text stringlengths 11 320k | source stringlengths 26 161 |
|---|---|
The Demon in the Freezer is a 2002 nonfiction book on the biological weapon agents smallpox and anthrax and how the American government develops defensive measures against them. It was written by journalist Richard Preston , also author of the best-selling book The Hot Zone (1994), about ebolavirus outbreaks in Africa and Reston, Virginia and the U.S. government's response to them. Preston decided to write the book following the 2001 anthrax attacks , discussing the two diseases together because both could be potential biological weapons. [ 1 ]
The book is primarily an account of the Smallpox Eradication Program (1967–1980), the ongoing belief of the U.S. government that smallpox is still a potential bioterrorism agent, and the controversy over whether or not the remaining samples of smallpox virus in Atlanta and Moscow (the "demon" in the freezer) should be finally destroyed. Many reviewers praised Preston's writing style, but some found the attempts to interweave the anthrax investigation with the smallpox material "klutzy" [ 2 ] and "disjointed". [ 3 ]
Most critics enjoyed Preston's storytelling techniques, often describing the book as suspenseful and frightening. Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times bragged that "this book will give you nightmares", deeming it engaging but also overly dramatic at times. [ 4 ] Publishers Weekly described it as scarier than any thriller . [ 5 ] Kirkus Reviews praised Preston's "steady, ominous voice". [ 6 ] Daniel Fierman, writing for Entertainment Weekly , called the book a "ripping real-life horror story." [ 2 ] Chip Walter of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette likened Preston's prose to telling scary stories over a campfire. [ 3 ] The Economist called the book "fascinating", "gripping", and "always entertaining", though it said Preston's attempts to add more details sometimes hurt pacing. [ 7 ] Kevin Shapiro of Commentary found it easy to read, and while he felt that the book was "formulaic", he considered it only a minor shortcoming. [ 8 ] In contrast, Bryan Appleyard of The Times characterized the book as style over substance, calling Preston a "master of...cinematic journalese ." [ 9 ]
Many reporters and writers criticized Preston's decision to discuss both smallpox and anthrax in the same book. Appleyard described the jumps between the two subjects as "sketchy" and "hugely irritating". [ 9 ] Fierman felt that the book's overarching narrative structure was "klutzy". [ 2 ] Walter called the book "disjointed", though he felt that was ultimately an minor issue. [ 3 ] Kakutani argued that cutting back and forth between accounts of the anthrax attacks and descriptions of smallpox was manipulative and constituted scaremongering . [ 4 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demon_in_the_Freezer |
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity ( TEEB ) was a study led by Pavan Sukhdev from 2007 to 2011. It is an international initiative to draw attention to the global economic benefits of biodiversity . Its objective is to highlight the growing cost of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation and to draw together expertise from the fields of science, economics and policy to enable practical actions. TEEB aims to assess, communicate and mainstream the urgency of actions through its five deliverables—D0: science and economic foundations, policy costs and costs of inaction, D1: policy opportunities for national and international policy-makers, D2: decision support for local administrators, D3: business risks, opportunities and metrics and D4: citizen and consumer ownership.
One motive for the study was to establish an objective global standard basis for natural capital accounting . Estimates establish the cost of biodiversity and ecosystem damage expected to cost 18% of global economic output by 2050 [ 1 ] and currently at over US$2T (for the largest 3000 companies according to Trucost ), [ 2 ] with some estimates as high as US$6T/year. [ 3 ] The World Bank in particular has led recent efforts to include the cost of biodiversity and climate harm in national accounts. [ 4 ]
Its sponsors declared TEEB to be a "major international initiative to draw attention to the global economic benefits of biodiversity, to highlight the growing costs of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, and to draw together expertise from the fields of science, economics and policy to enable practical actions moving forward." [ 5 ] In October 2010 it released its report "Mainstreaming the Economics of Nature: a synthesis of the approach, conclusions and recommendations of TEEB" [ 6 ] and launched the Bank of Natural Capital [ 7 ] to communicate its findings to the general public.
The TEEB study was launched by Germany and the European Commission in response to a proposal by the G8+5 Environment Ministers in Potsdam, Germany in 2007, to develop a global study on the economics of biodiversity loss. The second phase of the TEEB study is hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) with support from a number of organizations, including the European Commission, German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs .
Pavan Sukhdev, a senior banker from Deutsche Bank , and founder-director of the green accounting project GIST (Green Indian States Trust [ 8 ] ) in India. The TEEB Advisory Board includes experts from the fields of science and economics.
The TEEB Interim Report was released in May 2008 under Phase I. The report provided evidence for significant global and local economic losses and human welfare impacts due to the ongoing losses of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems . It focused largely on forests and looked at the extent of losses of natural capital taking place as a result of deforestation and degradation. TEEB estimates that this is US$2–4.5 trillion per year, every year.
Phase II of the study set out to expand on the work begun in Phase I. It was completed in 2010 and presented in Nagoya , Japan, at the 10th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in October 2010. The final volumes of TEEB are being published by Earthscan. [ 9 ] The first volume published in October 2010: The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity: Ecological and Economic Foundations. [ 10 ] The second, third and fourth volumes will be published over the course of 2011.
The world has already lost much of its biodiversity. [ 11 ] [ 12 ] TEEB indicates that pressure on commodity and food prices shows the consequences of this loss to society. TEEB recommends that urgent remedial action is essential because species loss and ecosystem degradation are inextricably linked to human well-being. Economic growth and the conversion of natural ecosystems to agricultural production are forecasted to continue, but TEEB feels that it is essential to ensure that such development takes proper account of the real value of natural ecosystems. This is central to both economic and environmental management .
The findings of TEEB (Interim Report) were largely in three areas—the economic size and welfare impact of losses of ecosystems and biodiversity, the strong links between biodiversity conservation and ecosystem health on the one hand and poverty elimination and the achievement of Millennium Development Goals on the other, and the ethical choices involved in selecting a social discount rate for discounting the benefits of ecosystems and biodiversity.
TEEB finds that sound ecosystem and biodiversity management, and the inclusion of natural capital in governmental and business accounting can start to redress inaction and reduce the cost of future losses.
TEEB Phase II, currently underway, takes an economic approach that is spatially specific and builds on knowledge of how ecosystems function and deliver services . It examines how ecosystems and their associated services are likely to respond to particular policy actions. A fundamental focus of TEEB is on developing an economic yardstick that is more effective than GDP for assessing the performance of an economy. TEEB recommends that national accounting systems need to be more inclusive in order to measure the significant human welfare benefits that ecosystems and biodiversity provide. Such systems can help policy makers adopt the right measures and design appropriate financing mechanisms for conservation.
In Phase II TEEB aims to:
TEEB's Climate Update stated that an agreement on funding for forests was a key priority for governments attending the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
An estimated 5 gigatonnes or 15% of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions are absorbed or 'sequestrated' by forests every year, making them the "mitigation engine" of the natural world.
TEEB finds that investing in ecosystem-based measures such as financing Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) can thus assist in combating climate change and can also be a key anti-poverty and adaptation measure.
The Update also underlines a 'Coral Reef Emergency' that is already here as a result of the current build-up of greenhouse gases. Scientists contributing to the TEEB process indicate that irreversible damage to coral reefs can occur at atmospheric CO 2 concentrations of over 350 parts per million (ppm). This is linked with rising temperatures and ocean acidification . Concentrations are above this threshold and rising. It raises concerns that stabilizing CO 2 levels at 450 ppm, or some 16% above the current levels, may condemn this critical, multibillion-dollar ecosystem to extinction and take with it the livelihoods of 500 million people within a matter of decades.
The UNEP's green economy initiative is a project designed to communicate that the greening of economies is not a burden on growth but rather a new engine for growth, employment, and the reduction of persistent global poverty. The green economy report, published in February 2011, used economic analysis and modelling approaches to provide an in-depth assessment of identified economic sectors where "greening" might lead to prosperity and job creation (i.e. traditional economic growth). This promotes sectors regarded as necessary for a green economy such as: agriculture, buildings, cities, fishery, forests, industry, renewable energy , transport, tourism, waste management , and water as well as the enabling conditions in finance, domestic and international policy architecture.
The approach to valuing ecosystems encapsulated by the TEEB project has been criticized and is open to the same problems as affect all mainstream economic value theories. More specifically the argument is that prices need to be corrected for market failure and simple adjustments can be made to correct the price system so resources will be allocated efficiently. The basis for this recalculation is human preferences for nature, ecosystems, bugs and plants. One critique concerns the irrelevance of human preferences for determining what is ecologically essential for the maintenance of life support systems. Human preferences may be a good guide to choosing ice cream flavors but not the mix of species or gases in the atmosphere necessary to sustain life. [ 13 ]
Beyond criticism of the actual calculations being used in these TEEB studies and associated work there is the institutional implications. Pavan Sukdev argues for a financial and banking sector response which will 'capture values'. This basically means making profits for those prepared to develop and trade new financial instruments and fund financial initiatives which will trade biodiversity and ecosystem assets as new financial assets . This is seen by some as the hidden agenda of TEEB as it has been backed by financial interests including being headed by a former Deutsche Bank financier. Clive Spash refers to TEEB as "terrible economics, ecosystems and banking". [ 14 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economics_of_Ecosystems_and_Biodiversity |
The Einstein Theory of Relativity (1923) is a silent animated short film directed by Dave Fleischer and released by Fleischer Studios .
In August 1922, Scientific American published an article explaining their position that a silent film would be unsuccessful in presenting the theory of relativity to the general public, arguing that only as part of a broader educational package including lecture and text would such film be successful. Scientific American then went on to review frames from an unnamed German film reported to be financially successful.
Six months later, on February 8, 1923, the Fleischers released their relativity film, produced in collaboration with popular science journalist Garrett P. Serviss to accompany his book on the same topic. Two versions of the Fleischer film are reported to exist – a shorter two-reel (20 minute) edit intended for general theater audiences, and a longer five-reel (50 minute) version intended for educational use. [ 1 ]
The Fleischers lifted footage from the German predecessor, Die Grundlagen der Einsteinschen Relativitäts-Theorie , [ 2 ] directed by Hanns-Walter Kornblum, for inclusion into their film. Presented here are images from the Fleischer film and German film. If actual footage was not recycled into The Einstein Theory of Relativity , these images and text from the Scientific American article suggest that original visual elements from the German film were. [ 3 ]
This film , like much of the Fleischer's work, has fallen into the public domain . Unlike Fleischer Studio's Superman or Betty Boop cartoons, The Einstein Theory of Relativity has very few existing prints and is available in 16mm from only a few specialized film preservation organizations.
This article related to a short animated film is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Einstein_Theory_of_Relativity |
The Engine is a fictional device described in the 1726 satirical novel Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift . It is possibly the earliest known reference to a device in any way resembling a modern computer. [ 1 ]
The Engine is a device that generates permutations of word sets. It is found at the Academy of Projectors in Lagado and is described thus by Swift:
“... Every one knew how laborious the usual method is of attaining to arts and sciences; whereas, by his contrivance, the most ignorant person, at a reasonable charge, and with a little bodily labour, might write books in philosophy, poetry, politics, laws, mathematics, and theology, without the least assistance from genius or study.” He then led me to the frame, about the sides, whereof all his pupils stood in ranks. It was twenty feet square, placed in the middle of the room. The superfices was composed of several bits of wood, about the bigness of a die, but some larger than others. They were all linked together by slender wires. These bits of wood were covered, on every square, with paper pasted on them; and on these papers were written all the words of their language, in their several moods, tenses, and declensions; but without any order. The professor then desired me “to observe; for he was going to set his engine at work.” The pupils, at his command, took each of them hold of an iron handle, whereof there were forty fixed round the edges of the frame; and giving them a sudden turn, the whole disposition of the words was entirely changed. He then commanded six-and-thirty of the lads, to read the several lines softly, as they appeared upon the frame; and where they found three or four words together that might make part of a sentence, they dictated to the four remaining boys, who were scribes. This work was repeated three or four times, and at every turn, the engine was so contrived, that the words shifted into new places, as the square bits of wood moved upside down." [ 2 ]
That story is thought be a satire on medieval philosopher Ramon Llull . [ 3 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Engine |
The Equidistribution of Lattice Shapes of Rings of Integers of Cubic, Quartic, and Quintic Number Fields: An Artist's Rendering is a mathematics book by Piper Harron (also known as Piper H and Piper Harris), based on her Princeton University doctoral thesis of the same title. It has been described as "feminist", [ 1 ] "unique", [ 2 ] "honest", [ 2 ] "generous", [ 3 ] and "refreshing". [ 4 ]
Harron was advised by Fields Medalist Manjul Bhargava , and her thesis deals with the properties of number fields , specifically the shape of their rings of integers . [ 2 ] [ 5 ] Harron and Bhargava showed that, viewed as a lattice in real vector space , the ring of integers of a random number field does not have any special symmetries. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] Rather than simply presenting the proof , Harron intended for the thesis and book to explain both the mathematics and the process (and struggle) that was required to reach this result. [ 5 ]
The writing is accessible and informal, and the book features sections targeting three different audiences: laypeople, people with general mathematical knowledge, and experts in number theory . [ 1 ] Harron intentionally departs from the typical academic format as she is writing for a community of mathematicians who "do not feel that they are encouraged to be themselves". [ 1 ] Unusually for a mathematics thesis, Harron intersperses her rigorous analysis and proofs with cartoons, poetry, pop-culture references, and humorous diagrams. [ 2 ] Science writer Evelyn Lamb, in Scientific American , expresses admiration for Harron for explaining the process behind the mathematics in a way that is accessible to non-mathematicians, especially "because as a woman of color, she could pay a higher price for doing it." [ 4 ] Mathematician Philip Ording calls her approach to communicating mathematical abstractions "generous". [ 3 ]
Her thesis went viral in late 2015, especially within the mathematical community, in part because of the prologue which begins by stating that "respected research math is dominated by men of a certain attitude". [ 2 ] [ 4 ] Harron had left academia for several years, later saying that she found the atmosphere oppressive and herself miserable and verging on failure. [ 7 ] She returned determined that, even if she did not do math the "right way", she "could still contribute to the community". [ 7 ] Her prologue states that the community lacks diversity and discourages diversity of thought. [ 4 ] "It is not my place to make the system comfortable with itself", she concludes. [ 4 ]
A concise proof was published in Compositio Mathematica in 2016. [ 8 ]
Harron earned her doctorate from Princeton in 2016. [ 9 ] In the academic year 2023-2024 she was a teacher at Philips Exeter Academy . She has changed her name to Piper Harris. In 2017 in an American Mathematical Society blog she asked white cisgender men to leave their job, because they are "taking up room that should go to someone else". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Equidistribution_of_Lattice_Shapes_of_Rings_of_Integers_of_Cubic,_Quartic,_and_Quintic_Number_Fields |
The Extended Phenotype is a 1982 book by the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins , in which the author introduced a biological concept of the same name. The book's main idea is that phenotype should not be limited to biological processes such as protein biosynthesis or tissue growth, but extended to include all effects that a gene has on its environment, inside or outside the body of the individual organism.
Dawkins considers The Extended Phenotype to be a sequel to The Selfish Gene (1976) aimed at professional biologists, [ 1 ] and as his principal contribution to evolutionary theory . [ 2 ]
The central thesis of The Extended Phenotype, and of its predecessor by the same author, The Selfish Gene , is that individual organisms are not the true units of natural selection. Instead, the gene — or the 'active, germ-line replicator' — is the unit upon which the forces of evolutionary selection and adaptation act. It is genes that succeed or fail in evolution, meaning that they either succeed or fail in replicating themselves across multiple generations. [ 3 ]
These replicators are not subject to natural selection directly, but indirectly through their "phenotypical effects". These effects are all the effects that the gene (or replicator) has on the world at large, not just in the body of the organism in which it is contained. In taking as its starting point the gene as the unit of selection, The Extended Phenotype is a direct extension of Dawkins' first book, The Selfish Gene . [ 3 ]
Dawkins argues that the only thing that genes control directly is the synthesis of proteins ; restricting the idea of the phenotype to apply only to the phenotypic expression of an organism's genes in its own body is an arbitrary limitation that ignores the effect a gene may have on an organism's environment through that organism's behaviour.
Dawkins proposes there are three forms of extended phenotype. The first is the capacity of animals to modify their environment using architectural constructions , for which Dawkins provides as examples caddis houses and beaver dams .
The second form is manipulation of other organisms: The morphology of a living organism, and possibly of that organism's behaviour, may influence not just the fitness of the organism itself, but that of other living organisms as well. One example of this is parasite manipulation . This refers to the capacity, found in some parasite-host interactions, for the parasite to modify the behaviour of the host in a way that enhances the parasite's own fitness. One well-known example of this second type of extended phenotype is the suicidal drowning of crickets infected by hairworm , a behaviour that is essential to the parasite's reproductive cycle. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] Another example is seen in female mosquitoes carrying malaria parasites. The mosquitoes infected with the parasites whose preferred hosts are humans have been shown in a field experiment to be significantly more attracted to human breath and odours than uninfected mosquitoes when the parasites are at a point in their life cycle where they can infect a human target. [ 6 ]
The third form of extended phenotype is action at a distance of the parasite on its host. A common example is the manipulation of host behaviour by cuckoo chicks, which elicit intensive feeding by the host birds. Here the cuckoo does not interact directly with the host (which could be meadow pipits , dunnocks or reed warblers ). The relevant adaptation lies in the cuckoo producing eggs and chicks that resemble sufficiently those of the host species so that they are not immediately ejected from the nest. [ 7 ] These behavioural modifications are not physically associated with individuals of the host species but influence the expression of its behavioural phenotype. [ 8 ]
Dawkins summarizes these ideas in what he terms the Central Theorem of the Extended Phenotype:
Taking these three things together, we arrive at our own 'central theorem' of the extended phenotype: An animal's behaviour tends to maximize the survival of the genes "for" that behaviour, whether or not those genes happen to be in the body of the particular animal performing it. [ 2 ]
In developing this argument, Dawkins aims to strengthen the case for a gene-centric view of the evolution of life forms, to the point where it is recognized that the organism itself needs to be explained. This is the challenge which he takes up in the final chapter entitled "Rediscovering the Organism". The concept of extended phenotype has been generalized in an organism-centered view of evolution with the concept of niche construction , [ 9 ] in the case where natural selection pressures can be modified by the organisms during the evolutionary process. [ 10 ]
A technical review of The Extended Phenotype in the Quarterly Review of Biology states that, it is an "interesting and thought provoking book, once one gets to the last five chapters." In the reviewer's opinion, the book poses interesting questions, such as "What is the survival value of packaging life into discrete units called 'organisms' even though the units of selection appear to be individual 'replicators'?" The reviewer states that no "satisfactory answer is given" to this question in the book, though Dawkins suggests that replicators that "interact favorably to create 'vehicles' (organisms) may be at an advantage over those that do not (Chapter 14)." The reviewer takes issue with the first nine chapters as being essentially a defense of Dawkin's first book, The Selfish Gene . [ 3 ]
Another review in American Scientist praises the book for convincingly promoting the idea of replication as being central to the evolutionary process. However, in the reviewer's opinion, "its main theme - that the gene is the only unit of selection - results from incorrectly interpreting the constraints on organismal adaptation and from too narrow an interpretation of replication, a process of more general relevance than the author is willing to allow." [ 11 ]
The concept of extended phenotype has provided a useful frame for subsequent scientific work. For example, research into the relationship between "the bacterial flora of the gut and their mammalian hosts" which "has become a hot topic of late" makes use of this concept. [ 7 ]
Subsequent proponents expand the theory and posit that many organisms within an ecosystem can alter the selective pressures on all of them by modifying their environment in various ways. Dawkins himself asserted, "Extended phenotypes are worthy of the name only if they are candidate adaptations for the benefit of alleles responsible for variations in them". [ 12 ] As an illustration, one might ask: could an architect's buildings be considered part of his or her extended phenotype, much as a beaver's dam is part of its extended phenotype? Dawkins' answer is No: in humans, an "architect's specific alleles are neither more nor less likely to be selected based on the design of his or her latest building." [ 7 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Extended_Phenotype |
The Fall of the Angels is a Miltonesque epic poem by John William Polidori concerned with the creation of the world.
It was published anonymously in 1821 only months before Polidori's death. The only known contemporary review of the poem was a negative one, published on 5 May 1821. After Polidori's death, a version of the poem with his name on the title page was published. [ 1 ]
This article related to a poem from the UK or its predecessor states is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_of_the_Angels |
The False Subtlety of the Four Syllogistic Figures Proved ( German : Die falsche Spitzfindigkeit der vier syllogistischen Figuren erwiesen ) is an essay published by Immanuel Kant in 1762.
General conception of the Nature of Ratiocination [Vernunftschlüsse]
A judgment is the comparison of a subject or thing with a predicate or attribute [also called a "mark"]. The comparison is made by using the copula or linking verb "is" or its negative "is not." Therefore, a judgment is a declarative sentence , which is a categorical proposition . Example: The tiger is four-footed. A predicate can also have its own predicate. In the example, the predicate "four-footed" can, itself, have the further predicate "animal." One of these predicates is immediately and directly connected to the subject or thing. The other predicate is mediate and indirectly connected to the subject:
"The tiger
(Subject)
is
(Copula)
a four-footed
(Immediate Predicate)
animal."
(Mediate Predicate)
{"The tiger} is {a four-footed} animal."
(Subject) (Copula) {(Immediate Predicate)} {(Mediate Predicate)}
In order to have clear knowledge of the relation between a predicate and a subject, one can consider a predicate to be a mediate (or indirect [ mittelbares ]) predicate. Between this mediate predicate or attribute, an intermediate predicate can be placed. For example, in the judgment "the sun is luminous," a clarification is attempted by inserting the predicate "star," which then becomes an immediate predicate, intermediate between the subject "sun" and the mediate predicate "luminous":
Kant calls this process ratiocination . It is the comparison of a remote, mediate predicate with a subject through the use of an intermediate predicate. The intermediate predicate is called the middle term of a rational inference. The comparison of a subject with a remote, mediate predicate occurs through three judgments:
This can be stated as an affirmative ratiocination: Every star is luminous; the sun is a star; consequently the sun is luminous.
Note: Kant's examples utilized obscure subjects such as Soul , Spirit, and God and their supposed predicates. These do not facilitate easy comprehension because these subjects are not encountered in everyday experience and consequently their predicates are not evident.
Of the Supreme Rules of all Ratiocination
Kant declared that the primary, universal rule of all affirmative ratiocination is: A predicate of a predicate is a predicate of the subject .
The primary, universal rule of all negative ratiocination is: Whatever is inconsistent with the predicate of a subject is inconsistent with the subject.
Because proof is possible only through ratiocination, these rules can't be proved. Such a proof would assume the truth of these rules and would therefore be circular. However, it can be shown that these rules are the primary, universal rules of all ratiocination. This can be done by showing that other rules, that were thought to be primary, are based on these rules.
The dictum de omni is the highest principle of affirmative syllogisms . It says: Whatever is universally affirmed of a concept is also affirmed of everything contained under it. This is grounded on the rule of affirmative ratiocination. A concept that contains other concepts has been abstracted from them and is a predicate. Whatever belongs to this concept is a predicate of other predicates and therefore a predicate of the subject.
The dictum de nullo says: Whatever is denied of a concept is also denied of everything that is contained under it. The concept is a predicate that has been abstracted from the concepts that are contained under it. Whatever is inconsistent with this concept is inconsistent with the subject and therefore also with the predicates of the subject. This is based on the rule of negative ratiocination.
Of Pure and Mixed Ratiocination
If one judgment can be immediately discerned from another judgment without the use of a middle term, then the inference is not a ratiocination. A direct, non-ratiocinative inference would, for example, be: "from the proposition that all airplanes have wings, it immediately follows that whatever has no wings is not an airplane."
Pure ratiocination occurs by means of three propositions. Mixed ratiocination occurs by more than three propositions. A mixed ratiocination is still a single ratiocination. It is not compound, that is, consisting of several ratiocinations.
An example of a mixed ratiocination is:
A mixed ratiocination interposes an immediate inference , resulting in more than three propositions. However, a mixed ratiocination may show only three propositions if the fourth proposition is unspoken, unexpressed, and merely thought. For example, the ratiocination
is only valid if the fourth proposition Therefore, no man is immortal is covertly thought. This unspoken proposition should be inserted after the first proposition and is merely its negative converse.
In the so-called First Figure only Pure Ratiocinations are possible, in the remaining Figures only mixed Ratiocinations are possible.
A ratiocination is always in the first figure when it accords with the first rule of ratiocination: A predicate B of a predicate C of a subject A is a predicate of the subject A. This is a pure ratiocination. It has three propositions:
In the Second Figure only mixed Ratiocinations are possible.
The rule of the second figure is: Whatever is inconsistent with the predicate of a subject is inconsistent with the subject. This is a mixed ratiocination because an unexpressed proposition must be added in thought in order to arrive at the conclusion. If someone says,
Their inference is valid only if they silently interpose the immediate inference No C is B after the first premise. It is merely the negative converse of the first premise. Without it, the ratiocination is invalid.
In the Third Figure only mixed Ratiocinations are possible.
The rule of the third figure is: Whatever belongs to or contradicts a subject, also belongs to or contradicts some things that are contained under another predicate of this subject.
An example of a syllogism of the third figure is:
This validly follows only if an immediate inference is silently interpolated. The added inference is a conversion that uses the word "some" instead of "all."
In the Fourth Figure only mixed Ratiocinations are possible.
Kant claimed that the fourth figure is based on the insertion of several immediate inferences that each have no middle term. The affirmative mode of this fourth figure is not possible because a conclusion cannot be derived from the premises. The negative mode of this fourth figure is possible only if each premise is immediately followed by its unexpressed, unspoken converse as an immediate inference.
In order to be valid, the negative mode ratiocination:
must become:
The Logical Division of the Four Figures is a Mistaken Subtlety.
Legitimate conclusions can be drawn in all four figures. Only the first figure determines the conclusion by pure, unmixed reasoning. The other figures use unspoken, inserted inferences. Logic should consist of open, not covert, reasoning. It should be simple and unmixed, with no hidden inferences.
Previous logicians incorrectly considered all four figures as being simple and pure. The four figures were created by playfully changing the middle term's position. This retained the rational conclusion but increased obscurity. Time should not be wasted on the study of the three mixed ratiocinations.
Concluding Observation.
The first figure yields a correct inference in a simple, direct manner. The other figures yield a correct inference indirectly by the addition of hidden inferences. They can be changed into the simpler first figure by changing the position of the middle term.
Kant concluded the essay with several related remarks.
Distinct and complete concepts are only possible by means of judgments and ratiocinations. A distinct concept is one which is made clear by a judgment. This occurs when something is clearly recognized as a predicate of a subject. A complete concept is one which is made distinct by a ratiocination. The ratiocination can be simple or a chain of reasoning.
