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Critical Infrastructures: Transportation by Road and Rail (Topics in Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality #31)
by Bogdan I. Vamanu Adrian V. Gheorghe Polinpapilinho F. KatinaThis book addresses a key issue in today's society: the safer transport of dangerous goods, taking into account people, the environment and economics. In particular, it offers a potential approach to identifying the issues, developing the models, providing the methods and recommending the tools to address the risks and vulnerabilities involved. We believe this can only be achieved by assessing those risks in a comprehensive, quantifiable and integrated manner. Examining both rail and road transportation, the book is divided into three sections, covering: the mature and accepted (by both academia and practitioners) methodology of risk assessment; the vulnerability assessment - a novel approach proposed as a vital complement to risk; guidance and support to build the tools that make methods and equations to yield: the Decision Support Systems. Throughout the book, the authors do not endeavor to provide THE solution. Instead, the book offers insightful food for thought for students, researchers, practitioners and policymakers alike.
Critical Infrastructures, Key Resources, Key Assets: Risk, Vulnerability, Resilience, Fragility, and Perception Governance (Topics in Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality #34)
by Adrian V. Gheorghe Polinpapilinho F. Katina Dan V. Vamanu Roland PulferIn the face of increasing failures, comments attributed to Albert Einstein loom large: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. " There is a pervasive feeling that any attempt to make sense of the current terrain of complex systems must involve thinking outside the box and originating unconventional approaches that integrate organizational, managerial, social, political, cultural, and human aspects and their interactions. This textbook offers research-based models and tools for diagnosing and predicting the behavior of complex techno-socio-economic systems in the domain of critical infrastructures, key resources, key assets and the open bazaar of space, undersea, and below-ground systems. These models exemplify emblematic models in physics, within which the critical infrastructures, as well as society itself and its paraphernalia, share the profile of many-body systems featuring cooperative phenomena and phase transitions - the latter usually felt as disruptive occurrences. The book and its models focus on the analytics of real-life-business actors, including policy-makers, financiers and insurers, industry managers, and emergency responders.
Critical Infrastructures Resilience: Policy and Engineering Principles
by Auroop Ratan Ganguly Udit Bhatia Stephen E. FlynnThis text offers comprehensive and principled, yet practical, guidelines to critical infrastructures resilience. Extreme events and stresses, including those that may be unprecedented but are no longer surprising, have disproportionate effects on critical infrastructures and hence on communities, cities, and megaregions. Critical infrastructures include buildings and bridges, dams, levees, and sea walls, as well as power plants and chemical factories, besides lifeline networks such as multimodal transportation, power grids, communication, and water or wastewater. The growing interconnectedness of natural-built-human systems causes cascading infrastructure failures and necessitates simultaneous recovery. This text explores the new paradigm centered on the concept of resilience by approaching the challenges posed by globalization, climate change, and growing urbanization on critical infrastructures and key resources through the combination of policy and engineering perspectives. It identifies solutions that are scientifically credible, data driven, and sound in engineering principles while concurrently informed by and supportive of social and policy imperatives. Critical Infrastructures Resilience will be of interest to students of engineering and policy.
Critical Insights on Colonial Modes of Seeing Cattle in India: Tracing the Pre-history of Green and White Revolutions (Asia in Transition #27)
by Himanshu UpadhyayaThis book traces the contours of the symbiotic relationship between crop cultivation and cattle rearing in India by reading against the grain of several official accounts from the late colonial period to the 1980s. It also skillfully unpacks the multiple cultural expressions that revolve around cattle in India and the wider subcontinent to show how this domestic animal has greatly impacted political discourses in South Asia from colonial times, into the postcolonial period. The author begins by demonstrating the dependence between the nomadic cattle breeder and the settled cultivator, at the nexus of land-livestock-agriculture, as indicated in the writings of Sir Albert Howard, who espoused some of the most sophisticated ideas on integration, holism, and mixed farming in an era when agricultural research was marked by increasing specialisation and compartmentalisation. The book springboards with the views of colonial experts who worked at imperial science institutions but passionately voiced dissenting opinions due to their emotional investment in the lives of Indian peasants, of whom Howard was a leading light. The book presents Howard and his contemporaries’ writings to then engage contemporary debates surrounding organic agriculture and climate change, tracing the path out of the treadmill of industrial agriculture and factory farming. In doing so, the book shows how, historically, animal rearing has been critically linked to livelihood strategies in the Indian subcontinent. At once a dispassionate reflection on the role played by cattle and water buffaloes in not just supporting farm operations in the agro-pastoral landscape, but also in contributing to millions of livelihoods in sustainable ways while fulfilling the animal protein in the Indian diet, the book presents contemporary lessons on development perspectives relating to sustainable and holistic agriculture. A rich and sweeping treatment of this aspect of environmental history in India that tackles the transformations prompted by the arrival of veterinary medicine, veterinary education and notions of scientific livestock management, the book is a rare read for historians, environmentalists, agriculturalists, development practitioners, and animal studies scholars with a particular interest in South Asia.
