research.
Measuring the Angular Momentum of Supermassive Black Holes
by Laura BrennemanMeasuring the spin distribution of supermassive black holes is of critical importance for understanding how these black holes and their host galaxies form and evolve over time, yet this type of study is only in its infancy. This brief describes how astronomers measure spin in supermassive black holes using X-ray spectroscopy. It also reviews the constraints that have been placed on the spin distribution in local, bright active galaxies over the past six years, and the cosmological implications of these constraints. Finally, it summarizes the open questions that remain in this exciting new field of research and points toward future discoveries soon to be made by the next generation of space-based observatories.
Measuring the Economic Value of Research: The Case Of Food Safety
by Kaye Husbands Fealing Julia I. Lane John L. King Stanley R. JohnsonThe scientific advances that underpin economic growth and human health would not be possible without research investments. Yet demonstrating the impact of research programs is a challenge, especially in areas that span disciplines, industrial sectors, and encompass both public and private sector activity. All areas of research are under pressure to demonstrate benefits from federal funding of research. This exciting and innovative study demonstrates new methods and tools to trace the impact of federal research funding on the structure of research, and the subsequent economic activities of funded researchers. The case study is food safety research, which is critical to avoiding outbreaks of disease. The authors make use of an extraordinary new data infrastructure and apply new techniques in text analysis. Focusing on the impact of US federal food safety research, this book develops vital data-intensive methodologies that have a real world application to many other scientific fields.
Measuring the Impacts of Federal Investments in Research: A Workshop Summary
by The National Academy of SciencesThe enactment of the America COMPETES Act in 2006 (and its reauthorization in 2010), the increase in research expenditures under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and President Obama's general emphasis on the contribution of science and technology to economic growth have all heightened interest in the role of scientific and engineering research in creating jobs, generating innovative technologies, spawning new industries, improving health, and producing other economic and societal benefits. Along with this interest has come a renewed emphasis on a question that has been asked for decades: Can the impacts and practical benefits of research to society be measured either quantitatively or qualitatively? On April 18-19, 2011, the Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP) and the Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy (COSEPUP) of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine, held a workshop to examine this question. The workshop sought to assemble the range of work that has been done in measuring research outcomes and to provide a forum to discuss its method. The workshop was motivated by a 2009 letter from Congressman Rush Holt (D-New Jersey). He asked the National Academies to look into a variety of complex and interconnected issues, such as the short-term and long-term economic and non-economic impact of federal research funding, factors that determine whether federally funded research discoveries result in economic benefits, and quantification of the impacts of research on national security, the environment, health, education, public welfare, and decision making. Measuring the Impacts of Federal Investments in Researchprovides the key observations and suggestions made by the speakers at the workshop and during the discussions that followed the formal presentations.
Measuring the New World: Enlightenment Science and South America
by Neil SafierPrior to 1735, South America was terra incognita to many Europeans. But that year, the Paris Academy of Sciences sent a mission to the Spanish American province of Quito (in present-day Ecuador) to study the curvature of the earth at the Equator. Equipped with quadrants and telescopes, the mission's participants referred to the transfer of scientific knowledge from Europe to the Andes as a "sacred fire" passing mysteriously through European astronomical instruments to observers in South America. By taking an innovative interdisciplinary look at the traces of this expedition, Measuring the New World examines the transatlantic flow of knowledge from West to East. Through ephemeral monuments and geographical maps, this book explores how the social and cultural worlds of South America contributed to the production of European scientific knowledge during the Enlightenment. Neil Safier uses the notebooks of traveling philosophers, as well as specimens from the expedition, to place this particular scientific endeavor in the larger context of early modern print culture and the emerging intellectual category of scientist as author.
Measuring the New World: Enlightenment Science and South America
by Neil SafierPrior to 1735, South America was terra incognita to many Europeans. But that year, the Paris Academy of Sciences sent a mission to the Spanish American province of Quito (in present-day Ecuador) to study the curvature of the earth at the Equator. Equipped with quadrants and telescopes, the mission’s participants referred to the transfer of scientific knowledge from Europe to the Andes as a “sacred fire” passing mysteriously through European astronomical instruments to observers in South America.By taking an innovative interdisciplinary look at the traces of this expedition, Measuring the New World examines the transatlantic flow of knowledge from West to East. Through ephemeral monuments and geographical maps, this book explores how the social and cultural worlds of South America contributed to the production of European scientific knowledge during the Enlightenment. Neil Safier uses the notebooks of traveling philosophers, as well as specimens from the expedition, to place this particular scientific endeavor in the larger context of early modern print culture and the emerging intellectual category of scientist as author.