The ability to understand and the ability to reason are both based on the ability to judge. Understanding is the immediate recognition that something is a predicate of a subject. Reason is the ability to judge mediately (indirectly). It recognizes another predicate in the first predicate, thus conceiving a subject indirectly by means of a remote predicate.
Higher knowledge is based on judging. Framing a judgment is a reflection that results in a distinct concept. Non-human animals can have clear representations of things that are predicates of a subject. Humans can also have knowledge that a predicate is a predicate of a subject and are therefore able to make a judgment. Non-human animals can distinguish things from one another. The different ideas are the causes of their actions, which are irrational. Humans can logically distinguish between things by means of judgment. The higher knowledge of a human is based on the ability to make our own ideas the object of our thoughts.
All affirmative judgments are based on the principle of Identity. A subject is identical to its predicate. All negative judgments have the principle of Contradiction as their foundation. A subject is opposed to its predicate. Judgments in which identity or contradiction is mediately known, by means of intermediate predicates and by means of the analysis of concepts, are provable. Judgments in which identity or contradiction is immediately known cannot be proved (See Section II). These unprovable judgments precede definitions because one must recognize a subject's predicate before they can define the subject.
Kant summed up his thoughts on this topic in a short footnote that appeared in the second edition of the Critique of Pure Reason , B141. He had been discussing the definition of judgment in general. Logicians had usually defined it as a relation between two concepts. Kant disagreed because, he claimed, only categorical judgments are so defined. Hypothetical and disjunctive judgments are a relation between two judgments.
In his footnote, Kant asserted that the lengthy and detailed doctrine of the four syllogistic figures concerned only categorical syllogisms or inferences. He stated that this doctrine is only an artifice or trick for giving the appearance that there are three more kinds of inference or modes of drawing a conclusion than that of the first figure. This is done surreptitiously by secretly concealing immediate inferences [ 1 ] in the premises of a pure syllogism. The only reason that this was generally accepted, Kant remarked, was that the logicians had made people believe that all of the other kinds of judgments could be reduced to being categorical judgments. Kant claimed to have disproved this in his Critique, A 73. There he argued that a categorical judgment relates two concepts, whereas a hypothetical or disjunctive judgment relates two judgments. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_False_Subtlety_of_the_Four_Syllogistic_Figures |
The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms, with Observations on their Habits (sometimes shortened to Worms ) is an 1881 book by Charles Darwin on earthworms . [ 1 ] It was his last scientific book, and was published shortly before his death (see Darwin from Insectivorous Plants to Worms ). Exploring earthworm behaviour and ecology, it continued the theme common throughout his work that gradual changes over long periods of time can lead to large and sometimes surprising consequences. It was the first significant work on soil bioturbation , although that term was not used by Darwin (it first appeared in the soil and geomorphic literature one hundred years later).
After returning from the Beagle survey expedition in October 1836, Darwin was intensively occupied with further establishing his reputation as an innovative geologist, as well as finding suitable experts to describe his natural history collections and arranging for publication of their work as the multi-volume Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle . Near the outset of the voyage he had planned a book on geology, and during it extracts from his letters on geology had been privately published by his tutor John Stevens Henslow . Darwin now published papers on "proofs of recent elevation on the coast of Chili", "deposits containing extinct Mammalia" and "coral formations". He also rewrote his journal to incorporate observations from his notebooks as the book now called The Voyage of the Beagle , and began brain-storming in his notebooks about transmutation of species . [ 2 ]
Darwin's health suffered from the pressure of work, and on 20 September 1837 having been urged by his doctors "knock off all work" he visited his home in Shrewsbury then went on to stay with his relatives at Maer Hall , Staffordshire, home of his uncle Josiah Wedgwood . Uncle Jos pointed out an area of ground where lime and cinders spread years previously had vanished into the soil, forming layers under a top layer of loam . Jos suggested that this might have been the work of earthworms , but apparently thought that this would be of little interest to his nephew, who was working on continental scale geological problems. [ 3 ] Actually, Charles did find it interesting and throughout his life he sustained an interest in this "unsung creature which, in its untold millions, transformed the land as the coral polyps did the tropical sea".
He returned to London on October 21, and prepared a paper on worms forming mould. [ 4 ] The paper on the role of earthworms in soil formation was read out by Darwin at the Geological Society of London on 1 November 1837. [ 5 ] This was an uncommonly mundane subject for the society, and his peers may have hoped to hear of something more grandiose, even seeing this paper as highlighting Darwin's growing idiosyncrasies. [ 3 ] The leading geologist William Buckland subsequently recommended Darwin's paper for publication, praising it as "a new & important theory to explain Phenomena of universal occurrence on the surface of the Earth—in fact a new Geological Power", while rightly rejecting Darwin's suggestion that chalkland could have been formed in a similar way. [ 6 ]
The paper appeared in the Proceedings of the Geological Society of London in 1838, [ 5 ] and was published with a woodcut illustration in the Transactions of the Geological Society in 1840. [ 7 ]
From his brain-storming about transmutation towards the end of 1838, Darwin conceived of his theory of natural selection "by which to work", as his "prime hobby". His main work on the Beagle collections continued, and in 1842 he published the first of three volumes on geology, The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs . He then allowed himself to write out the first "pencil sketch" of his theory. Subsequently, in September 1842, the family moved to rural Down House where he had space for experimental plant and animal breeding, and surroundings to observe nature. [ 2 ] In December of that year he had a quantity of broken chalk spread over a part of a long established pasture field near the house, "for the sake of observing at some future period to what depth it would become buried." [ 8 ]
In 1872 he was having disagreements with St George Mivart about The Descent of Man . [ citation needed ] Darwin cut communication with Mivart [ citation needed ] and went the less controversial direction of the lowly worm. His network of correspondents and fans responded to his interest and "earthworm anecdotes began surfacing in his mountain of mail". He had been interested in earthworms "since his first fishing days at The Mount and flirting days at Maer". Still, other work constrained him. Broken off from Descent , he had to finish his next work The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals . [ 9 ]
By 1876, with his first grandson on the way, he felt his writing life was nearly over, with so much unfinished. He wanted to write on earthworms "before joining them", but also had two more plant books in mind, and a revision of Fertilisation of Orchids to work on. He also began an autobiographical work intended for his family's eyes only. [ 10 ] After turning away a request to support a controversial book on contraception ( Fruits of Philosophy ) – Darwin was opposed to it – he got back to work on flowers and worms. As with much of his geological and evolutionary work, worms were a case of gradual , barely noticeable changes accumulating over time into large effects. He even went on a two-hour excursion to Stonehenge to see how its monoliths had been buried by earthworm castings. [ 11 ]
He was occupied by worms at Downe in 1880, his work coming first. He had help from the family, even receiving soil samples from Abinger 's Roman ruins. [ 12 ] He told Vladimir Kovalevsky (his Russian translator) of slow progress with his new book. [ 13 ]
Darwin calculated that there were 53,767 earthworms recycling away per acre. He carried out experiments indoors, where they worked the earth inside pots in a worm-littered room. He experimented with stimuli at night: strong light would send them into their burrows ("like a rabbit" said Darwin's grandson Bernard), but heat and sound had no effect. Their food preferences were also tested, raw carrots being their favourite. [ 14 ]
Darwin was fascinated by their behaviour , from enjoying "the pleasure of eating" (based on their eagerness for certain foods) to their sexual passions , "strong enough to overcome... their dread of light", even to their social feelings ("crawling over each other's bodies"). [ 15 ] Their foraging was especially intriguing: they dragged leaves into their burrows, pulling them in the most efficient way, by their pointed end. On these semi-intelligent creatures Darwin wrote that they obtained a "notion, however rude, of the shape of an object", perhaps by feeling it out. Worms, "five or six feet" below the ground ploughed farmers fields. Darwin felt we "ought to be grateful" to these little recyclers, which he compared to "a man... born blind and deaf". He was wondering how long it would be until he would be consumed by worms himself [ citation needed ] . It would surely be his last major work; he told German translator Victor Carus "I have little strength & feel very old". [ 14 ]
By 1881 he was unable to summon the strength for revisions and handed Worms on to Frank . His health gave him troubles; he complained to his long-time friend Hooker that he looked forward to "Down graveyard as the sweetest place on earth." [ 16 ] Concerned about the book he had been anticipating for decades, he hurried his publisher John Murray to hasten publication of Worms even at the risk of not making a profit. [ 17 ]
At a dinner with Edward Aveling (soon the son-in-law of Karl Marx ) and other atheists , he was asked how he had turned to such an "insignificant" subject as worms, to which he replied "I have been studying their habits for forty years." As with his religious views , the old naturalist did not see things the same way as Aveling. In Darwin's view, the "insignificant" was the foundation of much greater phenomena. [ 18 ]
Worms are found in many places, from the forest floor to mountains, and in many locations around the world. Though they are considered terrestrial animals, they are really semi-aquatic, like other annelids ; they die quickly in air but survive for months in water. Though inactive during the day, they sometimes come out of their burrows at night. They are eaten by thrushes and other birds in large numbers because they lie close to the surface. They have well-developed muscular, nervous, circulatory and digestive systems, the latter being quite unique. Though eyeless, they respond to the intensity and duration of light. They also slowly respond to temperature. They have no hearing, but are sensitive to vibrations. Their sense of smell is feeble, but they are able to find their preferred foods. Omnivorous animals, they swallow much earth and extract food from it. Worms live chiefly on half decayed leaves , partially digested by a pancreatic solution before ingestion. This extra-stomachal digestion is not unlike that which Darwin had previously described as occurring in Insectivorous Plants . The structure and physiology of the calciferous glands of earthworms are described. Many hypotheses had been advanced for their function; Darwin believed them to be primarily for excretion and secondarily a digestion aid.
Thin leaves are seized with the mouth, while thick ones are dragged by creating a vacuum. Leaves and stones are used to plug up the burrow. This may deter predators, keep out water and/or keep out chilled air (the latter is Darwin's preferred function). Leaves are dragged in mostly by the tips, which is the easiest way of doing it, but when the base is narrower the worms change behaviour. They drag pine needle clusters in by the base. Petioles are used to plug up burrows, and for food. Worms drag experimental triangles of paper by the apex most of the time, and do not rely on trial and error . Worms excavate burrows by consuming material or, preferably, pushing it away. They mainly consume soil for nutrients. They are found down to six or more feet, especially in extreme conditions. Burrows are lined, which serve several functions, and terminate in a chamber lined with stones or seeds. Worms are found all over the planet, some on isolated islands; how they got there is a mystery. Darwin draws on correspondence with people from around the world such as Fritz Müller in Brazil.
The amount of earth brought to the surface by worms can be estimated by the rate at which objects on the surface are buried and by weighing the earth brought up in a given time. Information from farmers on marl, cinders etc. sinking into the ground allowed Darwin to make calculations. He conducted a 29-year experiment on chalk at a field near his house. Objects of all sorts "work themselves downards" as farmers say. Large stones sink because worms fill up any hollows with castings, then eject them beyond the perimeter and the ground around them starts to rise. He visited Stonehenge and found some outer stones partly buried, the turf sloping up to meet them (see figure 7). Darwin weighed castings and had friends do so in other countries. He also weighed castings per unit area per year, then worked out how thick a layer castings would make, compared with rates of sinking. Additionally, he worked out casting weight per worm per year.
Worms have preserved many ancient objects under the ground. Darwin describes an ancient Roman villa in Abinger , Surrey. Worms have penetrated the concrete walls and even mortar. Similar subsidence occurred at Beaulieu Abbey , Hampshire, with worms penetrating gaps between the tiles. His sons Francis and Horace visited Chedworth Roman Villa in Gloucestershire, while William reported on Brading Roman Villa , Isle of Wight. Darwin goes into some detail on the well preserved ruins of Silchester Roman Town , Hampshire, with the help of the Rev. J. G. Joyce. Finally he discusses the case of the Viroconium Roman town ruins at Wroxeter , Shropshire, with the help of Dr. H. Johnson, who made observations including depth of vegetable mould. He concludes that both worms and other causes, such as dust deposition and washing down of soil, have buried such ruins.
Denudation (removal of matter to a lower level) is caused mainly by air and water movement. Humic acids generated by worms disintegrate rock; their burrowing behaviour speeds this up. But as the soil layer thickens, this process is slowed down. Worms swallow hard objects (e.g. stones) to aid digestion, which causes attrition to such objects. This has geological significance, especially for the smaller particles which otherwise are eroded very slowly.
Rain causes castings to move down an incline; Darwin worked out the weight moving a certain distance in a given time. Some also roll down, and collect in drains etc., or get blown. There is a greater effect on casting movement in the tropics, because of increased rain. The finest earth is washed away. Ledges on hillsides, formerly believed to be caused by grazing mammals, are partly due to casting accumulations. High winds, especially gales, are almost as effective as the slope/rain in moving castings. Crowns and furrows of formerly ploughed lands slowly vanish when under pasture , due to worms, but more slowly when there is no incline. Fine earth is washed down from slopes, making a shallow layer. Dissolving of chalk supplies new earth.
Darwin writes in the conclusion that worms "have played a more important part in the history of the world than most persons would at first suppose." [ 19 ] They are important for many reasons, including their role in decomposition of rocks, gradual denudation of the land, preservation of archaeological remains, and improving soil conditions for plant growth. Despite their rudimentary sense organs, they show complex, flexible behaviour.
Worms became available in October 1881 and sold thousands of copies in its first few weeks, despite Darwin's comment to Carus that it was "a small book of little moment". [ 15 ] Darwin received a "laughable" number of letters containing questions, observations and ideas, even "idiotic" ones. A week's holiday with Emma in Cambridge was to follow. Darwin died the next year on 19 April 1882. [ 20 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Formation_of_Vegetable_Mould_Through_the_Action_of_Worms |
The Foundations of Arithmetic ( German : Die Grundlagen der Arithmetik ) is a book by Gottlob Frege , published in 1884, which investigates the philosophical foundations of arithmetic . Frege refutes other idealist and materialist theories of number and develops his own platonist theory of numbers. The Grundlagen also helped to motivate Frege's later works in logicism .
The book was also seminal in the philosophy of language . Michael Dummett traces the linguistic turn to Frege's Grundlagen and his context principle .
The book was not well received and was not read widely when it was published. It did, however, draw the attentions of Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein , who were both heavily influenced by Frege's philosophy. An English translation was published (Oxford, 1950) by J. L. Austin , with a second edition in 1960. [ 1 ]
In order to answer a Kantian question about numbers , "How are numbers given to us, granted that we have no idea or intuition of them?" Frege invokes his " context principle ", stated at the beginning of the book, that only in the context of a proposition do words have meaning, and thus finds the solution to be in defining "the sense of a proposition in which a number word occurs." Thus an ontological and epistemological problem, traditionally solved along idealist lines, is instead solved along linguistic ones.
Frege objects to any account of mathematics based on psychologism , that is, the view that mathematics and numbers are relative to the subjective thoughts of the people who think of them. According to Frege, psychological accounts appeal to what is subjective, while mathematics is purely objective : mathematics is completely independent from human thought. Mathematical entities, according to Frege, have objective properties regardless of humans thinking of them: it is not possible to think of mathematical statements as something that evolved naturally through human history and evolution . He sees a fundamental distinction between logic (and its extension, according to Frege, math) and psychology. Logic explains necessary facts, whereas psychology studies certain thought processes in individual minds. [ 2 ] Ideas are private, so idealism about mathematics implies there is "my two" and "your two" rather than simply the number two.
Frege greatly appreciates the work of Immanuel Kant . However, he criticizes him mainly on the grounds that numerical statements are not synthetic - a priori , but rather analytic-a priori. [ 3 ] Kant claims that 7+5=12 is an unprovable synthetic statement. [ 4 ] No matter how much we analyze the idea of 7+5 we will not find there the idea of 12. We must arrive at the idea of 12 by application to objects in the intuition. Kant points out that this becomes all the more clear with bigger numbers. Frege, on this point precisely, argues towards the opposite direction. Kant wrongly assumes that in a proposition containing "big" numbers we must count points or some such thing to assert their truth value . Frege argues that without ever having any intuition toward any of the numbers in the following equation: 654,768+436,382=1,091,150 we nevertheless can assert it is true. This is provided as evidence that such a proposition is analytic. While Frege agrees that geometry is indeed synthetic a priori, arithmetic must be analytic. [ 5 ]
Frege roundly criticizes the empiricism of John Stuart Mill . [ 6 ] [ 7 ] He claims that Mill's idea that numbers correspond to the various ways of splitting collections of objects into subcollections is inconsistent with confidence in calculations involving large numbers. [ 8 ] [ 9 ] He further quips, "thank goodness everything is not nailed down!" Frege also denies that Mill's philosophy deals adequately with the concept of zero . [ 10 ]
He goes on to argue that the operation of addition cannot be understood as referring to physical quantities, and that Mill's confusion on this point is a symptom of a larger problem of confounding the applications of arithmetic with arithmetic itself.
Frege uses the example of a deck of cards to show numbers do not inhere in objects. Asking "how many" is nonsense without the further clarification of cards or suits or what, showing numbers belong to concepts, not to objects.
The book contains Frege's famous anti- structuralist Julius Caesar problem. Frege contends a proper theory of mathematics would explain why Julius Caesar is not a number. [ 11 ] [ 12 ]
Frege makes a distinction between particular numerical statements such as 1+1=2, and general statements such as a+b=b+a. The latter are statements true of numbers just as well as the former. Therefore, it is necessary to ask for a definition of the concept of number itself.
Frege investigates the possibility that number is determined in external things. He demonstrates how numbers function in natural language just as adjectives. "This desk has 5 drawers" is similar in form to "This desk has green drawers". The drawers being green is an objective fact, grounded in the external world. But this is not the case with 5. Frege argues that each drawer is on its own green, but not every drawer is 5. [ 13 ] Frege urges us to remember that from this it does not follow that numbers may be subjective. Indeed, numbers are similar to colors at least in that both are wholly objective.
Frege tells us that we can convert number statements where number words appear adjectivally (e.g., 'there are four horses') into statements where number terms appear as singular terms ('the number of horses is four'). [ 14 ] Frege recommends such translations because he takes numbers to be objects. It makes no sense to ask whether any objects fall under 4. After Frege gives some reasons for thinking that numbers are objects, he concludes that statements of numbers are assertions about concepts.
Frege takes this observation to be the fundamental thought of Grundlagen . For example, the sentence "the number of horses in the barn is four" means that four objects fall under the concept horse in the barn . Frege attempts to explain our grasp of numbers through a contextual definition of the cardinality operation ('the number of...', or N x : F x {\displaystyle Nx:Fx} ). He attempts to construct the content of a judgment involving numerical identity by relying on Hume's principle (which states that the number of Fs equals the number of Gs if and only if F and G are equinumerous , i.e. in one-one correspondence). [ 15 ] He rejects this definition because it doesn't fix the truth value of identity statements when a singular term not of the form 'the number of Fs' flanks the identity sign. Frege goes on to give an explicit definition of number in terms of extensions of concepts, but expresses some hesitation.
Frege argues that numbers are objects and assert something about a concept. Frege defines numbers as extensions of concepts. 'The number of F's' is defined as the extension of the concept '... is a concept that is equinumerous to F'. The concept in question leads to an equivalence class of all concepts that have the number of F (including F). Frege defines 0 as the extension of the concept being non self-identical . So, the number of this concept is the extension of the concept of all concepts that have no objects falling under them. The number 1 is the extension of being identical with 0. [ 16 ]
The book was fundamental in the development of two main disciplines, the foundations of mathematics and philosophy. Although Bertrand Russell later found a major flaw in Frege's Basic Law V (this flaw is known as Russell's paradox , which is resolved by axiomatic set theory ), the book was influential in subsequent developments, such as Principia Mathematica . The book can also be considered the starting point in analytic philosophy , since it revolves mainly around the analysis of language, with the goal of clarifying the concept of number. Frege's views on mathematics are also a starting point on the philosophy of mathematics , since it introduces an innovative account on the epistemology of numbers and mathematics in general, known as logicism. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Foundations_of_Arithmetic |
The Fractal Prince is the second science fiction novel by Hannu Rajaniemi and the second novel to feature the post-human gentleman thief Jean le Flambeur. It was published in Britain by Gollancz in September 2012, and by Tor in the same year in the US. The novel is the second in the trilogy , following The Quantum Thief (2010) and preceding The Causal Angel (2014). [ 1 ]
After the events of The Quantum Thief , Jean le Flambeur and Mieli are on their way to Earth. Jean is trying to open the Schrödinger's Box he retrieved from the memory palace on the Oubliette. After making little progress, he is prodded by the ship Perhonen to talk to Mieli, who turns out to be possessed by the pellegrini again. This time, Jean identifies Mieli's employer as a Sobornost Founder, Joséphine Pellegrini , and gets her to reveal how he got captured, thereby picking up the clues to make plans for his next heist. No sooner is that done than an attack comes from the Hunter . The ship and crew barely survived that, and Jean realizes that he has to find a better way to open the Box - fast.
Mieli has been very quiet after they left Mars. She has given up almost everything to the pellegrini, even her identity, as she has promised to let the pellegrini make gogols of her in exchange for rescuing the thief. Yet, having to work with the thief is testing her, especially when the thief eventually does something even more unforgivable than stealing Sydän's jewel from her.
In the city of Sirr, on an Earth ravaged by wildcode , Tawaddud and Dunyazad are sisters and members of the powerful Gomelez family. Tawaddud is the black sheep of the family, having run away from her husband and consorted with a notorious jinn, a disembodied intelligence from the wildcode desert. Now Cassar Gomelez , her father, hopes to get her to curry favor with a gogol merchant, Abu Nuwas , so that he has enough votes in the Council for the upcoming decision to renegotiate the Cry of Wrath Accords with the Sobornost . Soon, Tawaddud is embroiled in an investigation with a Sobornost envoy into the murder that triggered the need for her father to forge a new alliance in the first place, and forced to confront old secrets that will change Sirr forever.
Somewhere else, in a bookshop and on a beach, a young boy is at play. His mother has told him not to talk to strangers, but there has never been anyone here before. Until now. Should he talk to them?
In the acknowledgments, Rajaniemi cites the influence of " Andy Clark , Douglas Hofstadter , Maurice Leblanc , Jan Potocki and [...] The Arabian Nights ."
In the novel, the idea that the mind is a self-loop may have been influenced by the theories of the Professor of Philosophy, Andy Clark, and the book I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter.
The novel uses frame stories rather extensively, a feature also of The Arabian Nights and Jan Potocki's The Manuscript Found in Saragossa . Several characters in Sirr are the namesakes of characters in these two earlier works as well. The events in The Quantum Thief are also retold at least once by Jean le Flambeur in the course of the events in this novel.
The novel has received generally positive reviews. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ]
However, criticisms of the novel still revolve around Rajaniemi's uncompromising " show, don't tell " style. For example, Amy Goldschlager, writing for the Los Angeles Review of Books , suggested that "[a] bit more explication of the physics involved (“surfing the deficit angle ”?) would really be helpful, more helpful than the description of the Schrödinger’s Cat problem given earlier in the book". [ 5 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fractal_Prince |
The Freethought Publishing Company was established in 1877 by Annie Besant [ 1 ] and Charles Bradlaugh [ 2 ] to publish books and pamphlets to promote the cause of secularism , social reform and freedom of thought . Their publications were printed initially at 28 Stonecutter Street, London E.C and then at 63 Fleet Street, London E.C.
One of their first publications in 1877 was to reproduce a treatise on birth control written by a physician, Charles Knowlton , which had been published anonymously in the US in 1832 as The Fruits of Philosophy . [ 3 ] The treatise advocated controlling reproduction and described methods to prevent conception. Besant and Bradlaugh were prosecuted and found guilty, but the verdict was quashed on a technicality. [ 4 ] In the same year the company published Annie Besant's influential tract entitled The Law of Population: Its Consequences and Its Bearing Upon Human Conduct and Morals . [ 5 ]
The company published a series of volumes called the International Library of Science and Freethought including books by George Holyoake , who had coined the term ‘ secularism ’, and translations from the German of The Pedigree of Man by Ernst Haeckel [ 6 ] and of Mind in Animals by Ludwig Büchner . [ 7 ] The company published essays by Edward Aveling , a spokesman for evolution and a founder member of the Socialist League ; by Logan Mitchell , who wrote The Christian Mythology Unveiled ; [ 8 ] and republished essays by American freethinkers such as Robert Ingersoll and Moncure Conway . The company also published the Hall of Science Manuals with titles by Besant and Aveling. [ 9 ]
The company published little after Bradlaugh died in 1891 and the last original publication was issued in 1902, a pamphlet written by Charles Watts . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Freethought_Publishing_Company |
The Galileo Project is an international scientific research project to search for extraterrestrial intelligence or extraterrestrial technology on and near Earth and to identify the nature of anomalous Unidentified Flying Objects / Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UFOs/UAP).