Critical Learning in Digital Networks (Research in Networked Learning)
by Petar Jandrić Damir BorasThis ambitious multidisciplinary volume assembles diverse critical-theory approaches to the current and future states of networked learning. Expert contributors expand upon the existing literature by analyzing the ethical aspects of networked learning and the ongoing need for more open, inclusive, and socially engaged educational practice. Chapters explore in depth evolving concepts of real and virtual, the processes of learning in, against, and beyond the internet, and the role of critical pedagogy in improving social conditions. In all, coverage is both realistic and positive about the potential of digital technologies in higher education as well as social and academic challenges on the horizon. Included among the topics: Counting on use of technology to enhance learning. Decentralized networked learning through online pre-publication. The reality of the online teacher. Moving from urban to virtual spaces and back. The project of a virtual emancipatory pedagogy. Using information technologies in the service of humanity. It is no longer a question of "Can technology enhance learning" it's a given that it does. Critical Learning in Digital Networks offers education researchers, teacher educators, instructional technologists, and instructional designers tools and methods for strengthening this increasingly vital interconnection.
Critical Mass: A Novel (A Delta-v Novel #2)
by Daniel SuarezIn New York Times bestselling author Daniel Suarez's latest space-tech thriller, a group of pioneering astropreneurs must overcome never-before-attempted engineering challenges to rescue colleagues stranded at a distant asteroid—kicking off a new space race in which Earth's climate crisis could well hang in the balance. When unforeseen circumstances during an innovative—and unsanctioned—commercial asteroid-mining mission leave two crew members stranded, those who make it back must engineer a rescue, all while navigating a shifting web of global political alliances and renewed Cold War tensions. With Earth governments consumed by the ravages of climate change and unable to take the risks necessary to make rapid progress in space, the crew must build their own nextgen spacecraft capable of mounting a rescue in time for the asteroid's next swing by Earth. In the process they'll need to establish the first spin-gravity station in deep space, the first orbiting solar power satellite and refinery, and historic infrastructure on the moon's surface—all of which could alleviate a deepening ecological, political, and economic crisis back on Earth, and prove that space-based industry is not only profitable, but possibly humanity's best hope for a livable, peaceful future.
Critical Materials and Sustainability Transition
by Arda Işıldar Eric D. van Hullebusch Donald HuisinghCritical minerals play a vital role in the ongoing energy transition, which aims to shift global energy systems towards more sustainable and low-carbon alternatives. These minerals, also known as critical minerals, are essential components in various clean energy technologies such as wind turbines, solar panels, electric vehicles, and energy storage systems. They possess unique properties that enable efficient energy generation, storage, and transmission. For instance, neodymium, a rare earth element, is crucial for the production of high-performance magnets used in wind turbines and electric motors. Lithium, another critical mineral, is a key component in rechargeable batteries powering electric vehicles and energy storage solutions. As the demand for clean energy technologies continues to rise, securing a sustainable and reliable supply of critical minerals becomes increasingly important to support the global energy transition and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. In this book, we investigate various aspects of critical mineral governance in the context of sustainability transition. We give perspectives around the critical metal requirements of sustainability transition in a forward-looking manner. We discuss the answers to the following questions: What role do the critical raw materials play in the transition to a sustainable economy and energy systems transformation? What are the bottlenecks in achieving a sustainable critical material supply? How do the critical minerals enable renewable energy transition and sustainable development? What is their role in the sustainability transition? How is mineral criticality assessed? And how critical are minerals? What are some regional differences in terms of critical mineral availability, processing capacity, and the supply chain? What strategy should be followed in deciding between primary raw materials and secondary raw materials in supplying critical raw materials for the transition to a sustainable economy? What is the (known) critical material budget, and how does it fit with the climate pledges? The authors of the chapters of this book take a multi-perspective approach and provide insights from industrial ecology, environmental engineering, and sustainable management of natural resources. The information provided will help readers to understand critical metal requirements of present and future key technologies and will help societies to develop and implement sustainable supply strategies.