Measuring the Physiologic Use Conditions of Medical Devices
by Walt Baxter Ryan LahmThe physiologic use conditions medical devices are subjected to during implant and long-term in vivo use are critical to ensuring device reliability, efficacy, and safety. This book highlights advanced analyses for measuring the physiologic use conditions of medical devices, introducing important challenges facing engineers. The chapters include: A working definition for the physiologic in vivo use conditions used to further improve medical device performance in patients. Introductions to common approaches used to measure medical device use conditions so that engineers can use similar techniques where useful. Detailed case studies that highlight problem statements, approaches for measuring physiologic use conditions, and example outputs from such analyses. This book provides an up-to-date resource for device engineers so that they can accurately measure conditions that devices experience during and after implantation—key to reliability testing, computational modeling, and choosing optimum designs. This is an ideal book for medical device engineers and scientists designing and manufacturing devices for human use, students interested in understanding how devices interact with anatomy, and academic researchers seeking to apply advanced analyses to unmet use condition needs in the medical device field.
Measuring the Science and Engineering Enterprise: Priorities for the Division of Science Resources Studies
by National Research CouncilThe science and engineering enterprise has continued to evolve, responding over the last decade to increased economic globalization, a post-cold war military, federal budget fluctuations, and structural changes in the way science and engineering are conducted and innovations are adopted. This report suggests ways to revise the data collection activities of the Science Resources Studies Division (SRS) of the National Science Foundation to better capture the current realities of R&D funding and S&E human resources. The report’s recommendations would improve the relevance of the data on graduate education, the labor market for scientists and engineers, and the funding and conduct of research and development, and thus better meet the data needs of policymakers, managers, and researchers.
Measuring the Subjective Well-being of Nations: National Accounts of Time Use and Well-being
by Alan B. KruegerSurely everyone wants to know the source of happiness, and indeed, economists and social scientists are increasingly interested in the study and effects of subjective well-being. Putting forward a rigorous method and new data for measuring, comparing, and analyzing the relationship between well-being and the way people spend their time-across countries, demographic groups, and history-this book will help set the agenda of research and policy for decades to come. It does so by introducing a system of National Time Accounting (NTA), which relies on individuals' own evaluations of their emotional experiences during various uses of time, a distinct departure from subjective measures such as life satisfaction and objective measures such as the Gross Domestic Product. A distinguished group of contributors here summarize the NTA method, provide illustrative findings about well-being based on NTA, and subject the approach to a rigorous conceptual and methodological critique that advances the field. As subjective well-being is topical in economics, psychology, and other social sciences, this book should have cross-disciplinary appeal.
Measuring the Universe: The Historical Quest to Quantify Space
by Kitty FergusonSuppose you and I still wondered whether all of the pinpoints of light in the night sky are the same distance from us. Suppose none of our contemporaries could tell us whether the Sun orbits the Earth, or vice versa, or even how large the Earth is. Suppose no one had guessed there are mathematical laws underlying the motions of the heavens. How would - how did - anyone begin to discover these numbers and these relationships without leaving the Earth? What made anyone even think it was possible to find out “how far,” without going there? In Measuring the Universe we join our ancestors and contemporary scientists as they tease this information out of a sky full of stars. Some of the questions have turned out to be loaded, and a great deal besides mathematics and astronomy has gone into answering them. Politics, religion, philosophy and personal ambition: all have played roles in this drama. There are poignant personal stories, of people like Copernicus, Kepler, Newton, Herschel, and Hubble. Today scientists are attempting to determine the distance to objects near the borders of the observable universe, far beyond anything that can be seen with the naked eye in the night sky, and to measure time back to its origin. The numbers are too enormous to comprehend. Nevertheless, generations of curious people have figured them out, one resourceful step at a time. Progress has owed as much to raw ingenuity as to technology, and frontier inventiveness is still not out of date.
Measuring the Universe
by George H. RiekeAstronomy is an observational science, renewed and even revolutionized by new developments in instrumentation. With the resulting growth of multiwavelength investigation as an engine of discovery, it is increasingly important for astronomers to understand the underlying physical principles and operational characteristics for a broad range of instruments. This comprehensive text is ideal for graduate students, active researchers and instrument developers. It is a thorough review of how astronomers obtain their data, covering current approaches to astronomical measurements from radio to gamma rays. The focus is on current technology rather than the history of the field, allowing each topic to be discussed in depth. Areas covered include telescopes, detectors, photometry, spectroscopy, adaptive optics and high-contrast imaging, millimeter-wave and radio receivers, radio and optical/infrared interferometry, and X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy, all at a level that bridges the gap between the basic principles of optics and the subject's abundant specialist literature. Color versions of figures and solutions to selected problems are available online at www. cambridge. org/9780521762298.