It was launched in 2021 by Harvard University astrophysicist, Avi Loeb , shortly after the ODNI UFO report (prepared by the U.S. Intelligence), which reported sightings of aircraft or other devices apparently flying at mysterious speeds or trajectories, and a 3 June 2021 speech by the head of NASA , Bill Nelson , in which he stated scientific analysis of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena detected by a multitude of instruments was needed. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] On 5 June, Loeb emailed NASA to suggest such a scientific project but received no reply upon which he launched the project on his own on 26 July 2021 with the help of donations. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
The non-profit project is searching for extraterrestrial technological equipment, which can be considered to be technosignatures , including gathering new data about peculiar UFOs with dedicated optimized unclassified sensor systems. [ 6 ] [ 7 ]
The project aims to use existing and new telescopes to systematically look for artifacts in Earth's orbit, interstellar objects, and unexplained craft, sometimes called "anomalous aerial vehicles" (AAV), [ 8 ] [ 9 ] in Earth's atmosphere. Research into UFOs, including ufology , has often been criticized for working with or providing only little or low-quality data, especially as adherence to the " extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence " adage is a guiding principle of scientific inquiry. The project aims to address the data-quality issue by setting up new sensor systems. The project aims to make the collected data publicly available to scientific scrutiny and publish papers with "transparent" scientific analysis in peer-reviewed scientific journals . [ 10 ] [ 11 ] [ 2 ] [ 12 ] [ 13 ] Loeb notes that "people in the military or in politics are not trained as scientists, and should not be asked to interpret what they see in the sky." [ 2 ] [ 14 ] [ 15 ] [ 16 ] The project uses an agnostic (or "secular" [ 7 ] or "unbiased, empirical inquiry") [ 17 ] [ 18 ] approach by which no potential explanations – including those that are considered to be unlikely by some experts – are rejected a priori but data is gathered and scientifically investigated to, based on the results, develop any conclusions. [ 19 ] [ 20 ] [ 5 ]
Its two other main avenues of research are searching for "two further types of potential extraterrestrial technological signatures with the use of AI ": 'Oumuamua -like interstellar objects , and non-manmade artificial satellites. [ 21 ] [ 22 ] [ 23 ] [ 11 ]
Over 100 scientists worldwide are involved in the project. [ 1 ] [ 13 ] [ 24 ]
In July 2023, astronomer Avi Loeb and his team reported the possibility of finding interstellar material . [ 25 ] Claims made by Loeb and his team about their findings have been doubted by their peers according to a report in The New York Times . [ 26 ]
Loeb has stated that at a minimum, the "Galileo Project will gather rich data sets that may foster the discovery of – or better scientific explanations for – novel interstellar objects with anomalous properties, and for potential new natural phenomena or terrestrial technology explanations for many presently inexplicable UAP". [ 11 ]
One project aims to construct a series of optical and infrared telescopes to monitor the sky and use artificial intelligence to classify and analyse the observations. Its first telescope was installed on the roof of the Harvard College Observatory in 2022. [ 1 ] [ 15 ] More sensor systems are planned to be deployed worldwide, possibly in a networked way. [ 13 ] [ 27 ] [ 15 ] [ 28 ] In September 2022, it was reported that the project should begin collecting observations in January [ 29 ] and Loeb has stated in an online post on 24 October that instruments designed by the Galileo Project are "by now collecting new high-quality data". [ 30 ] [ clarification needed ]
The telescope systems use machine learning to sort out, for example, "birds, balloons, drones, atmospheric events, aircraft and satellites from more mysterious sightings". [ 1 ] [ 31 ] [ 32 ] [ 33 ] [ 34 ] [ 11 ] [ 16 ]
The telescopes could be supplemented by radar systems that would "distinguish a physical object in the sky from a weather pattern or a mirage ". [ 16 ] [ 5 ] Moreover, like NASA for their UAP study, [ 35 ] the project is looking into also using Earth observation satellites , in particular data collected by miniature satellites by Planet Labs . [ 31 ]
Loeb has stated that so far SETI was mainly "predicated on the assumption that extraterrestrials communicate via radio waves, a technology we have used for just over a century and which advanced extraterrestrials may have long ago left behind", noting that a better strategy may be "to look for artefacts: alien tech". [ 1 ] Astronomer Jason Wright affirms that "very little" of such searching is being done, but "artefact SETI" seems to "have got more traction lately". [ 1 ] Artefacts may have been able to accumulate in the Solar System – like our "mailbox" – for 4.55 billion years. [ 1 ]
A goal of the project is to capture "new crisp images with better instruments than have ever been used by civilians". [ 16 ] While relevant sensors are not only photographic cameras, Loeb stated in early 2022 that high-resolution images could be collected within two years. [ 36 ] [ 37 ]
The project plans to search for, characterize and study interstellar objects (ISOs) like the peculiar Oumuamua detected in 2017. [ 11 ] [ 39 ] They intend to use astronomical surveys like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory so that such objects can be identified more quickly, and to design a space mission so a probe could intercept it and gather close-up data. [ 11 ] [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The team intends to develop software that "will analyze data collected from the Vera Rubin Observatory". [ 18 ] It is thought that when the observatory commences its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), "it will be able to detect ISOs entering our Solar System at a rate of a few per month". [ 5 ]
In collaboration with Alan Stern , principal investigator of NASA's New Horizons mission, they have received funding to develop such a space mission concept. [ 40 ]
The project may trace its origins back to 2017 when its founder, Loeb, first got excited about the topic and gained substantial public attention after the first known interstellar object, ’Oumuamua, was discovered and displayed highly unusual properties and behavior. Loeb investigated and elaborated these anomalies and proposed that it could be a kind of extraterrestrial technology in scientific journals, many media appearances and a book, Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth . [ 15 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
The Interstellar Object Studies branch is led by Amir Siraj , a Harvard astrophysicist who frequently collaborates with Loeb and co-discoverer of one or two ( see below ) interstellar objects. [ 38 ] [ 41 ] [ 5 ]
In 2022, Siraj and Loeb reported the discovery of an additional candidate interstellar meteor, CNEOS 2017-03-09 , in a preprint using the same fireball catalog as they used for CNEOS 2014-01-08 ( see below ). They find that the implied material strength of the two objects (these are the highest and third-highest of the catalog's 273 fireballs) suggests that interstellar meteors "come from a population with material strength characteristically higher than meteors originating from within the solar system". [ 42 ] [ 43 ]
The project focused on the 2014 meteor CNEOS 2014-01-08 , which Loeb and Siraj claimed was "rare both in composition and in speed", leading them to claim it was an interstellar object. [ 44 ] The scientific community remained skeptical of those claims, even after the United States Space Command confirmed their own sensor data. [ 45 ] [ 46 ] [ 47 ] Loeb announced that private philanthropists were funding an expedition to search the floor in the suspected region of impact [ 48 ] by dragging a magnetic sled on the seafloor off the coast of Papua New Guinea . [ 49 ] [ 50 ] [ 51 ] [ 52 ] [ 53 ] In 2023 Loeb announced the discovery of an anomalous 8-millimeter-long curled piece of wire, designated "ISI-2". X-ray fluorescence analysis determined it was chiefly composed of Manganese and Platinum , commonly used in the manufacture of corrosion resistant laboratory electrodes . However, the relative composition of the elements in the wire was significantly different than that used in electrodes. [ 54 ]
Additionally, metallic shards were discovered that were determined to be composed of a S5 steel alloy , which bears a yield strength that far exceeds that of iron meteorites , reflecting previously published results that characterized IM1's strength. [ 55 ] Two varieties were found, dubbed "red" and "gray" which are representative of a differing oxidation state . Further fragments were found several kilometers away . [ 56 ]
The broader scientific community remained skeptical of all the associated claims, from whether the meteor was interstellar, to whether it landed in that part of the ocean, to whether fragments could be recovered, to whether or not those specific objects found were of off earth origin. [ 57 ] The seismic data on which Loeb partially based his estimate of the impact cite was shown to be the result, not of an impact, but of nearby truck traffic. [ 58 ]
The project intends to systematically search for non-manmade artificial satellites (or semi-artificial satellites or artifacts on them) in Earth's orbit – for example by designing algorithms for telescopes to recognize and filter orbiting objects and using modern sky surveys. [ 11 ] [ 59 ]
An object in a geosynchronous orbit may have been there for many millions of years and both intact material, as well as debris from degraded probes, could be detected even if they have undergone multiple collisions during this period. [ 59 ] As any "high-albedo objects are moving, spinning and emitting reflections from time to time", it should be possible to "confirm their existence through customized searches of modern data". The project can search for "these glinting events more effectively than was possible with other surveys". [ 60 ]
The team includes scientists who as of 2021 work on a voluntary basis from Caltech, Cambridge University, Harvard, Princeton, Stockholm University, the University of Tokyo, and other institutions. [ 2 ] The project also lists "Affiliated professionals who offer useful expertise and input to the Research Team", [ 61 ] and members of a "Scientific Advisory Board" and a "Philanthropic Advisory Board". [ 62 ]
Its activities are funded by donations – $1.8 million as of 2021. [ 10 ] The funders include Frank Laukien , CEO of Bruker Corporation and William A. Linton, founder of Promega Corporation, both listed on the project's Philanthropic Advisory Board. The donations are reported to be unconditional and philanthropic. [ 1 ] [ 6 ] [ 5 ] [ 19 ] [ 63 ] [ 15 ] [ 3 ] Further funding that covers the costs of an expedition to retrieve fragments of an interstellar object was announced in September 2022. [ 48 ]
Loeb has stated that around $100 million would be needed to fully realize its project of identifying the nature of UAP. [ 1 ] [ 28 ] [ 64 ] Loeb has pointed out that research of dark matter is a still unsolved topic that he suggests to be "just as bizarre as aliens and far less relevant to daily human life" [ 15 ] and that $100 million are only two percent of the Large Hadron Collider 's "$5bn budget " and an even smaller fraction of Elon Musk's SpaceX project "valued at around $100bn". [ 28 ] The creation of an interstellar object interceptor mission would be more expensive and was estimated to cost $1bn. [ 1 ]
The project gained substantial mainstream media coverage, [ 65 ] was applauded by many, including scientists, [ 27 ] [ 66 ] and gained traction on social media and in online communities of people interested in UFOs . An NBC News article describes the project as "exactly the kind of research many have called for after the release of the Pentagon's intelligence report in June [2021]". [ 15 ]
There have also been various concerns, doubts and criticism about the prospects of the Galileo Project. [ 67 ] [ 15 ] [ 66 ]
Some astronomers are worried that astronomy and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) are getting undermined by projects like the Galileo Project. [ 64 ] Senior astronomer for the SETI Institute , Seth Shostak has compared his organization's and broader UFO-unrelated SETI efforts with Loeb's project, describing his preferred approach as "studying unknown fauna in the rainforest", and the latter's search for aliens in Earth's atmosphere as "hoping to find mermaids or unicorns". [ 64 ] However, Shostak also stated that Loeb's "peers" (i.e. the academic astronomical community) "should be grateful for [Loeb's] effort," and that he is "grateful that [Loeb] has the freedom—and the guts—to go where few would dare to go". [ 68 ]
Some astronomers have also criticized claims by the project's lead scientist for "insufficient" evidence to "support his bold conjectures about alien life ". [ 69 ] Astrobiologist Caleb Scharf stated that the Galileo Project has "intermingled legitimate scientists with" what he assessed to be fringe people. [ 64 ] Nonetheless, on August 24, 2023, The New York Times published an article about Loeb and his related search for signs of extraterrestrial life and The Galileo Project. [ 70 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Galileo_Project |
The Game of Logic is a book, published in 1886, written by the English mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832–1898), better known under his literary pseudonym Lewis Carroll .
In addition to his well-known children's literature, Dodgson/Carroll was an academic mathematician who worked in mathematical logic . The book describes, in an informal and playful style, the use of a board game to represent logical propositions and inferences . Dodgson/Carroll incorporated the game into a longer and more formal introductory logic textbook titled Symbolic Logic , published in 1897. The books are sometimes reprinted in a single volume.
The book aims to teach players the fundamentals of logic by asking players to use coins on a board. [ 1 ] The proposition used in this context is: "Some fresh cakes are sweet." The game world is divided into four quadrants. It is to be played with five gray coins and four red coins. A red coin symbolizes one or more cakes being present in an area while a gray coin symbolizes the absence of the cake(s). [ 2 ] Each quadrant represents a variation of the original proposition. The cakes are fresh and sweet within the northwest quadrant. They are fresh but not sweet in the northeast. They are neither fresh nor sweet in the southeast. They are not fresh but are sweet in the southwest. [ 2 ]
The four quadrants are further divided into two subclasses: cakes that are eatable and those that are non-eatable. [ 2 ] This subdivision allows players to understand more complex propositions and syllogisms .
The second half of the book introduces players to a 2x2x2 diagram. This allows for players to solve problems involving three propositions at the same time.
The book is divided into several chapters. The first portion, "To My Childhood-Friend" is as an introduction from the author to his readers. This is followed by a preface chapter. Chapter 1 is divided into three parts. In the first part, the author describes the three different types of propositions that will be used. The second part is an outlook on the "Universe of Things" and syllogisms. The third part of the chapter explains the logic to be used and the associated fallacies. This marks the end of the first chapter. The second chapter presents various questions for readers to answer. These questions are then answered and explained by the author in the third chapter. The last and fourth chapter contains various logic games.
This article about a non-fiction book on games is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it .
This logic -related article is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_of_Logic |
Immunisation against infectious disease , popularly known as The Green Book , provides information on vaccines for vaccine-preventable diseases . It acts as a guide to the UK's vaccination schedule for health professionals and health departments that give vaccines in the United Kingdom.
The first two editions were published in 1992 and 1996. A third edition in 2006, was the last to appear in print. Updates have since been added by its clinical editors through advice and recommendations from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and appear only online as individual chapters via the immunisation section of the GOV.UK website. As of 2021 it includes updates on COVID-19 .
Immunisation against infectious disease is popularly known as The Green Book , to provide information on the UK's vaccination schedule and vaccines for vaccine preventable infectious diseases. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] It is a guide for health professionals and health departments that give vaccines in the UK. [ 2 ] Updates are added by its clinical editors through advice and recommendations from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), as accepted by the Secretaries of State. [ 2 ] Larger updates may also need consultations with UK health departments and public health bodies, MHRA , vaccine manufacturers, NHS England , National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC), as well as the clinical editors. [ 2 ]
The first two editions were published by the HMSO in 1992 and 1996. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] The third edition, published by The Stationery Office in 2006, replaced the 1996 edition and was the last to appear in print. [ 3 ]
The 2006 edition of The Green book has 468 pages, divided generally into two parts, preceded by a contents page, acknowledgements and preface, and followed by two indexes, one of vaccines by proprietary name and the other of vaccines by common name. [ 3 ] [ 4 ]
Part one, titled "principles, practice and procedures", has 12 chapters which include how vaccines work, storage and distribution, vaccine safety and adverse events, immunisation schedule and immunisation of healthcare and laboratory staff. [ 1 ] [ 3 ] How to give a vaccine is described in chapter four, common side effects in chapter eight and how to fill in a yellow card in chapter nine (updated 2013). [ 1 ] [ 5 ]
Diseases and their vaccines are listed in alphabetical order and include all vaccines recommended in the routine immunisation programme for all children in the UK. [ 4 ] Vaccine requirements for travellers and for contacts of people with infectious disease are included. [ 1 ] The 2006 edition incorporated the then new vaccines for meningococcal group C and pneumococcal infections, included the cessation of the school's BCG programme and the introduction of the Hib-MenC booster at 12 months of age. [ 4 ]
Diseases included:
The online version was published in 2013. [ 6 ] Updates appear only online as individual chapters via the immunisation section of the GOV.UK website. [ 4 ] These have included respiratory syncytial virus and rotavirus in 2015, and human papillomavirus in 2019. [ 5 ] [ 7 ] As of 2021, the online version stays divided into two parts, in the same way as the 2006 edition, and includes updates on shingles and COVID-19 . [ 6 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ]
According to Andrew Pollard , The Green Book should be "bookmarked" in all child clinics and notes that similar information can be obtained from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. [ 10 ] It is a recommended source by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health . [ 11 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Book_(immunisation_guidance,_UK) |
The Green Paradox is a controversial book by German economist, Hans-Werner Sinn , describing the observation that an environmental policy that becomes greener with the passage of time acts like an announced expropriation for the owners of fossil fuel resources, inducing them to accelerate resource extraction and hence to accelerate global warming .
The Green Paradox' s line of reasoning starts by recognizing a fundamental, unavoidable fact: every carbon atom in the gas, coal or oil extracted from the ground to be used as fuel ends up in the atmosphere, in particular if high efficiency combustion processes ensure that no part of it ends up as soot . About a quarter of the emitted carbon will stay in the atmosphere practically forever, contributing to the greenhouse effect that causes global warming. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ]
Apart from afforestation , only two things can mitigate the accumulation of carbon in the atmosphere: either less carbon is extracted from the ground, or it is injected back underground after harvesting its energy. [ citation needed ]
Environmental policy efforts, in particular European ones, move in the first direction, aiming at the promotion of alternative, CO 2 -free energy sources and a more efficient use of energy, both of which should cut demand for hydrocarbons. While the author, Hans-Werner Sinn in particular claims that support schemes for renewable energy sources have little effect, he overlooks government support to fossil fuel consumption and production. [ original research? ] In OECD countries and key emerging economies such support is high, at US$160–200 billion annually, according to an OECD report. This support is said to hamper global efforts to curb emissions and combat climate change . [ 4 ]
According to Sinn green policies, by heralding a gradual tightening of policy over the coming decades, exert a stronger downward pressure on future prices than on current ones, decreasing thus the rate of capital appreciation of the fossil fuel deposits. The owners of these resources regard this development with concern and react by increasing extraction volumes, converting the proceeds into investments in the capital markets , which offer higher yields. That is the green paradox: environmental policy slated to become greener over time acts as an announced expropriation that provokes owners to react by accelerating the rate of extraction of their fossil fuel stocks, [ 5 ] [ 6 ] thus accelerating climate change.
Countries that do not partake of the efforts to curb demand have a double advantage. They burn the carbon set free by the “green” countries ( leakage effect ) and they also burn the additional carbon extracted as a reaction to the announced and expected price cuts resulting from the gradual greening of environmental policies (green paradox). [ 7 ] [ 8 ]
Sinn writes in his abstract that: "[Demand reduction strategies] simply depress the world price of carbon and induce the environmental sinners to consume what the Kyoto countries have economized on. Even worse, if suppliers feel threatened by a gradual greening of economic policies in the Kyoto countries that would damage their future prices, they will extract their stocks more rapidly, thus accelerating global warming." [ 9 ]
Sinn emphasises that a condition for the green paradox is that the resource be scarce in the sense that its price will always be higher than the unit extraction and exploration costs combined. He claims that this condition is likely to be satisfied as backstop technologies will at best offer a perfect substitute for electricity, but not for fossil fuels . The prices of coal and crude oil are currently many times higher than the corresponding exploration and extraction costs combined. [ citation needed ]
An effective climate policy must perforce focus on the hitherto neglected supply side of the carbon market in addition to the demand side. The ways proposed as practicable by Sinn include levying a withholding tax on the capital gains on the financial investments of fossil fuel resource owners, or the establishment of a seamless global emissions trading system that would effectively put a cap on worldwide fossil fuel consumption, thereby achieving the desired reduction in carbon extraction rates.
A suggestion for a solution might also be to pay suppliers for the destruction of fossil fuels (or transform them into raw material (not fuel)), thus making sure that independence [ clarification needed ] from fossil fuels on the demand side still pays off, while there is reduction in carbon extraction.
Hans-Werner Sinn's ideas on the green paradox have been presented in detail in a number of scientific articles, [ 10 ] [ 11 ] his 2007 Thünen Lecture [ 12 ] at the annual meeting of the Verein für Socialpolitik , his 2007 presidential address to the International Institute of Public Finance in Warwick, two working papers, [ 13 ] [ 14 ] and a German-language book, “Das Grüne Paradoxon” (2008). [ 15 ] They build on his earlier studies on supply reactions of the owners of natural resources to announced price changes. [ 16 ] [ 17 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Paradox |
The Guardians of Conchalito (Las Guardianas del Conchalito) are a group of Mexican women , ecological activists , in La Paz , Baja California Sur, Mexico. They have restored and now monitor and protect the El Conchalito Estuary, a previously degraded mangrove ecosystem . They run a women-only oyster growing business in the region as well as raising mangrove trees to maturity for reforestation .
The El Conchalito Estuary is a coastal wet land and mangrove ecosystem in La Paz. It is important as a coastal protection zone, a biodiversity refuge, and a carbon capture area. [ 1 ] For years, urbanization , tourism , pollution and illegal logging have had a seriously negative effect on the flora and fauna of the Northern Mesoamerican Pacific Coast Mangroves area and also on the fishing yields, particularly of scallops , traditionally available for the local population. In 2017, a group of women started to monitor the area, reporting illegal activities such as mangrove felling, waste dumping, poaching and drug dealing . [ 2 ] [ 3 ] and cleaning up contaminated areas. In 2016, they gained the support of the Organización de Pescadores Rescatando la Ensenada (Organization of Fishermen Rescuing the Bay),(OPRE), a rural production society established in 2016 by 15 fishing cooperatives and 20 independent fishermen. In 2017, the group obtained a concession for 2,048 hectares within the Ensenada , where they now farm commercial scallops, among other products. [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
The women have received support from a number of other organizations including Noroeste Sustentable [ 6 ] [ 7 ] the Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas, Wildcoast , a California-based charity dedicated to conserving coastal and marine ecosystems, the local government, and the UK government. [ 8 ]
In 2018, they formally established themselves as The Guardians of Conchalito. On September 14, 2018, they inaugurated a nursery to raise mangrove trees to be transplanted on the coast, so reforesting damaged areas. The group also work to raise awareness in their local community, and in the visiting tourists to the area, of the importance of mangrove ecosystems. [ 9 ] [ 10 ]
In November 2021, members of a group called Only One provided funding to the Guardians for coastal cleanup mangrove planting. The long-term goal of the guardians is to create an urban nature reserve, involving the recovery of around 11 hectares of ecologically vital mangrove lagoon. [ 11 ] Since 2023, with the support of Costa Salvaje [ 12 ] and the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP), the Guardians have implemented a monthly monitoring program in the mangroves, recording the condition of the three types of mangroves, red, white and black. Their work includes this species identification and also seed collection.
The group have faced both harassment by private security forces at some tourist developments in the area, and lack of support from some men in their own community. On the other hand, they have received support from organizations listed above for their environmental conservation, and for the empowerment of local women who have been inspired to defend their environment, so challenging traditional gender roles. Their work has been crucial to the recovery of the ecosystem and the reactivation of the local economy. The guardians are now a legally recognized community co-operative. All members receive a living wage. [ 10 ] [ 13 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardians_of_Conchalito |
The Hague Ethical Guidelines is a set of ethical principles regarding responsible conduct in the chemical sciences and to guard against the misuse of chemistry. [ 1 ] The guidelines were developed by a group of chemical practitioners from around the world together with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons , and are endorsed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry . [ 2 ]
This social ethics -related article is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hague_Ethical_Guidelines |
The Heinz Sielmann Foundation (de: Heinz Sielmann Stiftung ) is a charitable organization based in Duderstadt , Germany . [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] The organization has the official motto " Diversity is our nature " and it introduces people, especially children and young people, to a positive approach towards the nature through its programs involving interpersonal experiences. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] It also spreads public awareness about nature and its need for protection and carries out the preservation of the Heinz Sielmann archive of nature photographies/films. [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ]
The organization started its journey in 1996 at a property located at Herbigshagen, near the town of Eichsfeld , Duderstadt in Lower Saxony . It acquired the property in 2003. [ 9 ] [ 10 ] From the early days, the organizations imparts lessons to the school students in the State of Lower Saxony, working as the Regional Environmental Education Center . [ 11 ] Its nature adventure house was reopened in 2019 where the exhibition "Diversity needs diversity" exhibited the visitors, the complex interrelationships of nature with the help of mosaic flaps and a media installation. A separate exhibition has been arranged under the title "Heinz Sielmann: A life in a film". [ 12 ] [ 13 ] The classics and awards of Heinz Sielmann are shown in a separate trophy room. On the northern part of the estate is the Franz von Assisi chapel, in which the urn of the foundation's founder Heinz Sielmann was buried in 2006 and his wife Inge in 2019. [ 14 ] [ 15 ] [ 16 ]
While working on charitable purposes, the foundation operates and supports a large number of biotope and animal sanctuary projects throughout Germany. It also acquires large landscapes in order to preserve them for nature conservation and to ensure the stability of biodiversity at the site. [ 17 ] [ 18 ] To protect nature and the environment, in particular to maintain the diversity of fauna and flora, the foundation also acts as a funding institution. It supports projects outside of government programs in Germany. Where the project subject is directly related to nature and environmental issues, the Foundation in individual cases also consider supporting projects outside Germany. [ 19 ] [ 20 ] [ 21 ] [ 22 ] The foundation confers four awards, namely Heinz Sielmann Honorary Prize, German Biodiversity Award, Heinz Sielmann Film Prize , and Heinz Sielmann Jugendfilmpreis , primarily to individuals who have taken extraordinary initiatives to protect biodiversity and ecological issues. [ 23 ] [ 24 ] [ 25 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heinz_Sielmann_Foundation |
The Herbert Medal is awarded by the International Bulb Society to those whose achievements in advancing knowledge of ornamental bulbous plants is considered to be outstanding. [ 1 ]
The medal is named for William Herbert , a noted 19th-century botanist . He published many articles in the Botanical Register and the Botanical Magazine on the subject of bulbous plants, many of which he cultivated in his own gardens. He wrote what became the standard work on the family Amaryllidaceae in 1837. He also published extensively on hybridization based on his own experiments, [ 2 ] not only on bulbs but also on other groups of plants.
A full list of those awarded the Herbert Medal is given on the International Bulb Society website, [ 1 ] and in Herbertia (1937–1988). [ 3 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Herbert_Medal |
The History of Mathematical Tables: from Sumer to Spreadsheets is an edited volume in the history of mathematics on mathematical tables . It was edited by Martin Campbell-Kelly , Mary Croarken , Raymond Flood , and Eleanor Robson , developed out of the presentations at a conference on the subject organised in 2001 by the British Society for the History of Mathematics , [ 1 ] [ 2 ] and published in 2003 by the Oxford University Press .
An introductory chapter classifies tables broadly according to whether they are intended as aids to calculation (based on mathematical formulas) or as analyses and records of data, and further subdivides them according to how they were compiled. [ 2 ] Following this, the contributions to the book include articles on the following topics: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ]
The work is presented on VIII + 361 pages in a unified format with illustrations throughout, and with the historical and biographical context of the material set aside in separate text boxes. [ 1 ]
Reviewer Paul J. Campbell finds it ironic that, unlike the works it discusses, "there are no tables in the back of the book". [ 4 ] Reviewer Sandy L. Zabell calls the book "interesting and highly readable". [ 2 ]
Both Peggy A. Kidwell and Fernando Q. Gouvêa note several topics that would have been worthwhile to include, including tables in mathematics in medieval Islam or other non-Western cultures, the book printing industry that provided inexpensive books of tables in the 19th century, and the development of mathematical tables in Germany. As Kidwell writes, "like most good books, this one not only tells good stories, but leaves the reader hoping to learn more". Gouvêa evaluates the book as being useful in its coverage of a topic often missed in broader surveys of the history of mathematics, of interest both to historians of mathematics and to a more general audience interested in the development of these topics, and "a must-have for libraries". [ 5 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_Mathematical_Tables |
The Holocene is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers research in the field of environmental studies , in particular environmental change over the last c. 11,500 years, particularly the interface between the long Quaternary record and the natural and human-induced environmental processes operating at the Earth's surface today. It is published eight times a year by SAGE Publications . The editor-in-chief is John A. Matthews ( University of Wales , Swansea ).
Included within the scope of The Holocene , according to the journal's website, are articles related to:
The journal is abstracted and indexed in Academic Search Premier , Current Contents , the British and Irish Archaeological Bibliography , Scopus , and the Science Citation Index . According to the Journal Citation Reports , its 2011 impact factor is 2.595, ranking it 9th out of 44 journals in the category "Geography, Physical" [ 2 ] and 26th out of 170 journals in the category "Geosciences, Multidisciplinary". [ 3 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocene |
The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story is a best-selling 1994 nonfiction thriller by Richard Preston about the origins and incidents involving viral hemorrhagic fevers , particularly ebolaviruses and marburgviruses . [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The basis of the book was Preston's 1992 New Yorker article "Crisis in the Hot Zone". [ 3 ]
The filoviruses —including Ebola virus , Sudan virus , Marburg virus , and Ravn virus —are Biosafety Level 4 agents, extremely dangerous to humans because they are very infectious, have a high fatality rate, and most have no known prophylactic measures , treatments, or cures. Along with describing the history of the devastation caused by two of these Central African diseases, Ebola virus disease and Marburg virus disease , Preston described a 1989 incident in which a relative of Ebola virus, Reston virus , was discovered at a primate quarantine facility in Reston, Virginia , less than 15 miles (24 km) away from Washington, D.C.