Critical Needs For Research In Veterinary Science
by Committee on the National Needs for Research in Veterinary ScienceResearch in veterinary science is critical for the health and well-being of animals, including humans. Food safety, emerging infectious diseases, the development of new therapies, and the possibility of bioterrorism are examples of issues addressed by veterinary science that have an impact on both human and animal health. However, there is a lack of scientists engaged in veterinary research. Too few veterinarians pursue research careers, and there is a shortage of facilities and funding for conducting research. This report identifies questions and issues that veterinary research can help to address, and discusses the scientific expertise and infrastructure needed to meet the most critical research needs. The report finds that there is an urgent need to provide adequate resources for investigators, training programs, and facilities involved in veterinary research.
Critical Perspectives on Open Development: Empirical Interrogation of Theory Construction (International Development Research Centre)
by Arul Chib, Caitlin M. Bentley, and Matthew L. SmithTheoretical and empirical analyses of whether open innovations in international development instrumentally advantages poor and marginalized populations.Over the last ten years, "open" innovations--the sharing of information without access restrictions or cost--have emerged within international development. But do these practices instrumentally advantage poor and marginalized populations? This book examines whether, for whom, and under what circumstances the free, networked, public sharing of information and communication resources contributes (or not) towards a process of positive social transformation. The contributors offer both theoretical and empirical analyses that cover a broad range of applications, emphasizing the underlying aspects of open innovations that are shared across contexts and domains.
Critical Perspectives on Technology and Education
by Scott Bulfin Nicola F. Johnson Chris BigumThis book offers critical readings of issues in education and technology and demonstrates how researchers can use critical perspectives from sociology, digital media, cultural studies, and other fields to broaden the "ed-tech" research imagination, open up new topics, ask new questions, develop theory, and articulate an agenda for informed action.
Critical Point (Cas Russell #3)
by S. L. HuangS. L. Huang's Critical Point is a breakout SF thriller for fans of John Scalzi and Greg Rucka.Math-genius mercenary Cas Russell has stopped a shadow organization from brainwashing the world and discovered her past was deliberately erased and her superhuman abilities deliberately created. And that's just the start: when a demolitions expert targets Cas and her friends, and the hidden conspiracy behind Cas's past starts to reappear, the past, present, and future collide in a race to save one of her dearest friends.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Critical Reflection for Transformative Learning: Understanding e-Portfolios in Teacher Education
by Katrina LiuThis book provides a research-based guide to using ePortfolios to develop critically reflective teachers capable of transformative learning for educational equity. It begins with a conceptualization of critical reflection in teacher education, then analyzes the social discourse of prospective teachers' teaching practice through their ePortfolio reflections, triangulated by classroom teaching observations and interviews. The results of the research show that prospective teachers’ reflections are performative and do not typically trigger transformative learning, in large part because of discrepancies in the structures of the ePortfolio, the goals of the teacher education program, and the mentoring and supervisory practices. With this analysis in hand, the book turns to practical questions, providing a transformative framework along with examples and tips for teacher educators to use the author’s methods to understand and analyze prospective teachers’ reflection and support their transformative learning.
Critical Reflections on Career Education and Guidance: Promoting Social Justice within a Global Economy
by Barrie A. Irving Beatriz MalikFirst Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Critical Reflections on ICT and Education: Selected Papers from the HKAECT 2023 International Conference (Educational Communications and Technology Yearbook)
by Anna Wing Bo TSO Wendy Wing Lam CHAN Steven Kwan Keung NG Tiffany Shurui Bai Noble Po Kan LOThis book includes selected papers from the Hong Kong Association for Educational Communications and Technology (HKAECT) 2023 International Conference. It provides readers with a collection of insightful chapters which delves into the realms of data visualization, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR). It also reflects on the dynamic shifts in online learning, blended learning, and self-directed learning. Part one of the volume includes case studies and examples of the integration of advanced technologies, such as data visualization, generative AI, and mixed reality in education. Part two shares experiences and observations from educators who embrace online learning, blended learning, and independent learning. Part three investigates the influences digital education has on learning, teaching, and society as a whole. The book paves a path for thought-provoking discussions on the future of education in a digitally connected world. It is a vital resource for educators, administrators, policymakers, and learners seeking to navigate and thrive in the rapidly evolving world of digital education.