Measuring Up: A History of Living Standards in Mexico, 1850-1950
by Moramay Lopez-AlonsoMeasuring Uptraces the high levels of poverty and inequality that Mexico faced in the mid-twentieth century. Using newly developed multidisciplinary techniques, the book provides a perspective on living standards in Mexico prior to the first measurement of income distribution in 1957. By offering an account of material living conditions and their repercussions on biological standards of living between 1850 and 1950, it sheds new light on the life of the marginalized during this period. Measuring Upshows that new methodologies allow us to examine the history of individuals who were not integrated into the formal economy. Using anthropometric history techniques, the book assesses how a large portion of the population was affected by piecemeal policies and flaws in the process of economic modernization and growth. It contributes to our understanding of the origins of poverty and inequality, and conveys a much-needed, long-term perspective on the living conditions of the Mexican working classes.
Measuring Up to the New York State Learning Standards and Success Strategies for the State Test: Science, Level H, Grade 8 (Measuring Up)
by Peoples Education Staff<p>Measuring Up to the New York State Learning Standards and Success Strategies for the State Test (Level H-Science). <p>This book is customized for New York and the lessons match the New York State Learning Standards. The Measuring Up program includes comprehensive worktexts and New York Diagnostic Practice Tests, which are available separately. <p>This worktext is customized to the New York Intermediate Science Core Curriculum and will help you prepare for the New York State Evaluation Test in Science for Grade 8.</p>
Measuring Up to the New York State Learning Standards and Success Strategies for the State Test (Science Level D)
by Peoples Publishing GroupMeasuring Up worktexts maximize instruction time with 100 percent customization to the NYS Learning Standards. Lessons contain guided instruction and many application activities.
Measuring Up to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (Level D Science)
by Editors at the Peoples EducationTexas 4th Grade Science Test Prep
Measuring Welfare beyond Economics: The genuine progress of Hong Kong and Singapore (Routledge Studies in Sustainable Development)
by Claudio O. Delang Yi Hang YuDissatisfaction with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as an indicator of a country’s development or a population’s wellbeing led to the development of the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI). The GPI is an aggregate index of over 20 economic, social and environmental indicators, and accounts for both the welfare benefits of economic growth, and the social and environmental costs which accompany that economic growth. The result is better information about the level of welfare or well-being of a country’s population. This book measures the GPI of Hong Kong and Singapore from 1968 to 2010. It finds that for both countries, economic output (as measured by the GDP) has grown more than welfare (as measured by the GPI), but important differences are also found. In Hong Kong, the GPI has grown for the whole period under consideration, while in Singapore the GPI has stalled from 1993. This is in line with most countries and is explained by the "threshold hypothesis" which states that beyond a certain level of economic development the benefits of further economic growth are outweighed by even higher environmental and social costs. The book argues that the growth of Hong Kong’s GPI is due to its favourable relationship with China and in particular its ability to export low-wage jobs and polluting industries, rather than successful domestic policies. A stalling or shrinking GPI calls for alternative policies than the growth economy promoted by neoclassical economists, and the book explores an alternative model, that of the Steady State Economy (SSE).
Measuring Wellbeing: Towards Sustainability?
by Karen ScottImproving wellbeing and sustainability are central goals of government, but are they in conflict? This engaging new book reviews that question and its implications for public policy through a focus on indicators. It highlights tensions on the one hand between various constructs of wellbeing and sustainable development, and on the other between current individual and societal notions of wellbeing. It recommends a clearer conceptual framework for policy makers regarding different wellbeing constructs which would facilitate more transparent discussions. Arguing against a win-win scenario of wellbeing and sustainability, it advocates an approach based on recognising and valuing conflicting views where notions of participation and power are central to discussions. Measuring Wellbeing is divided into two parts. The first part provides a critical review of the field, drawing widely on international research but contextualised within recent UK wellbeing policy discourses. The second part embeds the theory in a case study based on the author’s own experience of trying to develop quality of life indicators within a local authority, against the backdrop of increasing national policy interest in measuring ‘happiness’. This accessible and informative book, covering uniquely both practice and theory, will be of great appeal to students, academics and policy makers interested in wellbeing, sustainable development, indicators, public policy, community participation, power and discourse.