The book is in four sections:
The book starts with "Charles Monet" visiting Kitum Cave during a camping trip to Mount Elgon in Central Africa. Not long after, he begins to suffer from a number of symptoms, including vomiting, diarrhea and red eye. He is taken to Nairobi Hospital for treatment, but his condition deteriorates further, and he goes into a coma while in the waiting room. This particular filovirus is called Marburg virus.
Nancy Jaax had been promoted to work in the Level 4 Biosafety containment area at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, and is assigned to research Ebola virus. While preparing food for her family at home, she cuts her right hand. Later, while working on a dead monkey infected with Ebola virus, one of the gloves on the hand with the open wound tears, and she is almost exposed to contaminated blood, but does not get infected. Nurse Mayinga is also infected by a nun and goes to Ngaleima Hospital in Kinshasa for treatment, where she succumbs to the disease.
In Reston, Virginia, less than fifteen miles (24 km) away from Washington, D.C., a company called Hazelton Research once operated a quarantine center for monkeys that were destined for laboratories. In October 1989, when an unusually high number of their monkeys began to die, their veterinarian decided to send some samples to Fort Detrick (USAMRIID) for study. Early during the testing process in biosafety level 3 , when one of the flasks appeared to be contaminated with harmless pseudomonas bacterium , two USAMRIID scientists exposed themselves to the virus by wafting the flask. The virus found at the facility was a mutated form of the original Ebola virus and was initially mistaken for simian hemorrhagic fever virus . They later determine that, while the virus is lethal to monkeys, humans can be infected with it without any health effects at all. This virus is now known as Reston virus.
Finally, the author goes to Africa to explore Kitum Cave. On the way, he discusses the role of AIDS in the present, as the Kinshasa Highway that he travels on was sometimes called the "AIDS Highway" after its early appearance in the region. Equipped with a hazmat suit , he enters the cave and finds a large number of animals, one of which might be the virus carrier. At the conclusion of the book, he travels to the quarantine facility in Reston. He finds the building abandoned and deteriorating. He concludes the book by claiming that Ebola will be back.
The discovery of the Reston virus was made in November 1989 by Thomas W. Geisbert, an intern at United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. Peter B. Jahrling isolated the filovirus further. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted blood tests of the 178 animal handlers. While six tested positive, they did not exhibit any symptoms. The Reston virus was found to have low pathogenicity in humans. This was further supported later when a handler infected himself during a necropsy of an infected monkey, as the handler did not show symptoms of the virus after the incubation period. [ 4 ]
The Hot Zone was listed as one of around 100 books that shaped a century of science by American Scientist . [ 5 ] Many reviews of The Hot Zone exemplify the impact the book had on the public's view of emerging viruses. A review in the British Medical Journal captures the paranoia and public panic described in this book. The reviewer was left "wondering when and where this enigmatic agent will appear next and what other disasters may await human primates". [ 6 ] This can also be seen in a review in the Public Health Reports which highlights the "seriousness of our current situation" and "our ability to respond to a major health threat". [ 7 ]
The Hot Zone was described in an academic journal covering research in the history of science as a "romantic account of environmental transgression" . Reactions to this book could be seen not only in the public's view of emerging viruses, but in the changes in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . In addition to the funding of public health infrastructure during the early 1970s, there were many public discussions of biodefense. This book continued to fuel the emerging diseases campaign. By connecting international health to national security , this campaign used The Hot Zone to justify increased intervention in the global phenomena of disease. [ 8 ]
The Hot Zone elicited a major response by the World Health Organization (WHO) by shedding light on the Zaire ebolavirus . [ clarification needed ] Teams of experts were immediately released. [ clarification needed ] Many countries tightened their borders, issued warnings to customs officials, quarantined travellers, and issued travel advisories. [ 9 ]
In his blurb , horror writer Stephen King called the first chapter "one of the most horrifying things I've read in my whole life". [ 10 ] When asked whether any book "scared the pants off you" writer Suzanne Collins answered " The Hot Zone , by Richard Preston. I just read it a few weeks ago. Still recovering." [ 11 ]
The Hot Zone has received criticism for sensationalizing the effects of Ebola virus. [ 12 ] In their memoir Level 4: Virus Hunters of the CDC (1996), [ 13 ] former CDC scientists Joseph B. McCormick and Susan Fisher-Hoch lambasted Preston for claiming that Ebola dissolves organs, stating that although it causes great blood loss in tissues the organs remain structurally intact. McCormick and Fisher-Hoch also dispute Preston's version of the CDC's actions in the Reston virus incident. [ citation needed ] In an interview about his book Ebola: The Natural and Human History of a Deadly Virus (2014), David Quammen claimed that The Hot Zone had "vivid, gruesome details" that gave an "exaggerated idea of Ebola over the years" causing "people to view this disease as though it was some sort of preternatural phenomenon". [ 14 ]
In January 1993, 20th Century Fox producer Lynda Obst won a bidding war for the film rights to Preston's 1992 New Yorker article, which was still being transitioned into book form. [ 15 ] In response to being outbid, Warner Bros. producer Arnold Kopelson immediately began working on a similarly themed production. This competing film, Outbreak , would ultimately be a factor in the collapse of Fox's planned production, Crisis in The Hot Zone . [ 16 ]
Directors considered for Crisis in The Hot Zone included Wolfgang Petersen (who would later direct Outbreak ), Michael Mann , and Ridley Scott . Scott eventually signed on to direct the film in February 1994. [ 17 ] Screenwriter James V. Hart was also signed to adapt the book. In late April 1994, Fox announced they had signed Robert Redford and Jodie Foster to star in the film. [ 18 ]
Crisis in The Hot Zone , however, was never made. Foster dropped out of the film just before filming was to begin and production was delayed, with Meryl Streep , Sharon Stone , and Robin Wright touted as possible replacements. In August 1994, Redford also dropped out of the film; [ 19 ] a few days after Redford left it was announced that pre-production had been shut down. [ 20 ]
On October 16, 2014, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Ridley Scott again planned to adapt the book, this time as a television miniseries for NatGeo . Kelly Souders, Brian Peterson , and Jeff Vintar wrote the pilot. Julianna Margulies starred as Nancy Jaax. Filming began in September 2018. [ 21 ] Lynda Obst again produced the series. [ 22 ] The series first aired from May 27 to May 29, 2019, [ 23 ] and was later renewed for a second season. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hot_Zone |
The Howard Bros. Circus is a ¾-inch-to-the-foot scale replica of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus located on the Ringling Estate in Sarasota, Florida . It includes a complete reproduction of the entire circus (circa the 1920s).
The name for the circus comes from the name of the creator, Howard C. Tibbals . Tibbals asked Ringling management if he could use their name for his circus when he started building it, but they refused. So he called it The Howard Bros. Circus instead. [ 1 ] There never was a full-scale Howard Bros. Circus.
Tibbals began toying with circuses in 1943, at the age of 7. At 12 he was given a lathe and jigsaw, which advanced his model building. Tibbals started working on the model in earnest in 1956. Much of the circus was completed by 1974, but it did not premiere until the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee . In 2004, Tibbals set up the circus at its current location in the Ringling Estate's Tibbals Learning Center, which includes a full-scale replica of Tibbals's workshop. It took Tibbals over one year to set up the circus in its current location. [ 2 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Howard_Bros._Circus |
The Icon Bar (also referred to as TIB ) is a computing and technology website with a focus on the RISC OS computer operating system .
The Icon Bar was founded in 2000 by Tim Fountain, Alasdair Bailey and Richard Goodwin. [ 1 ] [ 3 ] In 2004, co-founder Richard Goodwin was nominated for the Drobe awards for keeping the "popular forum" online. [ 4 ] It was further developed by the same people who developed Acorn Arcade , [ 5 ] the contents of which were incorporated in 2006. [ 2 ] At this time, it broadened its remit to also cover alternative platforms and new technologies, while still keeping abreast of the RISC OS scene. [ 6 ]
When Drobe closed as a news site in 2009, The Icon Bar was cited as a notable alternative [ 7 ] [ 8 ] and took over running the annual awards scheme for the RISC OS scene. [ 9 ] It has been selected for inclusion by editors in at least one web directory , [ 10 ]
The site features RISC OS articles, news, forums and other media. It also hosts a Media Watch page, where users can share any relevant items they spot in the media. [ 11 ]
This article about a computing website is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Icon_Bar |
The Industries of the Future is a 2016 non-fiction book written by Alec Ross , an American technology policy expert and the former Senior Advisor for Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her time as Secretary of State . [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] The book explores the forces that will change the world in robotics, genetics, digital currency, coding and big data. [ 4 ] The editors for the book were Jonathan Karp and Jonathan Cox of Simon & Schuster . [ 5 ]
The book explores several industries including robotics, genetics, coding and big data. Ross explores how advances in robotics and life sciences will change the way we live—robots, artificial intelligence and machine learning will have impact on our lives. According to Ross, dramatic advances in life sciences will increase our life expectancy—but not all will benefit from such changes. Ross spends time exploring "Code" and how the codefication of money and also weapons (computer security) will both benefit and potentially disrupt our international economies. Ross also looks at how data will be "the raw material of the information age". [ 5 ]
Ross discusses the shift of robotics from being manual and repetitive to cognitive and non-repetitive. [ 6 ] He believes that breakthroughs in mathematical modeling and cloud robotics ( machine learning and Artificial Intelligence ) make robotics acceptable. [ 6 ] In the book Ross describes how other cultures have different reactions to robotics and he uses Japan's use of robotics in elder-care as an example. [ 5 ] He also expects that less developed countries may be able to leapfrog technologies in robotics much like they did with cell and mobile technologies. [ 5 ]
Tara D. Sonenshine in the New York Journal of Books called the book a good place to start "if you want to know how to survive and thrive in the fast-paced world of today and how to anticipate the opportunities of tomorrow's information age." Sonenshine also called out the book for focusing on women and multiculturalism. [ 7 ] An article titled "Is predicting the future futile or necessary?" by Stephen Cave in the Financial Times is more critical, saying that Ross focuses on industries with already considerable coverage and investment but Cave points out that "rarely can the future be predicted by extending current trajectories." [ 8 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Industries_of_the_Future |
The Institute of Chemistry PNG is the professional organisation supporting chemical sciences in Papua New Guinea and a learned society promoting the science and practice of chemistry .
The Institute of Chemistry PNG is a member of the Federation of Asian Chemical Societies (FACS). [ 1 ]
The Institute publishes the Journal of the Institute of Chemists PNG, with the second volume published in 2009. [ 2 ]
This article about a chemistry organization is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Institute_of_Chemists_PNG |
The Jodcast is a monthly podcast created by astronomers [ 1 ] [ 2 ] at Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics (JBCA) , University of Manchester in Manchester , England . [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] It debuted in January 2006, aiming to inspire and inform the public about astronomy and related sciences, to excite young people with the latest astronomy research results, to motivate students to pursue careers in science, and to dispel stereotypes of scientists as incomprehensible and unapproachable. [ 6 ]
The Jodcast provides insight into up-to-date astronomical and astrophysical research via regular interviews with researchers from institutions worldwide, as well as with its own staff at the University of Manchester. Episodes also feature interviews with JBCA PhD students during Jodbites to promote early-career researchers and to offer a unique perspective to life in academia. The Jodcast team also regularly interacts with listeners and answers questions related to astronomy and astrophysics during its monthly Ask an Astronomer segments. The ever-popular Night Sky segment has not returned in 2024, following the passing of Prof Ian Morison. [ 7 ] [ 8 ]
The Jodcast was co-founded by previous Manchester students Stuart Lowe, Nick Rattenbury and David Ault in 2006. [ 9 ] [ 10 ] Current and previous episodes of the Jodcast may be downloaded via its own website and RSS feeds, and from iTunes . The Jodcast is also regularly collated and integrated into various Internet-based astronomy radio shows. [ 11 ] [ 12 ]
The original format of the Jodcast saw two episodes released every month: one regular episode towards the beginning of the month, and one Extra Episode released halfway through the month. These two episodes would have different formats and included regular features such as: interviews with prominent forefront researchers in astronomy and astrophysics; monthly overviews of sights in the night sky for amateur astronomers in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres; and Ask an Astronomer , where listener questions were answered by staff at Jodrell Bank Observatory (JBO) . [ 9 ] [ 13 ] Following a 3 year hiatus, the Jodcast returned as a monthly release with News , Ask an Astronomer and Jodbite segments incorporated into the episodes.
Each Jodcast episode features three presenters who introduce upcoming show segments, discuss listener feedback and provide commentary on topics mentioned on each episode. An Odd and End segment is also provided by the episode's presenters, where current topical news articles and research papers (often of a humorous nature) are discussed.
The Jodcast News is the first segment featured during each regular episode. It compiles current astronomy-related affairs and research gathered from existing media, such as print journals, web press releases and news sites into a short (<10 minutes) segment. [ 6 ]
Each episode of the Jodcast features an extended interview with a visitor to JBCA/JBO. Visitors are usually academics who discuss their current research topics related to astronomy, space science or astrophysics. As visitors are often at JBCA/JBO to present research, collaborate with colleagues, or attend conferences or events such as BBC Stargazing Live , Jodcast interviews cover the most current and exciting topics in astronomy including: gravitational waves, pulsar astronomy, black holes, exoplanets, and the hunt for extraterrestrial life. The Jodcast routinely features interviews with extremely prominent figures. [ 6 ] [ 14 ]
The Night Sky section (no longer included since the 2024 comeback) used to be a monthly segment for amateur astronomers focusing on the objects which may be seen in the Northern hemisphere night sky with the unaided eye, or affordable equipment each month. Written and narrated by the former president of the Society for Popular Astronomy , Ian Morison since its inception it was a permanent feature of the original Jodcast episodes. [ 15 ] [ 16 ] Following requests from listeners, the Jodcast also began a Southern hemisphere night sky section, which was written and produced by astronomers at Space Place at Carter Observatory in Wellington, New Zealand. [ 6 ] [ 17 ] [ 18 ]
During mid-month Extra Episodes the Jodcast used to replace its News and Night Sky segments with Ask an Astronomer and Jodbite segments, these are now semi-permanent features in the monthly episodes.
The Ask an Astronomer segment of the Jodcast presents questions provided by listeners and answered by various JBCA/JBO astronomers. Questions are collected via the Jodcast website's feedback page through letters and postcards, and from the Jodcast's various social media outlets. Questions are then carefully collated and researched, before being answered on the show. Frequently questions regard items previously featured on the show, and current affairs from the wider world of science. [ 6 ]
Jodbite segments follow the same format as regular episode's interviews, except for their shorter duration and focus on the work of current JBCA/JBO staff and researchers.
In accordance with its aim to educate a worldwide audience on current important astronomy-related affairs, the Jodcast often creates special episodes dedicated to astronomy-related conferences such as the UK Royal Astronomical Society National Astronomy Meeting , and International Astronomical Union General Assemblies, complete with interviews and material obtained live on-site. [ 6 ] Other special episodes include: live episode with studio audiences in 2009 and 2016; and various video episodes featuring on-site tours of telescopes such as e- MERLIN and LOFAR .
Interviews with astronomers external to Manchester University are a regular feature on the Jodcast, and cover a diverse range of astronomical and astrophysical topics. Prominent figures in astronomy and astrophysics have often appeared as guests on the Jodcast including: Sir Bernard Lovell , a key figure in the establishment of Jodrell Bank Observatory; discoverer of pulsars , Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell ; and astronaut, Buzz Aldrin . A list of notable Jodcast interviews is provided below.
The Jodcast has been funded by the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council , the British Institute of Physics , and the Science and Technology Facilities Council . [ 6 ] [ 22 ] [ 23 ] [ 24 ]
The Jodcast team has previously contributed to notable podcasts such as 365 Days of Astronomy and BBC Radio 5 Live's Outriders . Team members are regular contributors to BBC Radio 5 Live's Up All Night with Rhod Sharp . It collates and maintains a list of radio shows and podcasts on topics related to the fields of astronomy, astrophysics and space science for educational purposes. [ 25 ] [ 26 ] [ 27 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jodcast |
The Journal of Chemical Physics is a scientific journal published by the American Institute of Physics that carries research papers on chemical physics . [ 1 ] Two volumes, each of 24 issues, are published annually. It was established in 1933 when Journal of Physical Chemistry editors refused to publish theoretical works. [ 2 ]
The editors have been: [ 1 ]
According to the Web of Science database, as to 15 March 2018, a total of 132,435 articles have been published in the Journal of Chemical Physics. The number of articles published per year was about 180 in the 1930s and decreased to about 120 during second world war. After the war the number of articles increased steadily, reaching about 1800 articles per year in 1970. The publishing rate remained fairly stable at this level until about 1990, when it climbed up again, reaching a maximum of 2871 articles published in 2014. It has since decreased somewhat to 2300 articles per year in the period 2015–2017.
As to 15 March 2018 and according to Web of Science, the ten most cited articles published in the Journal of Chemical Physics are:
By the standards of chemical physics, these are huge numbers of citations, and all of these papers should be considered pivotal. [ citation needed ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Journal_of_Chemical_Physics |
The Journal of Environmental Education is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal focusing on environmental and sustainability education. It covers formal, non-formal , and informal education at all levels: early childhood , primary , secondary , and tertiary education . It is published by Routledge and the editor-in-chief is Alberto "Tico" Arenas ( University of Arizona ). [ 1 ]
The journal was established in 1969 by Clarence "Clay" Schoenfeld ( University of Wisconsin–Madison ) as Environmental Education [ 2 ] obtaining its current title in 1971. [ 3 ]
The journal is abstracted and indexed in:
According to the Journal Citation Reports , the journal has a 2022 impact factor of 3.1. [ 8 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Journal_of_Environmental_Education |
The Journal of Organic Chemistry , colloquially known as JOC , is a peer-reviewed [ 1 ] scientific journal for original contributions of fundamental research in all branches of theory and practice [ 2 ] in organic and bioorganic chemistry . It is published by the publishing arm of the American Chemical Society , with 24 issues per year. According to the Journal Citation Reports , the journal had a 2023 impact factor of 3.3 [ 3 ] and it is the journal that received the most cites (100,091 in 2017) in the field of organic chemistry . [ 2 ] According to Web of Knowledge (and as December 2012), eleven papers from the journal have received more than 1,000 citations , with the most cited paper [ 4 ] having received 7,967 citations. The current editor-in-chief is Scott J. Miller from Yale University. [ 5 ]
J. Org. Chem. is currently indexed [ 2 ] in:
This article about a chemistry journal is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it .
See tips for writing articles about academic journals . Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Journal_of_Organic_Chemistry |
The Journal of Physical Chemistry A is a scientific journal which reports research on the chemistry of molecules - including their dynamics, spectroscopy , kinetics, structure, bonding , and quantum chemistry . It is published weekly by the American Chemical Society .
Before 1997 the title was simply Journal of Physical Chemistry . [ 1 ] Owing to the ever-growing amount of research in the area, in 1997 the journal was split into Journal of Physical Chemistry A (molecular theoretical and experimental physical chemistry) and The Journal of Physical Chemistry B (solid state, soft matter, liquids, etc.). Beginning in 2007, the latter underwent a further split, with The Journal of Physical Chemistry C now being dedicated to nanotechnology , molecular electronics , and related subjects.
According to the Journal Citation Reports , the journal have an impact factor of 2.7 for 2023. [ 2 ]
Sheldon Cooper , a fictional physicist from the television series The Big Bang Theory , appeared on the cover of a fictional issue of the journal.
This article about a physical chemistry journal is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it .
See tips for writing articles about academic journals . Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Journal_of_Physical_Chemistry_A |
The Journal of Physical Chemistry B is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers research on several fields of material chemistry (macromolecules, soft matter, and surfactants ) as well as statistical mechanics , thermodynamics , and biophysical chemistry . It has been published weekly since 1997 by the American Chemical Society . According to the Journal Citation Reports , the journal had an impact factor of 3.5 for 2023. [ 1 ]
Due to the growing amount of research in the fields it covers, the journal was split into two at the beginning of 2007, with The Journal of Physical Chemistry C specializing in nanostructures , the structures and properties of surfaces and interfaces, electronics , and related topics.
The following persons have been editor-in-chief :
This article about a physical chemistry journal is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it .
See tips for writing articles about academic journals . Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Journal_of_Physical_Chemistry_B |
The Journal of Physical Chemistry C publishes scientific articles reporting research on several subdisciplines of physical chemistry :
It was created in 2007 when The Journal of Physical Chemistry B was split in two, largely due to the recent growth in the area of nanotechnology . The journal is published weekly, with the first issue on January 11, 2007. Like The Journal of Physical Chemistry A and B , it is published by the American Chemical Society .
The journal is indexed in: Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) and British Library . According to the Journal Citation Reports , the journal had a 2022 impact factor of 3.7. [ 1 ]
This article about a physical chemistry journal is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it .
See tips for writing articles about academic journals . Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Journal_of_Physical_Chemistry_C |
The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Chemical Society . The editor-in-chief is Gregory D. Scholes at Princeton University . The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters covers research on all aspects of physical chemistry . George C. Schatz was editor-in-chief from 2010 to 2019.
The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters publishes letters, perspectives on emerging topics, editorials and viewpoints. Specific materials of interest will include, but are not limited to: [ 1 ]
According to the Journal Citation Reports , the journal had an impact factor of 6.88 for 2021. [ 2 ]
It is indexed in the following bibliographic databases:
This article about a physical chemistry journal is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it .
See tips for writing articles about academic journals . Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Journal_of_Physical_Chemistry_Letters |
The Journal of Supercomputing is an academic computer science journal concerned with theoretical and practical aspects of supercomputing . Tutorial and survey papers are also included.
This article about a computer science journal is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it .
See tips for writing articles about academic journals . Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Journal_of_Supercomputing |
Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB)
The Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB) is an autonomous body under the Kerala State Environment Department, headquartered in Thiruvananthapuram. KSBB was established under Section 22(1) of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, and is governed by the Biodiversity Act, Rules, 2004, and the Kerala State Biological Diversity Rules, 2008.
By 2024, the board's activities had been streamlined following the revisions of the Biodiversity (Amendment) Act 2023. Kerala Biodiversity Board adopts a 'people- panchayath-policy maker'-based comprehensive approach to a set of high-priority action areas to achieve the triple objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) . The actions are through a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to drive collective action for biodiversity mainstreaming in food and agriculture production, livelihood development, and climate-resilience-building activities in the state.
Objectives and Functions of the Board
KSBB's primary objective is to assist the government and people of Kerala in the sustainable and inclusive management of biodiversity in partnership with Local Self-Governments and Biodiversity Management Committees and ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the utilization of genetic resources. The following are the key functions of the Board:
The following are the key functions of the Board:
(a) Advising the State Government and the Local Self Governments on biodiversity conservation, sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the utilisation of biological resources or associated traditional knowledge thereto, by regulations issued by the Central Government or the National Biodiversity Authority through the Biodiversity Act and any such guidelines as deemed necessary for the effective management of biodiversity; (b) Regulating activities referred to in Section 7 of the Biological Diversity Act (Amendment) 2023 by granting or rejecting approvals to access the biodiversity and associated Traditional Knowledge confined to the boundaries of the state;
(b) Determining fair and equitable benefit-sharing as outlined by the National Biodiversity Authority's regulations under Section 7 when granting approvals for access to biodiversity.
(c) Capacity and Capability development of Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) in local biodiversity management including mainstreaming biodiversity principles and practices in local development and preparation and practical application of the People's Biodiversity Registers, which are the primary document of people's knowledge about the local biodiversity.
History of the Board
India was among the early adopters of a legal framework at both national and sub-national levels to implement the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity. In 2002, the Indian Parliament enacted the Biological Diversity Act, which came into effect in 2004 through the Biodiversity Rules. The following year, Kerala established its State Biodiversity Board and initiated the creation of Biodiversity Management Committees at the local self- government level.
Based on the approval by the then Chief Minister of Kerala on 25 January 2005, the notification constituting the Board was made in February 2005 [GO (Ms) No. 1/2005/STED dated 28.2.2005] and published in the gazette on 01 June 2005. Initially, the KSBB was not fully functional and operated under the Science, Technology, and Environment Department (STED)/Kerala State Council for Science, Technology, and Environment (KSCSTE). In February 2006, with the creation of the new Environment Department in Kerala [vide order GO (Ms) No. 10/2006/GAD dated 6.1.2006], the KSBB was transferred to this department [vide order GO (Ms) No. 64/2006/GAD dated 16.2.2006].
The State Biodiversity Rules were subsequently formulated in 2008. In February 2006, following the creation of the new Environment Department in Kerala [vide order GO (Ms) No. 10/2006/GAD dated 6.1.2006], the KSBB was transferred to the Environment Department [vide order GO (Ms) No. 64/2006/GAD dated 16.2.2006]. The State Biodiversity Rules were subsequently formulated in 2008.
Since 2008, the Board has been active in all the local bodies of Kerala in implementing the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefits Sharing. As of April 2024, the Board has established BMCs in all the 1,200 local bodies (941 Gram Panchayats, 152 Block Panchayats, 14 District Panchayats, 87 Municipalities, and 6 Corporations). These BMCs serve as platforms for involving local communities, including tribal and marginalized groups, in biodiversity conservation and the sustainable use of resources. They are tasked with preparing People's Biodiversity Registers (PBRS), a mandatory requirement under the Biodiversity Act, which documents local biodiversity resources, traditional knowledge, and conservation practices. Kerala has taken the lead in preparing PBRs across most of its local bodies (1080).
Operations of the Board
The State Biodiversity Board works closely with the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), the statutory autonomous body that advises the Government of India to implement the Biodiversity Act. At the national level, the NBA is authorized by the Central Government to monitor and regulate the access and utilization of biological resources from foreign countries, ensuring India meets its international obligations.
As the counterpart of the NBA, at the state level, KSBB has actively encouraged the State Government to develop effective strategies, plans, and programs aimed at the conservation, promotion, and sustainable use of biological diversity. These efforts include measures to identify and monitor areas rich in biological resources, as well as promoting both in situ and ex-situ conservation of biological resources, including cultivars, folk varieties, and landraces. Additionally, KSBB supports incentives for research, training, and public education across the state to raise awareness about biodiversity, all in alignment with national strategies and plans.
The Board also facilitates the State Government to take steps to integrate biodiversity conservation, promotion, and sustainable use into relevant sectoral and cross-sectoral policies and programs. In collaboration, with the NBA, the state Environment Department, and the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology, and Environment, the State Biodiversity Boards have developed a Charter for the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of knowledge and information related to biological resources. This knowledge base is generated for the benefit of the public, furthering biodiversity awareness and engagement.