Critical Regimes of Two-Phase Flows with a Polydisperse Solid Phase (Fluid Mechanics and Its Applications #93)
by Eugene BarskyCritical regimes of two-phase flows with a polydisperse solid phase form the basis of such widespread industrial processes as separation of various powdery materials and minerals dressing. It is impossible to describe such complicated flows analytically. Therefore, this study concentrates on invariants experimentally revealed and theoretically grounded for such flows. This approach can be compared with the situation in gases, where in order to determine principal parameters of their state, one does not need to measure the kinetic energy and velocity of each molecule and find its contribution to the temperature and pressure. These parameters are determined in a simple way for the system on the whole. A novel conception of two-phase flows allowing the formulation of their statistical parameters is physically substantiated. On the basis of the invariants and these parameters, a comprehensive method of estimating and predicting mass transfer in such flows is developed. It is noteworthy that the presented results are mostly phenomenological. Such an approach can be successfully extended to the separation of liquids, gases and isotopes. The book is intended for students and specialists engaged in chemical technology, mineral dressing, ceramics, microelectronics, pharmacology, power generation, thermal engineering and other fields in which flows carrying solid particles are used in the technological process.
Critical Risks of Different Economic Sectors: Based on the Analysis of More Than 500 Incidents, Accidents and Disasters
by Didier Sornette Dmitry ChernovThis book explores the major differences between the kinds of risk encountered in different sectors of industry - production (including agriculture) and services - and identifies the main features of accidents within different industries. Because of these differences, unique risk-mitigation measures will need to be implemented in one industry that cannot be implemented in another, leading to large managerial differences between these broad economic sectors. Based on the analysis of more than 500 disasters, accidents and incidents - around 230 cases from the production sector and around 280 cases from the service sector - the authors compare the risk response actions appropriate within different sectors, and establish when and how it is possible to generalize the experience of dealing with risks in any given industry to a wider field of economic activity. This book is mainly intended for executives, strategists, senior risk managers of enterprise-wide organizations and risk management experts engaged in academic or consulting work. By setting out clearly the sector differences in risk management, the authors aim to improve the practice of general risk assessment with regard to identifying and prioritizing risks, and of risk control with regard to planning appropriate mitigation measures.
Critical Space Infrastructures: Risk, Resilience and Complexity (Topics in Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality #36)
by Alexandru Georgescu Adrian V. Gheorghe Marius-Ioan Piso Polinpapilinho F. KatinaThis book introduces readers to the topical area of CSI: critical space infrastructure, which is defined as an emerging domain of systems-of-systems encompassing hardware, workforce, environment, facilities, business and organizational entities. Further, it includes unmanned air systems, satellites, rockets, space probes, and orbital stations, and involves multi-directional interactions essential for maintenance of vital societal functions (i.e., health, safety, economic and social well-being), the loss or disruption of which would have significant impact on virtually any nation. The topics covered include the main elements of CSI, CSI taxonomy, effects of CSI on other infrastructure systems, establishing quantitative and qualitative parameters, global and national effects of CSI failure, cascading disruptive phenomena, chilling effects in various fields, CSI protection, deliberate threats to space systems (e.g., electromagnetic pulse attacks), space governance, and a path forward for CSI research. Modern society is highly dependent on the continuous operation of critical infrastructure systems for the supply of crucial goods and services including, among others, the power supply, drinking water supply, and transportation systems; yet space systems – which are critical enablers for several commercial, scientific and military applications – are rarely discussed. This book addresses this gap.
Critical States at Phase Transitions of Pure Substances
by Beycan İbrahimoğlu Beycan Jr. İbrahimoğluThis book re-examines the conventional pressure-temperature phase diagrams of pure substances, taking into account a universally acknowledged, albeit often neglected, state of matter—the plasma phase. It argues that only the temperature component of the endpoint on the gas-liquid equilibrium curve is critical, not the pressure and volume, which themselves are the corresponding components of the critical temperature. The book features the compiled results of many recent experimental studies on the physical properties of benzene, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide, extracting the endpoints of the liquid-solid and solid-gas equilibria and yielding the real critical pressure and volume. These discoveries highlight the position of plasma on the phase diagram and the existence of the equilibrium ionization curve along with it. Detailed knowledge of the plasma state of matter is essential not only in many fields of physics and chemistry but in engineering and industrial applications as well. This book will easily benefit researchers, engineers, and instructors who routinely interact with phase diagrams.