Measuring Workplace Performance
by Michael J. O'NeillMost Fortune 1000 companies still struggle with workspace planning and design issues. They invest millions of dollars each year with the expectation that new buildings and major renovations will help transform their culture, support innovation, strengthen desired behaviors and increase organizational effectiveness. Providing a biological framework, this book explores how the design of the work environment can be used as a tool to further business goals as well as improve individual and group performance. The second edition of a bestseller, the book includes many new case studies with Fortune 1000 companies. It features a new section on Six Sigma measurement methods for assessing office workspace effectiveness. The Case Studies demonstrate how office workspace design affects employee performance, and how to use this information to optimize workplace design for individuals and groups. It focuses on the emergence and application of Six-Sigma quality principles and methods in the evaluation and improvement of workspaces.
The Meat Business: Devouring a Hungry Planet (Routledge Library Editions: Food Supply and Policy)
by Geoff Tansey Joyce D'SilvaOriginally published in 1999. The theme running through this collection of essays is that food quality and human health, the welfare of animals and the methods of farming, and the quality of the environment, go hand-in-hand. This theme continues along the lines that the present system is harmful to them all and to our ability to generate enough good food for the whole world. The contributors to the volume offer alternatives - for more humane and moderate methods of farming which produce enough nourishing food without damaging the environment it depends on.
Meat Less: The Next Food Revolution (Copernicus Books)
by David Julian McClementsReducing the amount of meat in our diet would have major environmental benefits, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, deforestation, and biodiversity loss. Moreover, it would have wide-ranging ethical benefits by decreasing the huge number of livestock animals confined and killed each year for food. For consumers, there may also be health benefits from a meat-less diet, provided it was carefully planned. Advances in modern science and technology, including plant-based, microbial, lab-grown, and insect meats, are revolutionizing the food industry and making it easier for consumers worldwide to maintain a meat-less diet. In Meat Less: The Next Food Revolution I outline my own journey as a food scientist who became a vegetarian in solidarity with my daughter. In writing this book I take the viewpoint that there are no easy answers and that everyone must make the decision to eat meat or not based on their own values. The first chapters examine the impact of meat consumption on the environment, human health, and animal welfare, including the important questions of how much does eating meat really contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and biodiversity loss, what are the ethical implications of raising and killing animals for food, and the impact of reducing meat consumption on human nutrition and health. I then discuss some of the new technologies that are being developed to create alternatives to meat, including plant-based meat, cultured (lab-grown) meat, microbial meat, and insect meat. I present the science behind these new technologies and their potential for making a difference to climate change and human health. In the final chapter, I discuss why I remain a vegetarian and have decided to dedicate the rest of my scientific career to finding sustainable and healthy alternatives to meat, presenting my vision of the human diet in 2050.
Meat Science
by Paul WarrissOutlining the core principles of the subject, this introductory-level textbook covers the production of meat, its structure and chemical composition, meat quality and hygiene, and animal welfare, handling and slaughter. The new edition has been updated to cover significant advances such as the process of conditioning, leading to the tenderisation of meat, and the new coverage of the use of molecular genetic techniques to try to select animals for improved meat quality. Key Features New larger format in two colours throughout Fully revised and updated including new coverage of genomics Carefully selected references and titles for further reading
Meccanica Analitica: Meccanica Classica, Meccanica Lagrangiana e Hamiltoniana e Teoria della Stabilità (UNITEXT #122)
by Valter MorettiIl testo parte da una rivisitazione teorica della meccanica classica newtoniana e del suo linguaggio matematico che si conclude con un'analisi critica della meccanica classica newtoniana. Si passa quindi alle formulazioni lagrangiane e hamiltoniane della meccanica classica, discutendo in particolare il rapporto tra simmetrie e costanti del moto all'interno di varie versioni del teorema di Noether e analoghi risultati. I capitoli sulla meccanica hamiltoniana, oltre al materiale standard come le parentesi di Poisson, la geometria simplettica, la formulazione di Hamilton-Jacobi e principi variazionali, includono alcuni risultati teorici importanti come il teorema di Liouville e il teorema di ricorrenza di Poincaré. La teoria della stabilità è introdotta e discussa nell'approccio di Liapunov. Il linguaggio adottato in tutto il testo è quello della geometria differenziale, che in ogni caso viene introdotta gradualmente. Un complemento finale include la teoria di base dei sistemi di equazioni differenziali ordinarie e dei sistemi con alcune generalizzazioni alla teoria sulle varietà. Diverse appendici introducono alcuni strumenti matematici come la teoria delle forme differenziali, la derivata di Lie e la teoria dell'integrazione su varietà. Il libro include diversi esercizi risolti.Il libro si rivolge agli studenti di Matematica e Fisica per i corsi di Meccanica Razionale e Meccanica Analitica.