In June 2025, the Board enters its 20th year of services in the state, and looking forward to assuming a renewed effort to establish coordinated action among the concerned state and central government departments, institutions, and key stakeholders for the implementation of the NBSAP and achieve the 2030 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM- GBF) Targets.
Mainstreaming and Implementation team
The Board is led by a Chairperson and a Member Secretary, supported by a high-power team of 12 members. Of these, seven are ex officio members appointed by the State Government, representing forest, environment, agriculture, fisheries, and animal husbandry departments, including Panchayati Raj and Tribal Affairs. The remaining five are non-official members, selected from experts in fields, such as law and science, with specialised knowledge and experience in biodiversity conservation, sustainable use of biological resources, and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilisation of such resources.
The Chairman and Member Secretaries are ably assisted and supported by an implementation team of qualified professionals at HQ and district level..
A State-level Steering Committee, comprising senior secretary-level decision-makers from 11 key apex departments and institutions (Order 60/2018/Env) advises and oversees the actions of the Board towards convergence among all line departments for biodiversity mainstreaming. Additionally, a Virtual Biodiversity Cadre, including officials from 21-line departments and institutions and District Biodiversity Coordination Committees (DBCC) at the district level, has also been in place.
Vision and Mission of the Board
Vision
A State where biodiversity is valued, studied, protected, enhanced, and wisely used, sustaining healthy and resilient ecosystem services, and delivering benefits essential for the well-being of all living beings of Kerala.
Mission
To provide necessary tools and strategic solutions for mainstreaming biodiversity principles and practices and implementing the 2030 National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan in the state, by ensuring reduced and reversed threats to the state's biodiversity and ecosystem services, recovery and restoration of the endangered life forms and ecosystems, and sustainable and responsible use of the bioresources, securing the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from such uses.
Leadership Team
Chairman
Nadesa Panicker Anil Kumar
Dr. N. Anil Kumar is a renowned Indian botanist with over three decades of expertise in biodiversity conservation, sustainable use, and equitable benefit-sharing. His career spanning 30 years was largely spent with the iconic agricultural scientist Prof. M. S. Swaminathan in Chennai and Wayanad district of Kerala. Dr. Kumar's contributions to science are varying from describing several new species of angiosperms and conserving ex-situ a large number of rare, endemic and threatened tree species. In addition to his scientific work, Dr Anil Kumar has made significant contributions to policies related to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in India, having served on various national and international advisory committees, including India's Secure and Sustainable Agriculture policy. As a leader in community biodiversity management, he served on the Steering Committee of the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI), helping promote sustainable socio-ecological landscapes worldwide.
Member Secretary
Dr. V Balakrishnan
Dr. V. Balakrishnan is a distinguished police officer and the current Member Secretary of the Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB). He began his research career at the Community Agrobiodiversity Centre of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), where he made significant contributions to biodiversity conservation and policy formulation, focusing on the sustainable utilization and equitable sharing of biological resources, as outlined in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Dr. Balakrishnan was awarded a Ph.D. from Madras University in 2010 for his pioneering work on the "Genetic Diversity of Wild Edible Yams of the Southern Western Ghats," under the mentorship of the renowned agricultural scientist and father of the Indian Green Revolution, Bharath Ratna Professor Dr. M.S. Swaminathan. A prolific researcher, Dr. Balakrishnan has published numerous papers in national and international journals, contributing extensively to the fields of agrobiodiversity, environmental law, and policy research. In recognition of his substantial contributions to biodiversity conservation, scientists named a rare species of plant Tylophora balakrishnanii in his honor. Throughout his career, Dr. Balakrishnan has been instrumental in establishing Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) and People's Biodiversity Registers (PBRs) across all local self-governments in Kerala, strengthening the state's efforts in community-based biodiversity conservation. His recent work includes books on traditional seed diversity, rare and endangered species of the Western Ghats, and environmental laws. Dr. Balakrishnan also played a pivotal role in the "Rebuild Kerala Initiative," leading projects on the rejuvenation of the Pamba River, the promotion of tradable bioresources of Kerala, conservation of rare and endangered species (RET species), and the enhancement of agrobiodiversity through custodian farmers. As a conservation researcher and policy advocate, he continues to focus on environmental law, agrobiodiversity conservation, and sustainable policy research.
List of Board Members
1) Dr.Nadesapaicker Anil Kumar – Chairman
2) Secretary/Principal Secretary/Additional Chief Secretary, Environment Department
3) Secretary/Principal Secretary/Additional Chief Secretary, Fisheries Department
4) Secretary/Principal Secretary/Additional Chief Secretary, Forest & Wildlife Department
5) Agriculture Production Commissioner, Agriculture Department
6) Executive Vice President, Kerala State Council for Science, Technology & Environment
7) Dr. R.V Varma, Former Director, Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI)
8) Pro.(Dr.)S.D Biju, Professor, Department of Environmental Studies, Delhi University
9) Dr. A.V Santhoshkumar,Professor & Head, Forest Biology & Kerala Agricultural University , Vellanikkara, Thrissur
10) Dr. Minimol J.S, Professor & Head (Plant Breeding & Genetics), Cocoa Research Centre, Kerala Agricultural University P.O, Vellanikkara, Thrissur
11) Sri. Pramod G Krishnan IFS, Forest Department | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kerala_State_Biodiversity_Board |
The Lacassane Company is a land management company, with a goal of sustainable land management using an environmental management scheme that involves a host of tools including holistic management . Located primarily in Jefferson Davis and Cameron parish , with property in Ragley, Louisiana , the company headquarters is in Lake Charles, Louisiana . [ citation needed ]
Founded in 1929, by eight Lake Charles area businessmen, with land purchased from Jim Gardiner. The company was formed with 2250 common shares of stock with share-holders including, W. P. Weber, H. G. Chalkley, C. O. Noble, Henry Pomeroy, George M. King and Frank Roberts, M. J. Muller, and purchased 21,000 acres that included farm machinery, implements, stock, and cattle bought for $380,000.00, that included what was the Lowery and Illinois plantations, that became known as "The Illinois Plant", and "The Lowery Plant". [ citation needed ]
The Lacassane company continued with the previous form of tenant farming , increasing the original cattle herd, establishing trapping, hunting, oil and gas leases, and then the wetlands mitigation project. The Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1937, when the company sold 13,000 acres (5,300 ha) south of the Illinois Plant to the United States Government for $51,774.00.
The Illinois Plant is called the Lacassane Coastal Prairie Mitigation Bank and the Ragley property, in conjunction with the "Calcasieu Mitigation Bank" and partnered with Ecosystem Investment Partners (EIP), [ 1 ] is known as the Bill Jackson Longleaf Savannah Mitigation Bank . Both have been designated (through The Lacassane Company) by the Corps of Engineers as a mitigation bank providing ecosystem services to the public in the form of Environmental mitigation (compensatory mitigation) to ensure the no net loss wetlands policy [ 2 ] is followed to prevent Biodiversity loss that keeps the greenhouse debt in check. The Lacassane Company partnered with The Coastal Plain Conservancy to hold conservation servitudes on the land. The banks are monitored and maintained by Wildlands, Inc., an environmental consulting and plant propagation company.
The company operations now include land leases for waterfowl (Waterfowl Limited Liability Company) [ 3 ] and other hunting, [ 4 ] cattle grazing, alligator hide and egg harvesting, oil and gas exploration, and wetland projects. A pumping system through canals, laterals, the Bell City ditch, the Lacassine Bayou and the Mermentau River provides irrigation for the farming operations. [ 5 ] The company's SIC code (Lessors of Real Property, NEC) is 6519 and the NAICS CODE (Lessors of Other Real Estate Property) is 531190. [ 6 ]
In 2006, The Lacassane Company became the parent company of Louisiana Native Seed Company , that provides ecospecies such as Little Bluestem , Brownseed Paspalum , Florida Paspalum , Switchgrass , Partridge Pea , and Eastern Gamagrass and has consultants with experience in Agricultural science and botany . The Louisiana Native Seed Company is listed as a provider for the United States Department of Agriculture 's Natural Resources Conservation Service . [ 7 ]
The Lacassane Club was founded in 2013, as a subsidiary of The Lacassane Company, on 14,000 of the 21,000 acres owned by the company. The company offers personal and corporate hunting memberships that include access to the lodge, separate sleeping quarters called casitas and a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house called Jed's Cabin. The staff includes the club manager, a head guide, 4 other guides, an executive chef, and a Zoology/Wildlife Management biologist. [ citation needed ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lacassane_Company |
The Lady's and Gentleman's Diary was a recreational mathematics magazine formed as a successor of The Ladies' Diary and Gentleman's Diary in 1841. It was published annually between 1841 and 1871 [ 1 ] by the Company of Stationers; its editor from 1844 to 1865 was Wesley S. B. Woolhouse . It consisted mostly of problems posed by its readers, with their solutions given in later volumes, though it also contained word puzzles and poetry. The magazine was based in London . It ceased publication in 1871. [ 1 ] This should not be confused with Ladies and Gentlemens Diary, or Royal Almanack (1775 to 1786) which was printed by Thomas Carnan and edited by Reuben Burrow and was a short lived competitor to The Ladies' Diary .
Kirkman's schoolgirl problem originated in a question in the magazine.
This British magazine or academic journal–related article is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it .
See tips for writing articles about magazines . Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady's_and_Gentleman's_Diary |
The Lexicon of Comicana is a 1980 book by the American cartoonist Mort Walker . It was intended as a tongue-in-cheek look at the devices used by comics cartoonists . In it, Walker invented an international set of symbols called symbolia after researching cartoons around the world (described by the term comicana ). In 1964, Walker had written an article called "Let's Get Down to Grawlixes", a satirical piece for the National Cartoonists Society . He used terms such as grawlixes for his own amusement, but they soon began to catch on and acquired an unexpected validity. The Lexicon was written in response to this.
The names he invented for them sometimes appear in dictionaries , and serve as convenient terminology occasionally used by cartoonists and critics. A 2001 gallery showing of comic- and street-influenced art in San Francisco , for example, was called " Plewds! Squeans! and Spurls! " [ 1 ]
Additional symbolia terms include whiteope , sphericasia , that-a-tron , spurls , oculama , crottles , maledicta balloons , farkles , doozex , staggeratron , boozex , digitrons , nittles , waftaroms , and jarns .
Comics scholar Maggie Thompson has noted that these symbols were originally described and named by Charles D. Rice in the 1950s; Thompson further observed that, although Walker did cite his sources ("Charlie Rice of This Week magazine") in his 1975 book Backstage at the Strips , "many [including Thompson herself] (...) assumed [that this] was [Walker's] joke about an imaginary scholarly attribution." [ 3 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lexicon_of_Comicana |
The Lichenologist is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal specialising in lichenology , including taxonomy , systematics , ecology , biogeography , and conservation . It is published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the British Lichen Society and the editors-in-chief are Christopher J. Ellis ( Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh ) and Leena Myllys ( Finnish Museum of Natural History ).
The journal was established in November 1958. It followed the founding of the British Lichen Society on 1 February 1958. [ 1 ] The journal was founded as a publication of the British Lichen Society, with Peter Wilfred James as editor-in-chief. In its early years, the journal was modest in scope, comprising approximately fifty pages annually. The first two volumes were cyclostyled with text typed by Swinscow's secretary. [ 2 ]
In its first editorial , the primary objectives of the journal were outlined, which focussed on both the enhancement of lichenological study and the importance of nature conservation . The journal sought to address the scarcity of contemporary literature on British lichen taxonomy by providing detailed articles to assist botanists in identifying local species. Additionally, it aimed to foster contributions on the distribution and ecology of lichens in Britain, areas that were then under-explored. Emphasising the balance between research and the ecological impact of specimen collection , the journal advocated for careful, responsible study practices to avoid harming these slow-growing organisms. [ 3 ]
In its early years, the journal experimented with different cover designs before settling on a mint green cover in 1959, which remained in use until 2000. The journal also transitioned from irregularly published volumes to annual volumes, with volume 6 in 1974 marking the start of consecutively numbered volumes synchronised with calendar years. [ 4 ] Despite being founded in 1958, the journal reached its fiftieth volume only in 2018, as the early volumes spanned multiple years each. [ 5 ]
Over the decades, the journal grew in size, scope, and international significance. For a considerable period, it was the only scientific journal in the world dedicated entirely to lichens, making it an essential publication for research in the field. As it expanded, it became increasingly respected internationally while remaining the flagship publication of the British Lichen Society. [ 2 ]
During Crittenden's tenure as senior editor from 2000 to 2019, the journal underwent several significant changes that modernised and enhanced the journal's impact. In 2001, Crittenden initiated a comprehensive overhaul of the journal's layout and printing, introducing a larger page size and a new cover design that departed from the long-standing mint green cover used since 1959. This visual refresh coincided with efforts to broaden the journal's content and appeal. [ 6 ]
Crittenden also introduced thematic issues focusing on specific topics within lichenology, which helped to consolidate research in particular areas and increase reader engagement. He also encouraged the submission of longer, more comprehensive papers, allowing for more in-depth treatments of complex subjects. This shift towards more substantial contributions was reflected in an increase in the average number of pages per paper over the years. [ 7 ]
Under Crittenden's leadership, the journal also adapted to changes in academic publishing practices and implemented effective electronic publication . In response to evolving nomenclatural requirements , the obligate registration of new fungal names was introduced, ensuring that taxonomic contributions met the latest standards in the field. [ 8 ]
Perhaps one of the most notable changes came in 2016 when Crittenden implemented a policy to reject "single naked species descriptions ". This decision encouraged authors to contextualise new species descriptions within broader taxonomic or ecological frameworks, thereby increasing the overall impact and usefulness of such contributions. Despite initial concerns, this policy change did not decrease the number of new species described in the journal; instead, it led to more comprehensive taxonomic papers. [ 9 ]
The following persons are or have been editors-in-chief: [ 10 ]
The journal is abstracted and indexed in:
According to the Journal Citation Reports , the journal has a 2023 impact factor of 1.6. [ 14 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lichenologist |
The Lightning Process ( LP ) is a three-day personal training programme developed and trademarked by British osteopath Phil Parker. [ 1 ] It makes unsubstantiated claims to be beneficial for various conditions, including myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), depression and chronic pain.
Developed in the late 1990s, the LP states that it aims to teach techniques for managing the acute stress response that the body experiences under threat. The LP states it aims to help recognise the stress response, calm it and manage it in the long term. It also applies some ideas drawn from the pseudoscience neurolinguistic programming , as well as elements of life coaching .
The Lightning Process has raised controversy due to the resemblance of a pyramid scheme , a lack of scientific basis, its cost, reports of deterioration after the treatment or feeling blamed for a failure of treatment, and the implication that certain conditions are not physical. [ 2 ] The website was amended after the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that it was misleading. [ 3 ] In 2021, after a review of the available evidence, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence advised against the use of Lightning Process among patients with ME/CFS. [ 4 ]
The Lightning Process comprises three group sessions conducted on three consecutive days, lasting about 12 hours altogether, conducted by trained practitioners. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ]
According to its developer, Phil Parker, the programme aims to teach participants about the acute stress response the body experiences under threat. It aims to help trainees spot when this response is happening and learn how to calm it. Techniques based on movement, postural awareness and personal coaching are intended to modify the production of stress hormones. Participants practice a learnt series of steps to habituate the calming method. [ 6 ] [ 8 ]
The Lightning Process is based on the theory that the body can get stuck in a persistent stress response. The initial stressor may be a viral or bacterial infection, psychological stress, or trauma, which causes physical symptoms due to the body's stress response. These symptoms then act as a further stressor, resulting in overload of the central nervous system and chronic activation of the body's stress response. Neuroplasticity then causes this abnormal stress response to persist and be maintained. The Lightning Process suggests that while this disruption initially happens at an unconscious level, it is possible for the patient to exert conscious control and influence over the process, eventually breaking the cycle. [ 9 ]
The rationale for the programme draws on ideas of osteopaths Andrew Taylor Still and J M Littlejohn regarding nervous system dysregulation and addressing clients' needs in a holistic manner rather than focusing solely on symptoms. [ 10 ] It also incorporates ideas drawn from neuro-linguistic programming and life coaching . [ 11 ] A basic premise is that individuals can influence their own physiological responses in controlled and repeatable ways. [ 12 ] Such learnt emotional self-regulation , it is suggested, could help overcome illness and improve well-being, if the method is practised consistently. [ 12 ]
Parker advocates attending the training course in order to gain a full understanding of the tools in a safe and supportive context. [ 13 ] He also lays emphasis on the trainee playing an active role in recovery (the course is framed as a fully participatory 'training', not a passive 'treatment' or set of answers given to a 'patient'). [ 14 ] [ 15 ] He claims that the programme has helped to resolve various conditions including depression, panic attacks, insomnia, drug addictions, chronic pain and multiple sclerosis . [ 16 ] The program has also been used with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). [ 17 ] [ 8 ]
The Lightning Process is trademarked . [ 5 ]
There has been criticism of the cost of the three-day course. [ 18 ] [ 19 ] There has also been criticism of the claimed benefits (see also below ). [ 2 ] [ 19 ] John Greensmith, of the British advocacy group ME Free For All, stated, "We think their claims are extravagant... if patients get better, they claim the success of the treatment – but if they don't, they say the patient is responsible." [ 2 ] In 2022, the World ME Alliance issued the statement, "The World ME Alliance and its members do not endorse the Lightning Process for people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), sometimes called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)." [ 20 ]
In a BBC "File on Four" episode, reporter Rachel Schraer commented on a Lightning Process course she attended. She commented: "Not only did my coach say my thoughts were maintaining my symptoms, she also told me quite explicitly that there was nothing physical wrong with my body, that’s despite having no apparent medical qualification or requesting access to any test results." [ 21 ] [ 22 ] Neuroscientist Camilla Nord, a specialist in neuroscience and mental health, comments on the instructions given to participants to use positive reinforcing language, saying, “I’m afraid now we’ve strayed very, very far from neuroscience. What I would call neuro-bollocks. It’s a kind of abusive of neuro-scientific terms in order to give quite simple psychological techniques a kind of sheen of science about them.” [ 21 ]
The use of the Lightning Process in ME/CFS has caused controversy, with patient groups and individuals stating that it has the appearance of a pyramid scheme, makes extravagant claims, that some patients report deterioration after the treatment, and that the treatment implies that ME/CFS is not a physical illness or the patient bears responsibility for failure of the treatment. [ 2 ] According to Lightning Process practitioner Maxine Henk-Bryce in the treatment "We look at how the mind influences the body and how the body influences the mind". [ 2 ]
Nigel Hawkes writing for The BMJ describes the Lightning Process as being "secretive about its methods, lacks overall medical supervision, and has a cultish quality because many of the therapists are former sufferers who deliver the programme with great conviction" and that "some children who do not benefit have said that they feel blamed for the failure." [ 23 ]
In 2011 Hampshire Trading Standards requested that the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) give a ruling on the website www.lightningprocess.com, arguing that the information on the site was misleading in four areas. [ 24 ] ASA upheld two of the four challenges. [ 3 ] They concluded that although there seemed to be some evidence of participant improvement during trials conducted, the trials were not controlled, the evidence was not sufficient to draw robust conclusions, and more investigation was necessary; consequently, the website's claims at the time were deemed misleading and was amended. [ 3 ]
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) states that "[d]o not offer the Lightning Process, or therapies based on it, to people with ME/CFS" in their guideline for the management of ME/CFS published in 2021. [ 4 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lightning_Process |
The Lodge is an audio mastering facility located in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded by Emily Lazar in 1997. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] Over the years The Lodge has mastered recordings for many well known musicians, including David Bowie , The Subways , Foo Fighters , Lou Reed , Paul McCartney , Sinéad O'Connor , Natalie Merchant , Marianne Faithfull , and Madonna . The engineers have also mastered sound tracks for movies such as American Psycho and Thievery Corporation . [ 2 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ] [ 11 ]
This United States media company article is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lodge_(audio_mastering) |
The Logical Foundations of Induction ( Arabic : الأسس المنطقية للاستقراء ) is a philosophical book by the Shia jurisprudent and philosopher Sayyid Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr . The book is al-Sadr's attempt to deal with the problem of induction , and ultimately establish a common rational logical foundation and ground for the natural sciences , and faith in God. This is as indicated by the subtitle of the book: "A New Study of Induction That Aims to Discover the Common Logical Basis of the Natural Sciences and Faith in God" ( Arabic : "دراسة جديدة للاستقراء تستهدف اكتشاف الأساس المنطقي المشترك للعلوم الطبيعية وللإيمان بالله" ). The book is considered by scholars to be highly valuable, but also highly neglected and understudied at the same time.
Sayyid Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr (1934 – 1980) was an influential Iraqi Twelver Shia intellectual and cleric that is often regarded as one of the most brilliant Twelver Shia scholars in the twentieth century. In his twenties, al-Sadr witnessed the spread of communism and secularism in Iraq. Al-Sadr thus engaged with what he seems to have found as the major challenges to Islam in his era, namely Marxism and Western liberalism . [ 1 ] This is what al-Sadr seems to have set himself to, as evident by his intellectual output that aimed to convey a modernized Islam, that is able to be an alternative to communism, and capitalism. His works include a trilogy of books, with the first being titled "Our philosophy" (Falsafatunā). It deals with Epistemology and defends rationalism and human knowledge. The second book, "Our economics" (Iqtiṣādunā) deals with Islamic economics as an alternative to capitalism. The third book, "Our society" (Mujtamaʿunā) was not published, and probably remains unfinished due to al-Sadr's imprisonment and execution. Al-Sadr also authored other works, including this work in Logic, entitled The Logical Foundations of Induction. [ 2 ] This treatise seems to be al-Sadr's attempt to respond to the secular challenges of the natural sciences, for which God seems to be "a hypothesis they can do without", and that is by proving that there is nothing threatening in science to religion and its outlook to life. This is evident in the subtitle of the book: "A New Study of Induction That Aims to Discover the Common Logical Basis of the Natural Sciences and Faith in God". [ 1 ]
Al-Sadr seems to have had two phases in his philosophical thought. At first, and as evident in his book "Our philosophy" (1959) , al-Sadr supports the rationalist Aristotelian approach to knowledge. He later on criticized this approach, and advocated in his book "The logical Foundations of Induction" (1972) for a new approach to knowledge that he terms the subjectivist approach. [ 3 ]
As indicated by its title, al-Sadr in this treatise is concerned with "the logical foundations of induction". Al-Sadr starts by contrasting induction with deduction , defining deduction as inference in which the conclusion is never more general than the premises . In contrast, induction is defined as inference in which we move from particular premises to general conclusions. Another way of contrasting deduction and induction is through the degree by which the premises warrant the conclusion. In deduction, the truth of the premises of an argument necessitates the truth of its conclusion. On the other hand, in induction, the truth of the premises renders the conclusion likely, rather than guarantee its truth. As such, and as al-Sadr puts it in his introduction, there is a "gap" in inductive reasoning. This is since while deductive reasoning is justified by the law of noncontradiction , induction lacks this justification. Al-Sadr aims in this book to close this "gap", and provide the missing justification for inductive reasoning. The book is divided into four sections. The first two sections are criticisms of previous attempts to solve the problem of induction, focusing on what al-Sadr calls the "rationalist Aristotelian" approach, and the empiricist approach. The third section forms the bulk of the book, and contains the foundations of al-Sadr's epistemological contribution. The fourth and final section investigates the epistemological results of the previous section, including that faith in God can be justified by the same means used in the natural sciences. [ 1 ]
Al-Sadr starts his discussion of the Aristotelian approach (or what al-Sadr refers to as the "rationalist" approach) to induction by stating that logic differentiates between two types of induction, namely, perfect induction, and imperfect induction. In perfect induction, the general conclusion follows from the premises because all instances are enumerated in the premises. Perfect induction is simply then a valid deduction. In imperfect induction, by contrast, the general conclusion goes beyond the instances enumerated in the premises, and is what al-Sadr focuses on. [ 1 ]
Al-Sadr lays down the Aristotelian approach to the justification of imperfect induction as being composed by three components: Firstly, the claim that nothing happens without a cause, which can be considered a version of the principle of sufficient reason . Secondly, the claim that repeated conjunction implies causality . Thirdly, the claim that causality implies regularity, i.e. that whenever a cause A that causes B occurs, then it will be followed by B. Aristotelian logic does not try to justify the first and third components, it instead deals with both as rational a priori principles. The second claim remains, and thus requires justification. Aristotelian logic justifies the second claim by basing it on another a priori principle; the claim that if a conjunction occurs either always or for the most part, then that conjunction is not a coincidence . By this, imperfect induction in Aristotelian logic, is a form of a deductive syllogism , and thus has justification. Yet, al-Sadr argues that the claim that if a conjunction always repeats or for the most part then it is not a coincidence is not an a priori principle; he considers it being justified by induction, and thus cannot be used to justify induction due to falling in circular reasoning . Al-Sadr sets down seven arguments that disprove that this claim is an a priori principle. [ 1 ]
The empiricist approach is different from the rationalist approach in that it rejects any a priori principles. Al-Sadr categorizes the empiricist accounts of induction into three categories, the first being the account that it is possible to reach certainty by inductive reasoning, the second being the account that inductive reasoning makes its conclusion more or less probable but not to the level of certainty, and the third being the account that doubts the objective value of induction, and argues that its value stems merely from mental "custom and habit." The first and second accounts agree with the Aristotelian approach that induction relies on the principle that nothing happens without a cause, and the principle that causality implies regularity, but they differ with it in the justification of these principles. The first account takes an approach of circular reasoning in that these principles are justified by induction itself that they are used in justifying, while the second account says that these principles cannot be justified, and hence induction cannot lead to certainty. Al-Sadr deals mainly with the third account associated with David Hume , that could be called the psychological approach. He criticizes Hume's approach to causality, and his account of induction. After this revision of the empiricist approaches to induction, al-Sadr concludes that the empiricist approach fails to justify and account for induction. [ 1 ]
After criticizing the rationalist and empiricist approaches to induction, al-Sadr lays down what he calls "a new direction in epistemology", which is his subjectivist approach. His approach agrees with the rationalist approach in that our knowledge is based on certain a priori principles, though it disagrees with it in the identification of these principles, and the ways our knowledge can grow. The latter part is further elaborated by al-Sadr in that our knowledge can grow in both objective, and subjective means, rather than only by objective means as the rationalist approach argues. This subjective growth requires a new sort of "subjective logic" to account for the conditions that make the subjective growth of knowledge rational. [ 1 ]
Al-Sadr points out that the subjective growth of knowledge passes through two phases: the phase of objective growth in which knowledge starts as a mere probability that rises to high probabilities by objective means but not to the level of certainty, and the phase of subjective growth that rises with that high probability to the level of certainty. The phase of objective growth is based on the theory of probability , a version of which al-Sadr illustrates. The idea behind the objective growth is that by experiments and by using principles of probability, one can show that phenomenon A is the cause of another phenomenon B, and thus that it will always be followed by it in similar circumstances. In the phase of subjective growth, though, is where the bridge that closes the inductive "gap" is offered by al-Sadr. [ 1 ]
Al-Sadr differentiates between three types of certainty: logical certainty, subjective certainty, and objective certainty. Logical certainty is the certainty we have when we believe in something and know the impossibility of it being otherwise, given other knowledge we have. For example, if we know that p and q are given, it is impossible logically for not p to be true. Subjective certainty is the subjective psychological state that a person might have that a proposition is true beyond any doubt. Finally, objective certainty is the certainty that is based on the laws of probability, and is what al-Sadr refers to as the certainty that knowledge reaches in the subjective growth phase. Al-Sadr then presents an assumption that raises with the high probability of inductive reasoning in the objective growth phase to rational objective certainty: "Whenever the probability value of an alternative becomes overwhelmingly great, that value transforms—under specific conditions—into certainty." [ 1 ] It is as if “human knowledge is designed in a manner that prevents it from preserving very small probability values; any small probability value simply dies away in favor of the large probability value on the other side; and this means: this [large probability] value transforms into certainty”. [ 1 ]
After laying down his view on induction, al-Sadr presents his proof for the existence of God, on inductive grounds. This ultimately aims to show that the certainty in the existence of God is based on the same principles that lead to certainty in the natural sciences, and that we either accept, or reject both of them. [ 1 ]
The book is considered by scholars to be a great achievement by al-Sadr. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ] Scholars including Sayyid Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei , are narrated to have noted the book's depth and complexity. [ 11 ] Other scholars including Zaki Naguib Mahmoud also found the book to be highly valuable and urged for it to be translated into English. [ 11 ] Despite this importance, scholars regard the book to be highly neglected and understudied in Islamic seminaries and institutions. [ 12 ] [ 13 ]
The book, however, was not devoid of criticism. [ 1 ] [ 14 ] The assumption that al-Sadr provides to justify the subjective growth of knowledge, for example, was criticized by Saleh J. Agha as being merely a description of how human knowledge works, rather than what is the true real justification of inductive reasoning. [ 1 ]
Murtadha Faraj states that al-Sadr in this book establishes a new inductive logic; what al-Sadr calls the "Subjectivist Logic" ( Arabic : المنطق الذاتي ). This new logic details the rules for al-Sadr "Subjectivist" account in Epistemology. Faraj provides a critique of al-Sadr's analysis of the workings of the human mind; he argues that al-Sadr identifies the objective rules that make inductive reasoning rational, but does not describe what actually happens in the human mind. [ 15 ] Faraj bases his critique on several concepts in the philosophy of science , including the concept of tacit knowledge attributed to Michael Polanyi , and the Duhem–Quine thesis . [ 16 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Logical_Foundations_of_Induction |
Rudolf Carnap ( / ˈ k ɑːr n æ p / ; [ 20 ] German: [ˈkaʁnaːp] ; 18 May 1891 – 14 September 1970) was a German-language philosopher who was active in Europe before 1935 and in the United States thereafter. He was a major member of the Vienna Circle and an advocate of logical positivism .