Critical Steps: Managing What Must Go Right in High-Risk Operations
by Tony Muschara Ron Farris Jim MarinusCritical Steps happen every day at work and at home, purposefully. Work does not happen otherwise. If an operation has the capacity to do work, then it has the capacity to do harm. Work is energy directed by human beings to create value. But people are imperfect—we make mistakes, and sometimes we lose control of the work. Therefore, work is the use of force under conditions of uncertainty. A Critical Step is a human action that will trigger immediate, irreversible, and intolerable harm to an asset, if that action or a preceding action is performed improperly. Whether the human action involves clicking on a link attached to an e-mail message, walking down a flight of stairs with a newborn baby in arms, engaging the clutch on a gasoline-driven chain saw, or administering a medication to a patient in a hospital, these all satisfy the definition of what constitutes critical risks in our daily lives, professionally or personally. The overarching goal of managing Critical Steps is to maximize the success (safety, reliability, productivity, quality, profitability, etc.) of people’s performance in the workplace, to create value for the organization without losing control of built-in hazards necessary to create that value.
The Critical Success Factors of Green Supply Chain Management in Emerging Economies (EAI/Springer Innovations in Communication and Computing)
by Syed Abdul KhanThis book outlines the scope of sustainability and green practice in supply chain operations, which has continued to grow with a rapid speed. The book includes core aspects of sustainability and green supply chain management philosophy and practice, covering general concepts, principles, strategies and best practices, which not only protect socio-environmental sustainability, but spur economic growth. The book will aid practitioners in using sustainable supply chains to reduce cost and improve service, as well as keep up-to-date with different features of green supply chains and logistics in a global market. The book will also be a valuable resource for candidates undertaking certification examinations and students studying for degrees in related fields of sustainability and green supply chain management.
A Critical Survey of Biomineralization
by Jürgen EngelThis monograph provides a comprehensive and up-to-date approach on biomineralization. The topical focus of the book lies on the question of how matrix proteins and cells catalyze and regulate mineralization in organisms. Recent advances in the understanding of biomineralization help to better understand biomaterials, in particular their mechanical properties. The target audience primarily comprises practitioners and research experts in the field, but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students.
Critical Technology Accessibility
by National Research Council of the National AcademiesIn 2003, the Defense Intelligence Agency asked the NRC to form a standing committee to help develop study topics about technology warning. One issue that was identified was the growing dependence on foreign suppliers of critical technology as a result of the increase in globalization of economic activity. Two important questions emerged for study: what is the risk of denial of critical products from foreign sources and what must the United States do to assure access to future critical products and technologies? This report presents an assessment addressing those two questions. It also provides an analysis of a strategic approach to manage the consequences of this trend towards increased globalization. Finally, the report offers a set of recommendations to implement this strategy and to increase assurance of access to critical technologies.
Critical Technology Issues for School Leaders
by Dr Susan J. Brooks-YoungThis resource helps school leaders focus on critical technology leadership issues and practical solutions for integrating technology into any school, administration, or professional development program.
Critical Terms for Media Studies
by W. J. T. Mitchell Mark HansenCommunications, philosophy, film and video, digital culture: media studies straddles an astounding array of fields and disciplines and produces a vocabulary that is in equal parts rigorous and intuitive. Critical Terms for Media Studiesdefines, and at times, redefines, what this new and hybrid area aims to do, illuminating the key concepts behind its liveliest debates and most dynamic topics. Part of a larger conversation that engages culture, technology, and politics, this exciting collection of essays explores our most critical language for dealing with the qualities and modes of contemporary media. Edited by two outstanding scholars in the field, W.J.T. Mitchell and Mark B.N. Hansen, the volume features works by a team of distinguished contributors.
Critical Theory and the Thought of Andrew Feenberg
by Darrell P. Arnold Andreas MichelThis volume explores Andrew Feenberg's work in critical theory. Feenberg is considered one of the key 'second generation' critical theorists, with a keen interest in philosophy of technology. He has made a vital contribution to critical theory in ways that remain of interest given the pressing technological issues of our time. The authors of this book highlight not only the ways that Feenberg has begun to make good on what is often characterized as "the broken promise of critical theory" to address issues of technology, but also the continued importance of critical theory more generally, and of Feenberg's contributions to understanding this tradition.