Carnap's father rose from being a poor ribbon-weaver to be the owner of a ribbon-making factory. His mother came from an academic family; her father was an educational reformer and her oldest brother was the archaeologist Wilhelm Dörpfeld . As a ten-year-old, Carnap accompanied Wilhelm Dörpfeld on an expedition to Greece. [ 21 ] Carnap was raised in a profoundly religious Protestant family, but later became an atheist. [ 22 ] [ 23 ]
He began his formal education at the Barmen Gymnasium and the Carolo-Alexandrinum [ de ] Gymnasium in Jena . [ 24 ] From 1910 to 1914, he attended the University of Jena , intending to write a thesis in physics . He also intently studied Immanuel Kant 's Critique of Pure Reason during a course taught by Bruno Bauch , and was one of the very few students to attend Gottlob Frege 's courses in mathematical logic .
During his university years, he became enthralled with the German Youth Movement . [ 1 ]
While Carnap held moral and political opposition to World War I , he felt obligated to serve in the German army. After three years of service, he was given permission to study physics at the University of Berlin , 1917–18, where Albert Einstein was a newly appointed professor. Carnap then attended the University of Jena , where he wrote a thesis defining an axiomatic theory of space and time . The physics department said it was too philosophical, and Bruno Bauch of the philosophy department said it was pure physics. Carnap then wrote another thesis in 1921, under Bauch's supervision, [ 2 ] on the theory of space in a more orthodox Kantian style, published as Der Raum ( Space ) in a supplemental issue of Kant-Studien (1922).
Frege's course exposed him to Bertrand Russell 's work on logic and philosophy, which gave a sense of direction to his studies. He accepted the effort to surpass traditional philosophy with logical innovations that inform the sciences. He wrote a letter to Russell, who responded by copying by hand long passages from his Principia Mathematica for Carnap's benefit, as neither Carnap nor his university could afford a copy of this epochal work. In 1924 and 1925, he attended seminars led by Edmund Husserl , [ 25 ] the founder of phenomenology , and continued to write on physics from a logical positivist perspective.
Carnap discovered a kindred spirit when he met Hans Reichenbach at a 1923 conference. Reichenbach introduced Carnap to Moritz Schlick , a professor at the University of Vienna who offered Carnap a position in his department, which Carnap accepted in 1926. Carnap thereupon joined an informal group of Viennese intellectuals that came to be known as the Vienna Circle , directed largely by Schlick and including Hans Hahn , Friedrich Waismann , Otto Neurath , and Herbert Feigl , with occasional visits by Hahn's student Kurt Gödel . When Wittgenstein visited Vienna, Carnap would meet with him. He (with Hahn and Neurath) wrote the 1929 manifesto of the Circle, and (with Hans Reichenbach ) initiated the philosophy journal Erkenntnis .
In February 1930, Alfred Tarski lectured in Vienna, and during November 1930, Carnap visited Warsaw. On these occasions, he learned much about Tarski's model-theoretic method of semantics . Rose Rand , another philosopher in the Vienna Circle, noted, "Carnap's conception of semantics starts from the basis given in Tarski's work, but a distinction is made between logical and non-logical constants, and between logical and factual truth... At the same time, he worked with the concepts of intension and extension , and took these two concepts as a basis of a new method of semantics." [ 26 ]
In 1931, Carnap was appointed Professor at the German University of Prague . In 1933, W. V. Quine met Carnap in Prague and discussed the latter's work at some length. Thus began the lifelong mutual respect these two men shared, one that survived Quine's eventual forceful disagreements with a number of Carnap's philosophical conclusions.
Carnap, whose socialist and pacifist beliefs put him at risk in Nazi Germany , emigrated to the United States in 1935 and became a naturalized citizen in 1941. Meanwhile, back in Vienna, Schlick was murdered in 1936. From 1936 to 1952, Carnap was a professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago . During the late 1930s, Carnap offered an assistant position in philosophy to Carl Gustav Hempel , who accepted and became one of his most significant intellectual collaborators. Thanks partly to Quine's help, Carnap spent the years 1939–41 at Harvard University , where he was reunited with Tarski. [ 27 ] Carnap (1963) later expressed some irritation about his time at Chicago, where he and Charles W. Morris were the only members of the department committed to the primacy of science and logic. (Their Chicago colleagues included Richard McKeon , Charles Hartshorne , and Manley Thompson.) Carnap's years at Chicago were nonetheless very productive ones. He wrote books on semantics (Carnap 1942, 1943, 1956), modal logic , and on the philosophical foundations of probability and inductive logic (Carnap 1950, 1952).
After a stint at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton (1952–1954), he joined the UCLA Department of Philosophy in 1954, Hans Reichenbach having died the previous year. He had earlier refused an offer of a similar job at the University of California, Berkeley , because accepting that position required that he sign a loyalty oath , a practice to which he was opposed on principle. While at UCLA, he wrote on scientific knowledge, the analytic–synthetic distinction , and the verification principle . His writings on thermodynamics and on the foundations of probability and inductive logic were published posthumously as Carnap (1971, 1977, 1980).
Carnap taught himself Esperanto when he was 14 years of age. He later attended the World Congress of Esperanto in Dresden in 1908. [ 28 ] He also attended the 1924 Congress in Vienna, where he met his fellow Esperantist Otto Neurath for the first time. [ 29 ]
In the USA, Carnap was somewhat politically involved. Carnap was a signatory of an open appeal distributed by the National Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case to appeal for clemency in the case. [ 30 ] He was listed as a 'sponsor' for the "National Conference to Appeal the Walter-McCarran Law and Defend Its Victims" organised by the American Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born , [ 31 ] and also for the "Scientific and Cultural Conference for World Peace" organised by the National Council of Arts, Sciences and Professions . [ 32 ]
Carnap had four children by his first marriage to Elizabeth Schöndube, which ended in divorce in 1929. He married his second wife, Elizabeth Ina Stöger, in 1933. [ 21 ] Ina committed suicide in 1964.
Below is an examination of the main topics in the evolution of the philosophy of Rudolf Carnap. It is not exhaustive, but it outlines Carnap's main works and contributions to modern epistemology and philosophy of logic .
From 1919 to 1921, Carnap worked on a doctoral thesis called Der Raum: Ein Beitrag zur Wissenschaftslehre ( Space: A Contribution to the Theory of Science , 1922). In this dissertation on the philosophical foundations of geometry , Carnap tried to provide a logical basis for a theory of space and time in physics . Considering that Carnap was interested in pure mathematics , natural sciences and philosophy, his dissertation can be seen as an attempt to build a bridge between the different disciplines that are geometry, physics, and philosophy. For Carnap thought that in many instances those disciplines use the same concepts, but with totally different meanings. The main objective of Carnap's dissertation was to show that the inconsistencies between theories concerning space only existed because philosophers, as well as mathematicians and scientists, were talking about different things while using the same "space" word. Hence, Carnap characteristically argued that there had to be three separate notions of space. "Formal" space is space in the sense of mathematics: it is an abstract system of relations. "Intuitive" space is made of certain contents of intuition independent of single experiences. "Physical" space is made of actual spatial facts given in experience. The upshot is that those three kinds of "space" imply three different kinds of knowledge and thus three different kinds of investigations. It is interesting to note that it is in this dissertation that the main themes of Carnap's philosophy appear, most importantly, the idea that many philosophical contradictions appear because of a misuse of language, and a stress on the importance of distinguishing formal and material modes of speech.
From 1922 to 1925, Carnap worked on a book which became one of his major works, namely Der logische Aufbau der Welt (translated as The Logical Structure of the World , 1967), which was accepted in 1926 as his habilitation thesis at the University of Vienna and published as a book in 1928. [ 33 ] That achievement has become a landmark in modern epistemology and can be read as a forceful statement of the philosophical thesis of logical positivism. Indeed, the Aufbau suggests that epistemology, based on modern symbolic logic , is concerned with the logical analysis of scientific propositions, while science itself, based on experience, is the only source of knowledge of the external world, i.e. the world outside the realm of human perception. According to Carnap, philosophical propositions are statements about the language of science; they aren't true or false, but merely consist of definitions and conventions about the use of certain concepts. In contrast, scientific propositions are factual statements about the external reality. They are meaningful because they are based on the perceptions of the senses. In other words, the truth or falsity of those propositions can be verified by testing their content with further observations.
In the Aufbau , Carnap wants to display the logical and conceptual structure with which all scientific (factual) statements can be organized. Carnap gives the label " constitution theory " to this epistemic-logical project. It is a constructive undertaking that systematizes scientific knowledge according to the notions of symbolic logic. Accordingly, the purpose of this constitutional system is to identify and discern different classes of scientific concepts and to specify the logical relations that link them. In the Aufbau, concepts are taken to denote objects, relations, properties, classes and states. Carnap argues that all concepts must be ranked over a hierarchy. In that hierarchy, all concepts are organized according to a fundamental arrangement where concepts can be reduced and converted to other basic ones. Carnap explains that a concept can be reduced to another when all sentences containing the first concept can be transformed into sentences containing the other. In other words, every scientific sentence should be translatable into another sentence such that the original terms have the same reference as the translated terms. Most significantly, Carnap argues that the basis of this system is psychological. Its content is the "immediately given", which is made of basic elements, namely perceptual experiences. These basic elements consist of conscious psychological states of a single human subject. In the end, Carnap argues that his constitutional project demonstrates the possibility of defining and uniting all scientific concepts in a single conceptual system on the basis of a few fundamental concepts.
From 1928 to 1934, Carnap published papers ( Scheinprobleme in der Philosophie , 1928; translated as Pseudoproblems in Philosophy , 1967) in which he appears overtly skeptical of the aims and methods of metaphysics , i.e. the traditional philosophy that finds its roots in mythical and religious thought. Indeed, he discusses how, in many cases, metaphysics is made of meaningless discussions of pseudo-problems. For Carnap, a pseudo-problem is a philosophical question that, on the surface, handles concepts that refer to our world while, in fact, these concepts do not actually denote real and attested objects. In other words, these pseudo-problems concern statements that do not, in any way, have empirical implications. They do not refer to states of affairs and the things they denote cannot be perceived. Consequently, one of Carnap's main aim has been to redefine the purpose and method of philosophy. According to him, philosophy should not aim at producing any knowledge transcending the knowledge of science. In contrast, by analyzing the language and propositions of science, philosophers should define the logical foundations of scientific knowledge. Using symbolic logic , they should explicate the concepts, methods, and justificatory processes that exist in science.
Carnap believed that the difficulty with traditional philosophy lay in the use of concepts that are not useful for science. For Carnap, the scientific legitimacy of these concepts was doubtful because the sentences containing them do not express facts. Indeed, a logical analysis of those sentences proves that they do not convey the meaning of states of affairs. In other words, these sentences are meaningless. Carnap explains that to be meaningful, a sentence should be factual. It can be so, for one thing, by being based on experience, i.e., by being formulated with words relating to direct observations. For another, a sentence is factual if one can clearly state what the observations are that could confirm or disconfirm that sentence. After all, Carnap presupposes a specific criterion of meaning, namely the Wittgensteinian principle of verifiability. Indeed, he requires, as a precondition of meaningfulness, that all sentences be verifiable, which implies that a sentence is meaningful only if there is a way to verify if it is true or false. To verify a sentence, one needs to expound the empirical conditions and circumstances that would establish the truth of the sentence. As a result, it is clear for Carnap that metaphysical sentences are meaningless. They include concepts like "god", "soul", and "the absolute" that transcend experience and cannot be traced back or connected to direct observations. Because those sentences cannot be verified in any way, Carnap suggests that science, as well as philosophy, should neither consider nor contain them.
At that point in his career, Carnap attempted to develop a full theory of the logical structure of scientific language. This theory, exposed in Logische Syntax der Sprache (1934; translated as The Logical Syntax of Language , 1937) gives the foundations to his idea that scientific language has a specific formal structure and that its signs are governed by the rules of deductive logic. Moreover, the theory of logical syntax expounds a method with which one can talk about a language: it is a formal meta-theory about the pure forms of language. In the end, because Carnap argues that philosophy aims at the logical analysis of the language of science and thus is the logic of science, the theory of the logical syntax can be considered as a definite language and a conceptual framework for philosophy.
The logical syntax of language is a formal theory. It is not concerned with the contextualized meaning or the truth-value of sentences. In contrast, it considers the general structure of a given language and explores the different structural relations that connect the elements of that language. Hence, by explaining the different operations that allow specific transformations within the language, the theory is a systematic exposition of the rules that operate within that language. In fact, the basic function of these rules is to provide the principles to safeguard coherence, to avoid contradictions, and to deduce justified conclusions. Carnap sees language as a calculus. This calculus is a systematic arrangement of symbols and relations. The symbols of the language are organized according to the class that they belong to—and it is through their combination that we can form sentences. The relations are different conditions under which a sentence can be said to follow, or to be the consequence, of another sentence. The definitions included in the calculus state the conditions under which a sentence can be considered of a certain type and how those sentences can be transformed. We can see the logical syntax as a method of formal transformation, i.e., a method for calculating and reasoning with symbols.
Finally, Carnap introduces his well-known "principle of tolerance." This principle suggests that there is no moral in logic. When it comes to using a language, there is no good or bad, fundamentally true or false. In this perspective, the philosopher's task is not to bring authoritative interdicts prohibiting the use of certain concepts. In contrast, philosophers should seek general agreements over the relevance of certain logical devices. According to Carnap, those agreements are possible only through the detailed presentation of the meaning and use of the expressions of a language. In other words, Carnap believes that every logical language is correct only if this language is supported by exact definitions and not by philosophical presumptions. Carnap embraces a formal conventionalism. That implies that formal languages are constructed and that everyone is free to choose the language they find more suited to their purpose. There should not be any controversy over which language is the correct language; what matters is agreeing over which language best suits a particular purpose. Carnap explains that the choice of a language should be guided according to the security it provides against logical inconsistency. Furthermore, practical elements like simplicity and fruitfulness in certain tasks influence the choice of a language. Clearly enough, the principle of tolerance was a sophisticated device introduced by Carnap to dismiss any form of dogmatism in philosophy.
After having considered problems in semantics, i.e. the theory of the concepts of meaning and truth ( Foundations of Logic and Mathematics , 1939; Introduction to Semantics , 1942; Formalization of Logic , 1943), Carnap turned his attention to the subject of probability and inductive logic . His views on that subject are, for the most part exposed in Logical foundations of probability (1950) where Carnap aims to give a sound logical interpretation of probability. Carnap thought that, according to certain conditions, the concept of probability had to be interpreted as a purely logical concept. In this view, probability is a basic concept anchored in all inductive inferences, whereby the conclusion of every inference that holds without deductive necessity is said to be more or less likely to be the case. In fact, Carnap claims that the problem of induction is a matter of finding a precise explanation of the logical relation that holds between a hypothesis and the evidence that supports it. An inductive logic is thus based on the idea that probability is a logical relation between two types of statements: the hypothesis (conclusion) and the premises (evidence). Accordingly, a theory of induction should explain how, by pure logical analysis, we can ascertain that certain evidence establishes a degree of confirmation strong enough to confirm a given hypothesis.
Carnap was convinced that there was a logical as well as an empirical dimension in science. He believed that one had to isolate the experiential elements from the logical elements of a given body of knowledge. Hence, the empirical concept of frequency used in statistics to describe the general features of certain phenomena can be distinguished from the analytical concepts of probability logic that merely describe logical relations between sentences. For Carnap, the statistical and the logical concepts must be investigated separately. Having insisted on this distinction, Carnap defines two concepts of probability. The first one is logical and deals with the degree to which a given hypothesis is confirmed by a piece of evidence. It is the degree of confirmation . The second is empirical and relates to the long-run rate of one observable feature of nature relative to another. It is the relative frequency. Statements belonging to the second concept are about reality and describe states of affairs. They are empirical and, therefore, must be based on experimental procedures and the observation of relevant facts. On the contrary, statements belonging to the first concept do not say anything about facts. Their meaning can be grasped solely with an analysis of the signs they contain. They are analytical sentences, i.e. true by virtue of their logical meaning. Even though these sentences could refer to states of affairs, their meaning is given by the symbols and relations they contain. In other words, the probability of a conclusion is given by the logical relation it has to the evidence. The evaluation of the degree of confirmation of a hypothesis is thus a problem of meaning analysis.
Clearly, the probability of a statement about relative frequency can be unknown because it depends on the observation of certain phenomena, and one may not possess the information needed to establish the value of that probability. Consequently, the value of that statement can be confirmed only if it is corroborated by facts. In contrast, the probability of a statement about the degree of confirmation could be unknown, in the sense that one may miss the correct logical method to evaluate its exact value. But, such a statement can always receive a certain logical value, given the fact that this value only depends on the meaning of its symbols.
The Rudolf Carnap Papers contain thousands of letters, notes and drafts, and diaries. The majority of his papers were purchased from his daughter, Hanna Carnap-Thost in 1974, by the University of Pittsburgh, with subsequent further accessions. Documents that contain financial, medical, and personal information are restricted. [ 34 ] These were written over his entire life and career. Carnap used the mail regularly to discuss philosophical problems with hundreds of others. The most notable were: Herbert Feigl, Carl Gustav Hempel, Felix Kaufmann, Otto Neurath, and Moritz Schlick. Photographs are also part of the collection and were taken throughout his life. Family pictures and photographs of his peers and colleagues are also stored in the collection. Some of the correspondence is considered notable and consist of his student notes, his seminars with Frege (describing the Begriffsschrift and the logic in mathematics). Carnap's notes from Russell's seminar in Chicago, and notes he took from discussions with Tarski, Heisenberg, Quine, Hempel, Gödel, and Jeffrey are also part of the University of Pittsburgh Library System's Archives and Special Collections. Digitized contents include:
Much material is written in an older German shorthand, the Stolze-Schrey system. He employed this writing system extensively beginning in his student days. [ 34 ] Some of the content has been digitized and is available through the finding aid . The University of California also maintains a collection of Rudolf Carnap Papers. Microfilm copies of his papers are maintained by the Philosophical Archives at the University of Konstanz in Germany. [ 36 ]
*For a more complete listing see Carnap’s Works in "Linked bibliography ". [ 44 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Logical_Syntax_of_Language |
The Longevity Diet is a 2018 book by Italian biogerontologist Valter Longo . The subject of the book is fasting and longevity . The book advocates a fasting mimicking diet (FMD) coupled with a mostly plant based diet that allows for the consumption of fish, for greater longevity.
Valter Longo, a PhD in biochemistry and director of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California , invented the fasting mimicking diet. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Longo has said, "Using epidemiology and clinical trials, we put all the research together..." The diet calls for an emphasis on combining a plant-based diet with fish, together with fasting, timing and food quantity. [ 3 ]
In the book, Longo says one should alter one's diet to avoid illness in old age. [ 1 ]
He advises dieters start the diet with a five-day fasting mimicking diet (FMD), which calls for a plant-based diet with calorie restriction of 1100 calories the first day, followed by 800 calories for the next few days. [ 4 ] The fast-mimicking diet was pioneered by Valter Longo. [ 5 ] The book calls for the five-day, calorie restriction FMD to occur twice per year. [ 6 ] Before turning 65 the diet calls for minimal protein, and mostly plant-based diet augmented with calorie-restriction. [ 7 ]
After someone finishes the fasting mimicking diet, Longo advocates following a mostly plant-based diet that includes fish. He also suggests implementing time-restricted eating , with daily eating windows of 11-12 hours. [ 8 ] [ 9 ]
The book is an international bestseller, has been translated into more than 15 languages, and is sold in more than 20 countries. [ 10 ]
Writing for Red Pen Reviews , Hilary Bethancourt stated the diet might be difficult and expensive to follow. Bethancourt goes on to say that the book gives advice about how to have a longer lifespan and healthspan through the practice of following a five-day fasting-mimicking diet and by choosing what to eat, how much to eat, and how often to eat. [ 11 ]
Reviewing the book for Glam Adelaide James Murphy felt that the book has "too much discussion of his thwarted ambitions to be a rock star". [ 12 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Longevity_Diet |
The Lucifer Principle is a 1995 book by American author Howard Bloom , in which he argues that social groups, not individuals, are the primary "unit of selection" on genes and human psychological development. He states that both competition between groups and competition between individuals shape the evolution of the genome . Bloom "explores the intricate relationships among genetics, human behavior, and culture" and argues that "evil is a by-product of nature's strategies for creation and that it is woven into our most basic biological fabric". [ 1 ] It sees selection (e.g., through violent competition) as central to the creation of the " superorganism " [ 2 ] of society. It also focuses on competition between individuals for position in the " pecking order " and competition between groups for standing in pecking orders of groups. The Lucifer Principle shows how ideas are vital in creating cohesion and cooperation in these pecking order battles. In the book, Bloom writes: "Superorganism, ideas and the pecking order...these are the primary forces behind much of human creativity and earthly good."
Reviews of the book [ 3 ] saw it as "ambitious" and "disturbing" in its conclusions that societies based on individual freedom might succumb to systems such as bureaucratic Communism or Islamic fundamentalism . [ 4 ] [ 5 ] The Washington Post said that "Readers will be mesmerized by the mirror Bloom holds to the human condition... He draws on a dozen years of research into a jungle of scholarly fields...and meticulously supports every bit of information...." [ citation needed ] while Chet Raymo in The Boston Globe termed it "a string of rhetorical firecrackers that challenge our many forms of self-righteousness". [ citation needed ]
Bloom later wrote [ 6 ] that he and his publisher had been threatened by Islamic groups who objected to aspects of the book. He claimed that "Arab pressure groups asked ever so politely that The Lucifer Principle be withdrawn from print and that nothing that I write be published again. They offered to boycott my publisher's products—all of them—worldwide. And they backed their warning with a call for my punishment in seventeen Islamic countries." Bloom states that the attorney for the Authors Guild wrote to his publishers, warning of an author boycott if the book was pulled from the shelves. The publishers asked Bloom to rewrite a chapter on Islamic violence, which led to the creation of 358 lines of footnotes attesting to the facts he presented within it, [ 6 ] documenting that what Bloom wrote about Islam in The Lucifer Principle is based on expertise. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lucifer_Principle |
The Machine That Changed the World is a 1990 book about automobile production, written by James P. Womack , Daniel T. Jones , and Daniel Roos .
It is the result of five-years research by the International Motor Vehicle Program (IMVP) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), aimed at finding success factors in the global automobile industry. [ 1 ] The book traces the history of "craft" and "mass" production methods, and notes how Toyota found flaws and wastage with these systems, eventually developing lean production. The dissemination of lean methods from Japan to the wider world is discussed.
This book made the term lean production known worldwide, and is described as a classic [ 2 ] [ 3 ] or a "mainstay". [ 4 ] Business Week described it as "the most readable book on the changes reshaping manufacturing". [ 5 ]
A revised edition was published in 2007.
Beginning in the earliest times of car production, the book describes and analyzes craft production from Europe. It then moves on to mass production, with Ford 's factory production of cars being fast and valuable. The book dives into how and why mass production did and didn't work.
Near the middle of the book, a focus on the automobile industry in Japan, and goes into detail about Sakichi Toyoda 's formation of a unique business model involving connecting 3 or more tiers of production to streamline production. The "lower" tiers involved producers, primarily the part makers, which would make or buy the parts to send to the next tier. The smaller parts would be combined into larger portions of the car, and then the final tier would put everything together.
The book describes that the system of interconnected "subbusinesses" were so successful because they communicated.
The automobile industry in most other places in the world were much more competitive at the time, and manufacturers were distrusting of parts producers and vice versa. Any time a car manufacturer wanted a part producer partnership, they took bids and chose the "cheapest" offer, which very likely wasn't a sustainable price, and the engineers of the cars weren't able to properly communicate with the parts producers.
In the system that Toyoda and Taiichi Ohno developed, a "family" of businesses that held stock in each other all worked together to source, make, and assemble parts for their products. The book goes into detail about all the benefits of the increased communicating and transparency between the producers and manufacturer.
In the remaining 4 chapters (out of 10) the book elaborates on other ways the Lean mindset reduced inefficiencies, shows data from automobile manufacturers around the world, and finishes off by describing the "perfect" Lean methodology/company.
Be warned, this book goes into most detail about the 1960s to late 1970s, and the 2007 revision didn't add any more recent data, so it does not account for modern-day automobile production or the changes that have happened since the 1900's. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_That_Changed_the_World_(book) |
The Machine in Neptune's Garden: Historical Perspectives on Technology and the Marine Environment is a 2004 book edited by Helen M. Rozwadowski and David K. van Keuren . The book takes its name from Leo Marx 's influential book The Machine in the Garden . It is a product of the Maury III conference on the history of oceanography held in Monterey, California in 2001. [ 1 ] It argues the centrality of technology to the acquisition of knowledge of the oceans and contains ten thematically linked essays on the indispensable role of technology in the history of ocean science. [ 2 ] It "demonstrate[s] that historians of science and technology should pay more attention to the history and historiography of oceanography." [ 3 ] It is the most prominent work combining the history of technology, environmental history, and history of ocean sciences, and it is considered a foundational work in history of technology of the oceans and in the history of the marine environment. [ 4 ]
The book contains an introduction by Keith R. Benson and editors Helen M. Rozwadowski and David K. van Keuren, and ten chapters by historians of science and technology. The volume is dedicated to historian of science Philip F. Rehbock , who had died in 2002. [ 5 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_in_Neptune's_Garden |
The Major Transitions in Evolution is a book written by John Maynard Smith and Eörs Szathmáry ( Oxford University Press , 1995). [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ]
Maynard Smith and Szathmary authored a review article in Nature . [ 5 ]
Maynard Smith and Szathmáry identified several properties common to the transitions:
As stated by the authors, [ 6 ] this book was aimed at professional biologists and assumes considerable prior knowledge. They have also published a summary of their arguments in Nature [ 7 ] as well as a presentation of their ideas for a general readership under the title The Origins of Life — From the Birth of Life to the Origins of Language . [ 6 ] Two decades later, Eörs Szathmáry published an "update" of his thesis in the original book, and this update involved demoting sex from a major transition as well as promoting new transitions, such as the origins of plastids, to the list. [ 8 ] The major transitions generally involve the formation of new levels of units of selection, consisting of ensembles of pre-existing entities. Therefore, the evolution of the major transitions can also be seen as the framework for studying the evolution of the levels of complexity in biology. [ 9 ]
Their work has generated substantial interest and further research into major transitions, [ 10 ] including a devoted issue of papers to the subject in 2016 in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B . [ 11 ] Additional suggestions to the transitions concept include the inclusion of viruses as playing a role as major catalysts for evolutionary transitions in two ways. One, parasite-host arms race often leads to the formation of complex structures and levels of complexity to combat the threat of viruses. Two, gene transfer from viruses and virus-like elements may contribute important genes for the emergence of higher levels of organization. [ 9 ] Others have noted that the concept of transitions in macroevolutionary history focuses on increases in the levels of complexity, whereas macroevolutionary events can also proceed through simplifications which undo these hierarchical increases in complexity (e.g. multicellular organisms losing adherence genes and so transitioning into unicellular organisms, or the animal and plant lineages with degenerated organelles such as mitosomes ). Furthermore, simplifications can also enable other macroevolutionary complexifications (e.g. the bacterial endosymbiont that simplified into the integrated mitochondrial organelle). Thus, incorporating simplification dynamics will help further elucidate the emergence of life's lineages. [ 12 ] On the other hand, Szathmáry [ 13 ] pointed out the theory of phase transitions as a potentially useful framework for defining and characterizing major transitions. This framework has proved fruitful in some cases, such as the transition from prokaryotic to eukaryotic genome, identified as an algorithmic phase transition in the functioning of genes. [ 14 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Major_Transitions_in_Evolution |
The Mammoth Dictionary of Symbols is a reference work by Nadia Julien published by Robinson in 1996. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
The Mammoth Dictionary of Symbols posits the two premises that symbols as a concept are now obsolete, and that symbols are actually material objects. [ 6 ]
Tim Smith reviewed The Mammoth Dictionary of Symbols for Arcane magazine, rating it a 3 out of 10 overall. [ 6 ] Smith comments that "Definitions such as: 'There is a tradition that says that swallows receive the souls of dead kings', or: 'Footwear is an indispensable item of dress in temperate regions', further undermine this as a reference work. That said, it could make a decent enough bog-read if only so you can fill in the gaps yourself." [ 6 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mammoth_Dictionary_of_Symbols |
The Man Who Counted (original Portuguese title: O Homem que Calculava ) is a book on recreational mathematics and curious word problems by Brazilian writer Júlio César de Mello e Souza , published under the pen name Malba Tahan . Since its first publication in 1938, [ 1 ] the book has been immensely popular in Brazil and abroad, not only among mathematics teachers but among the general public as well.
The book has been published in many other languages, including Catalan, English (in the UK and in the US), [ 2 ] German, Italian, and Spanish, and is recommended as a paradidactic source in many countries. It earned its author a prize from the Brazilian Literary Academy .
First published in Brazil in 1949, O Homem que Calculava is a series of tales in the style of the Arabian Nights , but revolving around mathematical puzzles and curiosities. The book is ostensibly a translation by Brazilian scholar Breno de Alencar Bianco of an original manuscript by Malba Tahan, a thirteenth-century Persian scholar of the Islamic Empire – both equally fictitious.
The first two chapters tell how Hanak Tade Maia was traveling from Samarra to Baghdad when he met Beremiz Samir, a young lad from Khoy with amazing mathematical abilities. The traveler then invited Beremiz to come with him to Baghdad, where a man with his abilities will certainly find profitable employment. The rest of the book tells of various incidents that befell the two men along the road and in Baghdad. In all those events, Beremiz Samir uses his abilities with calculation like a magic wand to amaze and entertain people, settle disputes, and find wise and just solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems.
In the first incident along their trip (chapter III), Beremiz settles a heated inheritance dispute between three brothers. Their father had left them 35 camels, of which 1/2 (17.5 camels) should go to his eldest son, 1/3 (11.666... camels) to the middle one, and 1/9 (3.888... camels) to the youngest. To solve the brothers dilemma, Beremiz convinces Hanak to donate his only camel to the dead man's estate. Then, with 36 camels, Beremiz gives 18, 12, and 4 animals to the three heirs, making all of them profit with the new share. Of the remaining two camels, one is returned to Hanak, and the other is claimed by Beremiz as his reward.
The translator's notes observe that the 17-animal inheritance puzzle , a mathematical puzzle whose first publication is in the works of Muhaqiqi Naraqi, is a variant of this problem, with 17 camels to be divided in the same proportions. It is found in hundreds of recreational mathematics books, such as those of E. Fourrey (1949) and G. Boucheny (1939). However, the 17-camel version leaves only one camel at the end, with no net profit for the estate's executor.
At the end of the book, Beremiz uses his abilities to win the hand of his student and secret love Telassim, the daughter of one of the Caliph's advisers. (The caliph mentioned is Al-Musta'sim , the only real character who appears fictitiously; the time period ends with the Abbasid dynasty's collapse.)
In the last chapter we learn that Hanak Tade Maia and Beremiz eventually moved to Constantinople following the Siege of Baghdad (Telassim's father died in the fighting), where Beremiz had three sons and Hanak visits him often.
The "translator's note" signed "B. A. Bianco" is dated from 1965. The preface signed "Malba Tahan" is dated "Baghdad, 19 of the Moon of Ramadan of 1321" ( Islamic calendar equivalent of ( Gregorian ) 8 December 1903).
The 1993 English edition published by W.W. Norton & Co. was illustrated by Patricia Reid Baquero .
The fifty fourth printing by Editora Record (2001; in Portuguese) contains 164 pages of Malba Tahan's text, plus 60 pages of notes and historical appendices, commented solutions to all the problems, a glossary of Arabic terms, alphabetical index, and other material.
The book was translated into Arabic in 2005 by Azza Kubba, an Iraqi from Baghdad (published by Al-Jamel Publishing House, Cologne, Germany). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Counted |
The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World is a book by Pedro Domingos released in 2015. Domingos wrote the book in order to generate interest from people outside the field.
The book outlines five approaches of machine learning: inductive reasoning , connectionism , evolutionary computation , Bayes' theorem and analogical modelling . The author explains these tribes to the reader by referring to more understandable processes of logic , connections made in the brain , natural selection , probability and similarity judgments. Throughout the book, it is suggested that each different tribe has the potential to contribute to a unifying "master algorithm".
Towards the end of the book the author pictures a "master algorithm " in the near future, where machine learning algorithms asymptotically grow to a perfect understanding of how the world and people in it work. [ 1 ] Although the algorithm doesn't yet exist, he briefly reviews his own invention of the Markov logic network . [ 2 ]
In 2016 Bill Gates recommended the book, alongside Nick Bostrom 's Superintelligence , as one of two books everyone should read to understand AI. [ 3 ] In 2018 the book was noted to be on Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping 's bookshelf. [ 4 ]
A computer science educator stated in Times Higher Education that the examples are clear and accessible. [ 5 ] In contrast, The Economist agreed Domingos "does a good job" but complained that he "constantly invents metaphors that grate or confuse". [ 6 ] Kirkus Reviews praised the book, stating that "Readers unfamiliar with logic and computer theory will have a difficult time, but those who persist will discover fascinating insights." [ 7 ]
A New Scientist review called it "compelling but rather unquestioning". [ 8 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Master_Algorithm |
The Mathematics of Chip-Firing is a textbook in mathematics on chip-firing games and abelian sandpile models . It was written by Caroline Klivans , and published in 2018 by the CRC Press .
A chip-firing game, in its most basic form, is a process on an undirected graph , with each vertex of the graph containing some number of chips. At each step, a vertex with more chips than incident edges is selected, and one of its chips is sent to each of its neighbors. If a single vertex is designated as a "black hole", meaning that chips sent to it vanish, then the result of the process is the same no matter what order the other vertices are selected. The stable states of this process are the ones in which no vertex has enough chips to be selected; two stable states can be added by combining their chips and then stabilizing the result. A subset of these states, the so-called critical states, form an abelian group under this addition operation. The abelian sandpile model applies this model to large grid graphs , with the black hole connected to the boundary vertices of the grid; in this formulation, with all eligible vertices selected simultaneously, it can also be interpreted as a cellular automaton . The identity element of the sandpile group often has an unusual fractal structure. [ 1 ]
The book covers these topics, and is divided into two parts. The first of these parts covers the basic theory outlined above, formulating chip-firing in terms of algebraic graph theory and the Laplacian matrix of the given graph. It describes an equivalence between states of the sandpile group and the spanning trees of the graph, and the group action on spanning trees, as well as similar connections to other combinatorial structures, and applications of these connections in algebraic combinatorics . And it studies chip-firing games on other classes of graphs than grids, including random graphs . [ 1 ]
The second part of the book has four chapters devoted to more advanced topics in chip-firing. The first of these generalizes chip-firing from Laplacian matrices of graphs to M-matrices , connecting this generalization to root systems and representation theory . The second considers chip-firing on abstract simplicial complexes instead of graphs. The third uses chip-firing to study graph-theoretic analogues of divisor theory and the Riemann–Roch theorem . And the fourth applies methods from commutative algebra to the study of chip-firing. [ 1 ] [ 2 ]
The book includes many illustrations, and ends each chapter with a set of exercises making it suitable as a textbook for a course on this topic. [ 3 ]
Although the book may be readable by some undergraduate mathematics students, reviewer David Perkinson suggests that its main audience should be graduate students in mathematics, for whom it could be used as the basis of a graduate course or seminar. He calls it "a thorough introduction to an exciting and growing subject", with "clear and concise exposition". [ 1 ] Reviewer Paul Dreyer calls it a "deep dive" into "incredibly deep mathematics". [ 3 ]
Another book on the same general topic, published at approximately the same time, is Divisors and Sandpiles: An Introduction to Chip-Firing by Corry and Perkinson (American Mathematical Society, 2018). It is written at a lower level aimed at undergraduate students, covering mainly the material from the first part of The Mathematics of Chip-Firing , and framed more in terms of algebraic geometry than combinatorics. [ 2 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mathematics_of_Chip-Firing |
The Meaning of Relativity: Four Lectures Delivered at Princeton University, May 1921 is a book published by Princeton University Press in 1922 that compiled the 1921 Stafford Little Lectures at Princeton University , given by Albert Einstein . The lectures were translated into English by Edwin Plimpton Adams . The lectures and the subsequent book were Einstein's last attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of his theory of relativity and is his only book that provides an accessible overview of the physics and mathematics of general relativity . Einstein explained his goal in the preface of the book's German edition by stating he "wanted to summarize the principal thoughts and mathematical methods of relativity theory" and that his "principal aim was to let the fundamentals in the entire train of thought of the theory emerge clearly". [ 1 ] Among other reviews, the lectures were the subject of the 2017 book The Formative Years of Relativity: The History and Meaning of Einstein's Princeton Lectures by Hanoch Gutfreund and Jürgen Renn .
The book contains four of Einstein's Stafford Little Lectures that were given at Princeton University in 1921. The lectures follow a series of 1915 publications by Einstein developing the theory of general relativity . [ 1 ] [ 2 ] During this time, there were still many controversial issues surrounding the theories and he was still defending several of his views. [ 1 ] The lectures and the subsequent book were Einstein's last attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of his theory of relativity . [ 3 ] It is also his only book that provides an overview of the physics and mathematics of general relativity in a comprehensive manner that was accessible to non-specialists. [ 4 ] Einstein explained his goal in the preface of the book's German edition by stating he "wanted to summarize the principal thoughts and mathematical methods of relativity theory" and that his "principal aim was to let the fundamentals in the entire train of thought of the theory emerge clearly". [ 1 ]
On December 27, 1949, The New York Times ran a story titled "New Einstein theory gives a master key to the universe" [ 5 ] in reaction to the new appendix in the book's fifth edition in which Einstein expounded upon his latest unification efforts. [ 6 ] Einstein had nothing to do with the article and subsequently refused to speak with any reporters on the matter; he reportedly used the message "[c]ome back and see me in twenty years" to brush off their inquiries. [ 6 ]
The book is made of four lectures. The first is titled "Space and Time in Pre-Relativity Physics". The second lecture is titled The Theory of Special Relativity and discusses the special theory of relativity . The third and fourth lectures cover the general theory of relativity in two parts. Einstein added an appendix to update the book for its second edition, which published in 1945. [ 7 ] A second appendix was later added for the fifth edition as well, in 1955, which discusses the nonsymmetric field. [ 7 ] The second appendix contains Einstein's attempts at a unified field theory . [ 6 ]
The book has received many reviews since its initial publication. The first edition of the book was reviewed by Nature in 1923. [ 8 ] Other early versions of the book were reviewed by George Yuri Rainich in 1946, [ 9 ] as well as Abraham H. Taub , [ 10 ] Philip Morrison , [ 11 ] and I. M. Levitt [ 12 ] in 1950. Reviews for the book's fifth edition include a short announcement in 1955 that called the book "a well-known classic". [ 13 ] A 1956 review of the fifth edition summarizes its publication history and contents and closes by stating "Einstein's little book then serves as an excellent tying-together of loose ends and as a broad survey of the subject." [ 7 ]
Among other references to the book, a 2005 column of The Physics Teacher , included the work in a list of books "by and about Einstein that all physics teachers should have" and "should have immediate access to", [ 14 ] while a 2019 review of another work opened by stating: "Every teacher of General Relativity depends heavily on two texts: one, the massive Gravitation by Misner , Thorne and Wheeler , the second the diminutive The Meaning of Relativity by Einstein." [ 4 ] The Meaning of Relativity is the focus of a 2017 book, The Formative Years of Relativity by Hanoch Gutfreund and Jürgen Renn , [ 1 ] [ 4 ] [ 3 ] which described The Meaning of Relativity as "Einstein's definitive exposition of his special and general theories of relativity". [ 15 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Meaning_of_Relativity |
The Measure of Reality: Quantification in Western Europe, 1250-1600 is a 1997 nonfiction historiography and macrohistory book by Alfred W. Crosby , about the role of quantification in Western civilization. It is published by Cambridge University Press .
The Measure of Reality [ 1 ] examines the origins and effects of quantitative thinking in post-medieval European history', suggesting it as a major factor in the ensuing European colonial domination of much of the rest of the world. [ 2 ] For Crosby, this was made possible by a shift in mindset and worldview that the author collectively calls mentalité ( Bourdieu 's habitus comes to mind) toward quantitative and visual thinking fostering a superior understanding of science and technology. [ 3 ]
To illustrate how Crosby describes the shift away from a qualitative and theological view of reality, philosopher Denis Dutton offers the example of geography: [ 4 ]
Geography was qualitative, holding that the peoples of the Indies, governed by slow-moving Saturn, were slow moving. Europeans, on the other hand, lived in the land of the seventh climate, that of the moon, which revolves around the earth faster than any other body. Therefore, Europeans are the most active people. Maps were designed not geometrically, but to show what was near and far, what was important, what unimportant. Their representation of geographic reality was, as Crosby says, "for sinners, not navigators."
For James D. Parr [ 5 ] Crosby
[...] describes with interesting narrative and ample references European triumphs in military maneuvering, cartography, calendar accuracy, time-keeping devices, currency and bookkeeping, polyphonic music, rules of grammar and alphabetization, astronomy, and geometric perspective in painting.
The book is divided into three sections, where the first introduces a new view of time and space as a continuum that could be subdivided and segmented, assisted by the application of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system . The second part follows the evolution of quantification in music, painting, and bookkeeping. The third part presents the maturation of what Crosby describes as the new model of European reality, established on visualization and quantification as well as a linear and analytical but unbounded view of history driven by "progress", versus what he terms the venerable model, a more qualitative, experiential, and boundedly cyclical worldview inherited from classical antiquity . [ 2 ]
Crosby adopts the metaphor of the striking match to illustrate how this revolution took place, with the influx of the Aristotelian corpus into the Latin West. This took place via the Arab world starting in the thirteen century , and provided the "oxygen and combustibles" that were then "made into fire" by composers, painters, and bookkeepers in what Crosby describes as a "shift to the visual" taken by composers, painters, and bookkeepers. [ 3 ]
The ingredients of this revolution in visualization and quantification were, in Crosby's analysis, the birth of polyphonic music at the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, the development of perspective in the paintings of the Italian Renaissance , and the adoption of double-entry bookkeeping among 14th-century Italian accountants. [ 3 ]
The Measure of Reality was praised, in the journal Historia Mathematica by mathematician Frank Swetz, as "a pleasant and informative book" surveying some of the trends of quantification in European society during the period; [ 2 ] and, by both Swetz and (in Magill's Book Reviews ) by Barbara Hauser, for the breadth of the author's scholarship.' [ 2 ] [ 6 ] Swetz was in some measure critical, especially of the lack of depth and detail on pre-modern measurement systems; and of Crosby not very deeply exploring the idea of modern European worldview being shaped by measurement. [ 2 ]
Hauser noted especially the book's recurrent theme in Crosby's work of conflict between the religious and sacred (more in Europe's past) and the secular (more in its future). Her summary of the book's theme:
Crosby describes the far-reaching effects of breaking things into standard units: goods and labor into units of money, music into units of pitch and duration, one's place in this world into units of latitude and longitude, and intellectual and emotional expression into units of words and sentences on a printed page.
For this reviewer Crosby discounts what previous societies achieved by way of mathematics, geometry, and measuring space, time and weights, from the introduction of the zero (Indian) to subdivision in 360 degrees and 60-minute hours
( Babylonian ), the Greek Pythagorean theorem , the Julian calendar (Roman) all the way to the ancient Athenian Tholos (a bureau for the registering of weights and scales). [ 7 ]
For John D. Wilson in Magill's Literary Annual , while the thesis upheld by Crosby was in need of a full demonstration (probably by later writers), the book was nevertheless "enjoyable and highly stimulating ... full of curious lore that encourages readers to look more closely at the habits of thought on which their way of life is built." [ 8 ] However, Wilson (like Swetz [ 2 ] ) felt that Crosby did not really systematically argue his premise, but rather devoted most of the work to exploring examples of quantitative and visual developments without explaining their centrality to a putative new European world-view. Wilson also disputed some of Crosby's specific claims, such as that rhythmic complexity in music requires late-Western-style time quantification and notation. [ 8 ]
While criticizing Crosby’s hasty connection between quanta and imperialism , historian of science Steven Shapin notes: [ 9 ]
Nevertheless, there is something profoundly right about a book that draws historians' attention to the importance of measurement and standardization in coordinating complex activities and in extending power over long distances.
In a 2001 literature review of then-recent macrohistory works, in The American Historical Review historian Gale Stokes examines The Measure of Reality along with thematically similar works, including Guns, Germs, and Steel (1997) by Jared Diamond , The Wealth and Poverty of Nations (1998) by David Landes , ReOrient (1998) by Andre Gunder Frank , and The Great Divergence (2000) by Kenneth Pomeranz , among others. [ 10 ] Another book to which Crosy’s is compared is Michael Adas ' work Machines as a Measure of Man on the role of technology in European imperialism – the difference being that Adas’ machine and technologies are, in Crosby’s reading, all descending from the quantifying spirit of the age. [ 11 ] While conceding that scholars are split when it comes to the methodological value of macrohistorical approaches at all, he divides these works into two general schools of thought on the rise of Europe since the Renaissance: that there was something intrinsically or situationally special about European society, versus that Europe simply "lucked into" a period of dominance through resource acquisition and exploitation at a greater rate than in Asia. Stokes classified Crosby in the first camp, and pointed out that anthropologist Jack Goody , in East in the West (1996) has held that quantification technologies were not uniquely European, but developments from China through India to the Mediterranean since the Bronze Age . Crosby's model stands out in holding European quantification to have become a progressively accelerating cultural habit. [ 10 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Measure_of_Reality |
The Method of Mechanical Theorems ( Greek : Περὶ μηχανικῶν θεωρημάτων πρὸς Ἐρατοσθένη ἔφοδος ), also referred to as The Method , is one of the major surviving works of the ancient Greek polymath Archimedes . The Method takes the form of a letter from Archimedes to Eratosthenes , [ 1 ] the chief librarian at the Library of Alexandria , and contains the first attested explicit use of indivisibles (indivisibles are geometric versions of infinitesimals ). [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The work was originally thought to be lost, but in 1906 was rediscovered in the celebrated Archimedes Palimpsest . The palimpsest includes Archimedes' account of the "mechanical method", so called because it relies on the center of weights of figures ( centroid ) and the law of the lever , which were demonstrated by Archimedes in On the Equilibrium of Planes .
Archimedes did not admit the method of indivisibles as part of rigorous mathematics, and therefore did not publish his method in the formal treatises that contain the results. In these treatises, he proves the same theorems by exhaustion , finding rigorous upper and lower bounds which both converge to the answer required. Nevertheless, the mechanical method was what he used to discover the relations for which he later gave rigorous proofs.
Archimedes' idea is to use the law of the lever to determine the areas of figures from the known center of mass of other figures. [ 1 ] : 8 The simplest example in modern language is the area of the parabola. A modern approach would be to find this area by calculating the integral
∫ 0 1 x 2 d x = 1 3 , {\displaystyle \int _{0}^{1}x^{2}\,dx={\frac {1}{3}},}
which is an elementary result in integral calculus . Instead, the Archimedean method mechanically balances the parabola (the curved region being integrated above) with a certain triangle that is made of the same material. The parabola is the region in the ( x , y ) {\displaystyle (x,y)} plane between the x {\displaystyle x} -axis and the curve y = x 2 {\displaystyle y=x^{2}} as x {\displaystyle x} varies from 0 to 1. The triangle is the region in the same plane between the x {\displaystyle x} -axis and the line y = x {\displaystyle y=x} , also as x {\displaystyle x} varies from 0 to 1.
Slice the parabola and triangle into vertical slices, one for each value of x {\displaystyle x} . Imagine that the x {\displaystyle x} -axis is a lever, with a fulcrum at x = 0 {\displaystyle x=0} . The law of the lever states that two objects on opposite sides of the fulcrum will balance if each has the same torque , where an object's torque equals its weight times its distance to the fulcrum. For each value of x {\displaystyle x} , the slice of the triangle at position x {\displaystyle x} has a mass equal to its height x {\displaystyle x} , and is at a distance x {\displaystyle x} from the fulcrum; so it would balance the corresponding slice of the parabola, of height x 2 {\displaystyle x^{2}} , if the latter were moved to x = − 1 {\displaystyle x=-1} , at a distance of 1 on the other side of the fulcrum.
Since each pair of slices balances, moving the whole parabola to x = − 1 {\displaystyle x=-1} would balance the whole triangle. This means that if the original uncut parabola is hung by a hook from the point x = − 1 {\displaystyle x=-1} (so that the whole mass of the parabola is attached to that point), it will balance the triangle sitting between x = 0 {\displaystyle x=0} and x = 1 {\displaystyle x=1} .
The center of mass of a triangle can be easily found by the following method, also due to Archimedes. [ 1 ] : 14 If a median line is drawn from any one of the vertices of a triangle to the opposite edge E {\displaystyle E} , the triangle will balance on the median, considered as a fulcrum. The reason is that if the triangle is divided into infinitesimal line segments parallel to E {\displaystyle E} , each segment has equal length on opposite sides of the median, so balance follows by symmetry. This argument can be easily made rigorous by exhaustion by using little rectangles instead of infinitesimal lines, and this is what Archimedes does in On the Equilibrium of Planes .
So the center of mass of a triangle must be at the intersection point of the medians. For the triangle in question, one median is the line y = x / 2 {\displaystyle y=x/2} , while a second median is the line y = 1 − x {\displaystyle y=1-x} . Solving these equations, we see that the intersection of these two medians is above the point x = 2 / 3 {\displaystyle x=2/3} , so that the total effect of the triangle on the lever is as if the total mass of the triangle were pushing down on (or hanging from) this point. The total torque exerted by the triangle is its area, 1/2, times the distance 2/3 of its center of mass from the fulcrum at x = 0 {\displaystyle x=0} . This torque of 1/3 balances the parabola, which is at a distance 1 from the fulcrum. Hence, the area of the parabola must be 1/3 to give it the opposite torque.
This type of method can be used to find the area of an arbitrary section of a parabola, and similar arguments can be used to find the integral of any power of x {\displaystyle x} , although higher powers become complicated without algebra. Archimedes only went as far as the integral of x 3 {\displaystyle x^{3}} , which he used to find the center of mass of a hemisphere, and in other work, the center of mass of a parabola.
Consider the parabola in the figure to the right. Pick two points on the parabola and call them A and B .
Suppose the line segment AC is parallel to the axis of symmetry of the parabola. Further suppose that the line segment BC lies on a line that is tangent to the parabola at B .
The first proposition states: [ 1 ] : 14
Let D be the midpoint of AC . Construct a line segment JB through D , where the distance from J to D is equal to the distance from B to D . We will think of the segment JB as a "lever" with D as its fulcrum. [ 3 ] As Archimedes had previously shown, the center of mass of the triangle is at the point I on the "lever" where DI : DB = 1:3. Therefore, it suffices to show that if the whole weight of the interior of the triangle rests at I , and the whole weight of the section of the parabola at J , the lever is in equilibrium.
Consider an infinitely small cross-section of the triangle given by the segment HE , where the point H lies on BC , the point E lies on AB , and HE is parallel to the axis of symmetry of the parabola. Call the intersection of HE and the parabola F and the intersection of HE and the lever G . If the weight of all such segments HE rest at the points G where they intersect the lever, then they exert the same torque on the lever as does the whole weight of the triangle resting at I . Thus, we wish to show that if the weight of the cross-section HE rests at G and the weight of the cross-section EF of the section of the parabola rests at J , then the lever is in equilibrium. In other words, it suffices to show that EF : GD = EH : JD . But that is a routine consequence of the equation of the parabola. Q.E.D.
Again, to illuminate the mechanical method, it is convenient to use a little bit of coordinate geometry. [ 4 ] If a sphere of radius 1 is placed with its center at x = 1, the vertical cross sectional radius ρ S {\displaystyle \rho _{S}} at any x between 0 and 2 is given by the following formula: ρ S ( x ) = x ( 2 − x ) . {\displaystyle \rho _{S}(x)={\sqrt {x(2-x)}}.}
The mass of this cross section, for purposes of balancing on a lever, is proportional to the area:
π ρ S ( x ) 2 = 2 π x − π x 2 . {\displaystyle \pi \rho _{S}(x)^{2}=2\pi x-\pi x^{2}.}
Archimedes then considered rotating the triangular region between y = 0 and y = x and x = 2 on the x - y plane around the x -axis, to form a cone. [ 1 ] : 18–21 The cross section of this cone is a circle of radius ρ C {\displaystyle \rho _{C}}
ρ C ( x ) = x {\displaystyle \rho _{C}(x)=x}
and the area of this cross section is
π ρ C 2 = π x 2 . {\displaystyle \pi \rho _{C}^{2}=\pi x^{2}.}
So if slices of the cone and the sphere both are to be weighed together, the combined cross-sectional area is:
M ( x ) = 2 π x . {\displaystyle M(x)=2\pi x.}
If the two slices are placed together at distance 1 from the fulcrum, their total weight would be exactly balanced by a circle of area 2 π {\displaystyle 2\pi } at a distance x from the fulcrum on the other side. This means that the cone and the sphere together, if all their material were moved to x = 1, would balance a cylinder of base radius 1 and length 2 on the other side.
As x ranges from 0 to 2, the cylinder will have a center of gravity a distance 1 from the fulcrum, so all the weight of the cylinder can be considered to be at position 1. The condition of balance ensures that the volume of the cone plus the volume of the sphere is equal to the volume of the cylinder.
The volume of the cylinder is the cross section area, 2 π {\displaystyle 2\pi } times the height, which is 2, or 4 π {\displaystyle 4\pi } . Archimedes could also find the volume of the cone using the mechanical method, since, in modern terms, the integral involved is exactly the same as the one for area of the parabola. The volume of the cone is 1/3 its base area times the height. The base of the cone is a circle of radius 2, with area 4 π {\displaystyle 4\pi } , while the height is 2, so the area is 8 π / 3 {\displaystyle 8\pi /3} . Subtracting the volume of the cone from the volume of the cylinder gives the volume of the sphere:
V S = 4 π − 8 3 π = 4 3 π . {\displaystyle V_{S}=4\pi -{8 \over 3}\pi ={4 \over 3}\pi .}
The dependence of the volume of the sphere on the radius is obvious from scaling, although that also was not trivial to make rigorous back then. The method then gives the familiar formula for the volume of a sphere . By scaling the dimensions linearly Archimedes easily extended the volume result to spheroids . [ 1 ] : 21-23
Archimedes argument is nearly identical to the argument above, but his cylinder had a bigger radius, so that the cone and the cylinder hung at a greater distance from the fulcrum. He considered this argument to be his greatest achievement, requesting that the accompanying figure of the balanced sphere, cone, and cylinder be engraved upon his tombstone.
To find the surface area of the sphere, Archimedes argued that just as the area of the circle could be thought of as infinitely many infinitesimal right triangles going around the circumference (see Measurement of the Circle ), the volume of the sphere could be thought of as divided into many cones with height equal to the radius and base on the surface. The cones all have the same height, so their volume is 1/3 the base area times the height.
Archimedes states that the total volume of the sphere is equal to the volume of a cone whose base has the same surface area as the sphere and whose height is the radius. [ 1 ] : 20-21 There are no details given for the argument, but the obvious reason is that the cone can be divided into infinitesimal cones by splitting the base area up, and then each cone makes a contribution according to its base area, just the same as in the sphere.
Let the surface of the sphere be S . The volume of the cone with base area S and height r is S r / 3 {\displaystyle Sr/3} , which must equal the volume of the sphere: 4 π r 3 / 3 {\displaystyle 4\pi r^{3}/3} . Therefore, the surface area of the sphere must be 4 π r 2 {\displaystyle 4\pi r^{2}} , or "four times its largest circle". Archimedes proves this rigorously in On the Sphere and Cylinder .
One of the remarkable things about the Method is that Archimedes finds two shapes defined by sections of cylinders, whose volume does not involve π {\displaystyle \pi } , despite the shapes having curvilinear boundaries. This is a central point of the investigation—certain curvilinear shapes could be rectified by ruler and compass, so that there are nontrivial rational relations between the volumes defined by the intersections of geometrical solids.
Archimedes emphasizes this in the beginning of the treatise, and invites the reader to try to reproduce the results by some other method. Unlike the other examples, the volume of these shapes is not rigorously computed in any of his other works. From fragments in the palimpsest, it appears that Archimedes did inscribe and circumscribe shapes to prove rigorous bounds for the volume, although the details have not been preserved.
The two shapes he considers are the intersection of two cylinders at right angles (the bicylinder ), which is the region of ( x , y , z ) obeying: x 2 + y 2 < 1 , y 2 + z 2 < 1 , {\displaystyle x^{2}+y^{2}<1,\quad y^{2}+z^{2}<1,} and the circular prism, which is the region obeying: x 2 + y 2 < 1 , 0 < z < y . {\displaystyle x^{2}+y^{2}<1,\quad 0<z<y.} Both problems have a slicing which produces an easy integral for the mechanical method. For the circular prism, cut up the x -axis into slices. The region in the y - z plane at any x is the interior of a right triangle of side length 1 − x 2 {\displaystyle {\sqrt {1-x^{2}}}} whose area is 1 2 ( 1 − x 2 ) {\displaystyle {1 \over 2}(1-x^{2})} , so that the total volume is: ∫ − 1 1 1 2 ( 1 − x 2 ) d x {\displaystyle \displaystyle \int _{-1}^{1}{1 \over 2}(1-x^{2})\,dx} which can be easily rectified using the mechanical method. Adding to each triangular section a section of a triangular pyramid with area x 2 / 2 {\displaystyle x^{2}/2} balances a prism whose cross section is constant.
For the intersection of two cylinders, the slicing is lost in the manuscript, but it can be reconstructed in an obvious way in parallel to the rest of the document: if the x-z plane is the slice direction, the equations for the cylinder give that x 2 < 1 − y 2 {\displaystyle x^{2}<1-y^{2}} while z 2 < 1 − y 2 {\displaystyle z^{2}<1-y^{2}} , which defines a region which is a square in the x - z plane of side length 2 1 − y 2 {\displaystyle 2{\sqrt {1-y^{2}}}} , so that the total volume is: ∫ − 1 1 4 ( 1 − y 2 ) d y . {\displaystyle \displaystyle \int _{-1}^{1}4(1-y^{2})\,dy.} And this is the same integral as for the previous example. Jan Hogendijk argues that, besides the volume of the bicylinder, Archimedes knew its surface area , which is also rational. [ 5 ]
A series of propositions of geometry are proved in the palimpsest by similar arguments. One theorem is that the location of a center of mass of a hemisphere is located 5/8 of the way from the pole to the center of the sphere. This problem is notable, because it is evaluating a cubic integral. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Method_of_Mechanical_Theorems |
The Milky Way Project is a Zooniverse project whose main goal is to identify stellar-wind bubbles in the Milky Way Galaxy . Users classify sets of infrared images from the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer ( WISE ). [ 1 ] Scientists believe bubbles in these images are the result of young, massive stars whose light causes shocks in interstellar gas.
The Milky Way Project works with data taken from the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer Galactic Plane Survey (MIPSGAL) and Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE). Only a small part uses WISE data. The project looks for bubbles, which can mean the formation of stars. The project also looks for knots, star clusters, and other objects such as young stars, supernova remnants, and newly discovered galaxies. [ 2 ] [ 3 ]
The Milky Way Project started as the ninth Zooniverse project in December 2010. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] The phase 1 worked with the colors: 4.5 μm for blue, 8.0 μm for green and 24 μm for red. This resulted in the Data Release 1 (DR1) of the Milky Way Project in 2012 with 5,106 bubbles, which can also be found in SIMBAD . [ 6 ]
The annulus tool that was used to mark the bubbles in the Milky Way Project phase 1 was at random round and needed improvement. This problem was solved after the introduction of the ellipse tool . This new tool was used in the phase 2 of the project, short after DR1. This changed the classification and the tool does fit the actual shape of the bubbles. The phase 2 also used different colors: 3.6 μm for blue, 4.5 μm for green and 8.0 μm for red, the same three colors as GLIMPSE 360 in Aladin Lite . [ 7 ] Phase 3 is also called Phoenix since it started after a year offline [ 8 ] and it is now active. Phase 3 uses the same colors as phase 1 and the same ellipse tool as phase 2, combining the strength of phase 1+2.
The Milky Way Project did also search for star clusters and galaxies. Phase 2 additionally did search for Extended Green Objects (EGO), 4.5 μm emissions that seem to be connected to outflow from massive young stellar objects . [ 9 ] The volunteers did mention objects that are compact and yellow in the Milky Way Project. They are now called yellow balls , a mix of compact star-forming regions that show transition into bubbles. [ 10 ] In the phase 3 the volunteers can additionally search for yellowballs, pillars and bowshocks . Phase 3 aims to create a reliable bubble catalog (DR2) with the data from phase 2+3 (4.4 million classifications), an improved yellowball catalog and the largest bowshock catalog to date. For this goal the 24 μm part of the image is important: Bubbles are more easy to spot and bowshocks are most of the time visible at this wavelength.
The MWP classification aggregation pipeline is continuously tested and modified to avoid issues that were encountered in DR1.
The second Data Release was published in 2019, which contains 2,600 infrared (IR) bubbles and 599 candidate IR bow shock candidates. With a subset of highly reliable subset of 1394 IR bubbles and 453 bow shocks. The lower number of bubbles is being explained with a better quality of the catalog. The new catalog includes bow shocks near the star-forming regions NGC 3603 and RCW 49 . The size of the bubbles in the catalog is proven to be as good as expert classifications and to be better than in previous works. The mysterious "coffee ring" is presented as well, but although this perfect ring in absorption was observed with the Green Bank Telescope , the nature of this object remains a mystery. [ 11 ]
Zooniverse projects: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Milky_Way_Project |
The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society ( TMS ) is a professional organization for materials scientists and engineers that encompasses the entire range of materials and engineering, from minerals processing and primary metals production to basic research and the advanced applications of materials. [ 3 ]
The society's functions include providing forums for the exchange of information; encouraging technology transfer; promoting the education and development of professionals and students; representing the profession in the accreditation of educational programs and in the registration of professional engineers (a U.S.-grounded activity); encouraging professionalism, ethical behavior, and concern for the environment; and stimulating a worldwide sense of unity in the profession. [ 4 ]
TMS is headquartered in Pittsburgh, United States, but is international in scope. Included among its approximately 13,000 [ 1 ] professional and student members are metallurgical and materials engineers, scientists, researchers, educators, and administrators from more than 70 countries on six continents. It uses a volunteer driven structure with members serving at all levels of the society including shaping the policy, programming, and publications of the society.
The society comprises five technical divisions to program conferences, develop content for publications, and perform other activities:
TMS is a major publisher in the materials community. The society publishes seven internationally respected technical journals, as well as multiple influential roadmapping studies and reports. In addition, each year the society publishes numerous proceedings volumes containing papers presented at society-sponsored meetings.
TMS has developed influential technology and/or roadmapping studies and reports convening experts in the minerals, metals, and materials communities. These publications are made freely accessible to the public. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Minerals,_Metals_&_Materials_Society |
The Mines Rescue Rules, 1985 [ 1 ] came into force with effect from 2 April 1985 in India , replacing the previous Coal Mines Rescue Rules-1959, to provide for rescue of work persons in the event of explosion, fire etc. in the Mines. [ 2 ]
These rules apply to coal and metalliferous underground mines to provide for the establishment of rescue stations and conduct of rescue work. In case of explosion or fire, an inrush of water or influx of gases, services of specially trained men with special rescue apparatuses are required.
Chapter I - Preliminary
Chapter II - Rescue Stations and Rescue Rooms
Chapter III - Duties and Responsibilities of Superintendents etc.
Chapter IV - Organisation and Equipment in Mines
Chapter V - Conduct of Rescue Work
Chapter VI – Miscellaneous [ 3 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mines_Rescue_Rules,_1985 |
The New Atlantis is a journal founded by the social conservative advocacy group the Ethics and Public Policy Center , now published by the Center for the Study of Technology and Society. [ 1 ] It covers topics about the social, ethical, political, and policy dimensions of modern science and technology . [ 2 ] The journal is editorially reviewed but is not peer-reviewed on scientific topics. [ 3 ] It is edited by Ari Schulman, having previously been edited by co-founders Eric Cohen and Adam Keiper.
The journal's name is taken from Francis Bacon 's utopian novella New Atlantis , which the journal's editors describe as a "fable of a society living with the benefits and challenges of advanced science and technology". [ 4 ] An editorial in the inaugural issue states that the aim of the journal is "to help us avoid the extremes of euphoria and despair that new technologies too often arouse; and to help us judge when mobilizing our technological prowess is sensible or necessary, and when the preservation of things that count requires limiting the kinds of technological power that would lessen, cheapen, or ultimately destroy us." [ 5 ] Writing in National Review , the journal's editor Adam Keiper described The New Atlantis as being written from a "particularly American and conservative way of thinking about both the blessings and the burdens of modern science and technology". [ 6 ] New Atlantis authors and bioethicists publishing in other journals have also similarly referred to The New Atlantis as being written from a social conservative stance that utilizes religion. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ]
Defunct
Newspapers
Journals
TV channels
Websites
Other
Congressional caucuses
Economics
Gun rights
Identity politics
Nativist
Religion
Watchdog groups
Youth/student groups
Social media
Miscellaneous
Other
The New Atlantis tends to publish views in favor of technological innovation but wary of certain avenues of development. [ independent source needed ] For example, the journal has generally advocated nuclear energy; [ 11 ] space exploration and development through public–private partnerships, [ 12 ] including crewed missions to Mars; [ 13 ] biofuels; [ 14 ] and genetically modified foods. [ 15 ] It has expressed ambivalent or critical views about developments in synthetic biology , [ 16 ] as well as military technologies like drones , [ 17 ] [ 18 ] chemical weapons , [ 19 ] and cyberwarfare . [ 20 ] Articles often explore policy questions on these and other issues, sometimes advocating particular policy outcomes, especially on health care, [ 21 ] environmental management, [ 22 ] and energy. [ 23 ]
The journal has published widely on bioethics , including issues such as stem cell research , [ 24 ] assisted reproduction , [ 25 ] cloning , [ 26 ] assisted suicide , [ 27 ] organ and tissue donation , [ 28 ] the purported link between vaccines and autism , [ 29 ] and informed consent . [ 30 ] Articles on these issues often highlight the potential for dangerous or degrading developments, including concerns over human dignity , [ 31 ] with many articles examining human enhancement , [ 32 ] and life extension , [ 33 ] and historical precedents for abuse in eugenics [ 34 ] and population control . [ 35 ]
The journal also features broader philosophical reflections on science and technology, and tends to be skeptical of what its authors consider to be speculative overreach common in popular discussions. Examples include articles that have defended the existence of free will in light of developments in neuroscience , [ 36 ] questioned the wisdom of using brain scans in courtrooms, [ 37 ] and described how growing knowledge of epigenetics has undermined common claims about genetic determinism . [ 38 ] While the journal has sometimes aired libertarian views about human enhancement and transhumanism , [ 39 ] its contributors generally tend to question whether technologies like artificial intelligence , [ 40 ] friendly artificial intelligence , [ 41 ] and genetic enhancement [ 32 ] [ 42 ] are possible or desirable.
The journal has also published widely on the interpersonal effects of the Internet and digital technology. It has featured articles on subjects like Facebook , [ 43 ] [ 44 ] [ 45 ] [ 46 ] cell phones , [ 47 ] multitasking , [ 48 ] e-readers , [ 49 ] GPS and navigation, [ 50 ] and virtual reality . [ 51 ] A 2006 article by Matthew B. Crawford , who advocated the intellectual and economic virtues of the manual trades , [ 52 ] was noted as a best-of-the-year essay by The New York Times columnist David Brooks , [ 53 ] and was subsequently expanded into the bestselling book Shop Class as Soulcraft . [ 54 ] [ 55 ] The journal also frequently publishes essays on philosophical and literary questions relating to science and technology. [ 56 ] [ 57 ] [ 58 ]
In August 2016, Paul R. McHugh , at the time a retired professor, [ 59 ] co-authored a 143-page review of the scientific literature on gender and sexuality in The New Atlantis . [ 59 ] [ 60 ] In September 2016, Johns Hopkins University faculty members Chris Beyrer , Robert W. Blum, and Tonia C. Poteat wrote a Baltimore Sun op-ed, to which six other Johns Hopkins faculty members also contributed, in which they indicated concerns about McHugh's co-authored report, which they said mischaracterized the current state of science on gender and sexuality. [ 61 ] [ 62 ] More than 600 alumni, faculty members, and students at the medical school also signed a petition calling on the university and hospital to disavow the paper. Chris Beyrer, a professor at the public health school and part of the faculty group that denounced McHugh's stance, said: "These are dated, now-discredited theories." [ 63 ] [ 64 ] [ 65 ] Brynn Tannehill, a board member of the Transgender United Fund wrote that "this isn't a study, it's a very long Opinion-Editorial piece." [ 66 ]
Writing for the National Review in a 2003 column, the conservative author Stanley Kurtz described The New Atlantis as influential on thinking about science and technology. [ 67 ] [ 68 ] Richard John Neuhaus , former editor of the conservative journal First Things , wrote that The New Atlantis is "as good a publication as there is for the intelligent exploration of questions in bioethics and projections—promising, ominous, and fantastical—about the human future," [ 69 ] and a writer in The American Conservative described the journal as a source "of fresh ideas on the Right." [ 70 ] National Review columnist Jonah Goldberg described The New Atlantis as "a new and interesting magazine" that "seems to be trying to carve out the space for the government to stop the more offensive aspects of biotechnology." [ 71 ]
Conversely, the liberal bioethicist Jonathan D. Moreno said that the journal offers "a very dark vision" about science and technology but that it "makes an important point about the need to worry about the ends as well as means in science", [ 72 ] and that its "writers were young, smart, and had a good understanding of the political process and the making of public policy." [ 9 ] Bioethicist Ruth Macklin criticized The New Atlantis as representative of a conservative movement in bioethics that is "mean-spirited, mystical, and emotional" and that "claims insight into ultimate truth yet disavows reason". [ 10 ]
The journal has particularly gained a reputation among the transhumanist movement for its criticism of human enhancement. James Hughes , a techno-progressivist and at times director of organizations such as the World Transhumanist Association and the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies , observes that the journal "has published influential attacks on artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, biotechnology, reproductive technology, and life extension". The artist and designer Natasha Vita-More , wife of British transhumanist philosopher, cryonicist , and author Max More , has described it as a "journal known as a ring of bioconservatives bent on opposing the cyberculture". Meanwhile, the organization founded by her husband, the Extropy Institute , has called it "a high-powered rallying point for the neo-Luddites ". [ 73 ]
The New Atlantis publishes a book series, New Atlantis Books, an imprint of Encounter Books . As of December 2012, six books have been released: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Atlantis_(journal) |
The New Politics of Numbers: Utopia, evidence and democracy is a multi-author book edited by sociologists Andrea Mennicken and Robert Salais and published in 2022 by Palgrave Macmillan .
This work builds on the 1989 volume The Politics of Numbers of William Alonso and Paul Starr , [ 1 ] as well as Alain Desrosières ’ The Politics of Large Numbers , the contributions of Laurent Thévenot , and other scholars in France and the UK. The volume [ 2 ] sets out to investigate the power of statistics, how they travel across countries and domains, how they may be implicated in policy reform, and how they establish accountability and regulation. [ 3 ] The book devotes particular attention to the linkages between statistics and democracy. [ 4 ]
The book was inspired by a working group on social quantification at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin in 2014. [ 5 ] It is inspired by two strands of research: one related to Foucauldian ideas of power and control, which were studied by historians and sociologists at the London School of Economics ; and the other being the "economics of conventions" or "theory of conventions", studied by various French scholars, including Luc Boltanski , Laurent Thévenot , and originally by Alain Desrosières . [ 5 ]
Peter Miller's chapter investigates the role of statistics in design of health policies. [ 6 ] The role of quantification in international certification standards is discussed by Thévenot. [ 7 ] Uwe Vormbusch provides recounts the quantified self movement, [ 8 ] while Boris Samuel provides an example of Statactivism staged in French Guadeloupe . [ 9 ] Ota De Leonardis discusses how statistics permit a semantic shift in the meaning of inequality. [ 10 ] The book also contains chapters from other scholars such as Emmanuel Didier, Martine Mespoulet, Tom Lang , Corine Eyraud and others. Wendy Nelson Espeland writes the foreword "What Numbers Do".
Harro Maas writes that "it is just impossible to open a newspaper or news site without being reminded of the themes addressed in this volume" after having read the book. [ 5 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Politics_of_Numbers |
The No Nonsense Guide to Science is a 2006 book on Post-normal science (PNS). It was written by American born British historian and philosopher of science Jerome Ravetz . [ 1 ]
This is how this work's ambition was summarized. [ 2 ] Written in 2006 by one of the founding fathers [ 3 ] of Post-normal Science - the other being Silvio Funtowicz - its 142 pages cover several themes, in part synthesizing previous works such as Scientific Knowledge and Its Social Problems , The Merger of Knowledge with Power , and Uncertainty and Quality in Science for Policy (with Funtowicz), and introduces the ideas of Post-normal Science . [ 4 ] Topics include:
The book makes themes that are well known to philosophers and sociologists of science accessible to a larger, less specialized audience, including young scientists. [ 2 ] The foreword was written by biochemist Tom Blundell , who approves of Ravetz' "direct and provocative" approach to describing science, inclusive of its self-destructive tendencies as well as of its hopes and promises.
No Nonsense Guide to Science was translated and published in Japan in 2012. [ 6 ] Ravetz's work has found use for teaching philosophy and ethics of science, e.g at the University of Copenhagen. [ 7 ] The volume may help to develop the competencies that scientists need to perform ethically [ 8 ] in postnormal research, by developing the ability to identify issues that fit postnormal settings where "facts are uncertain, values in dispute, stakes high and decision urgent" . [ 7 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_No_Nonsense_Guide_To_Science |
The Non-GMO Project is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focusing on genetically modified organisms. The organization began as an initiative of independent natural foods retailers in the U.S. and Canada , [ 5 ] with the stated aim to label products produced in compliance with their Non-GMO Project Standard, [ 6 ] which aims to prevent genetically modified foodstuffs from being present in retail food products. The organization is headquartered in Bellingham, Washington . The Non-GMO label began use in 2012 with Numi Organic Tea products. [ 7 ] [ 8 ]
The Non-GMO Project was incorporated in California on December 14, 2006. [ 1 ] Two natural food retailers formed the project, with a goal of creating a standardized definition for non-genetically modified organisms. [ 9 ] [ 10 ] The project worked with FoodChain Global Advisors which provided the scientific and technical expertise. In spring 2007, the project's board of directors [ 11 ] was expanded to include representatives from additional groups, and formed advisory boards for technical and policy issues. [ 12 ]
The Non-GMO Project's stated mission is "to preserve and build sources of non-GMO products, educate consumers, and provide verified non-GMO choices". It provides third-party verification and labeling for non-genetically modified food and products. The project also works with food manufacturers, distributors, growers , and seed suppliers to develop standards for detection of genetically modified organisms and for the reduction of contamination risk of the non-genetically modified food supply with genetically modified organisms. FoodChain Global Advisors, a part of Global ID Group. [ 13 ] [ 14 ]
The Non-GMO Project claims to "educate consumers and the food industry to help build awareness about GMOs and their impact on our health". [ 15 ] It asserts that everyone deserves an informed choice about whether or not to consume genetically modified organisms. [ 15 ] [ 16 ]
The Non-GMO Project maintains a consensus-based standard, [ 17 ] which outlines their system for ensuring best practices for avoiding genetically modified organisms. Methods such as segregation, traceability, risk assessment , sampling techniques , and quality control management are emphasized in the Standard.
The project's Product Verification Program assesses ingredients, products, and manufacturing facilities to establish compliance with the standard. All ingredients with major risk must be tested for compliance with the Non-GMO Project Standard prior to their use in a Non-GMO Project Verified Product. [ 18 ] The process is managed through a web-based application and evaluation program developed for the project. [ 19 ] The project's label indicates compliance with the standards. [ 20 ] [ 21 ]
According to the Non-GMO Project, as of September 2013, Non-GMO Project Verified products exceeded $3.5 billion. This would be approximately 0.4% of the total food sales in the United States ($1.3 trillion in 2012). [ 22 ] The Non-GMO Project reports 797 verification program enrollment inquiries in the second quarter of 2013 compared to 194 inquiries during the same period in 2012, representing more than a 300% increase. [ 23 ]
The Non-GMO Project often puts its labels on products containing inputs it considers "low-risk", including foods with inputs that could not be derived from GMOs. The Project maintains this is because many products that appear to be inherently non-GMO (such as orange juice, oats, tea and table salt) often contain GMO-derived additives (such as citric acid). Some critics say the Project may be using a business model that is based on fear and lack of information. [ 24 ]
There is a scientific consensus [ 25 ] [ 26 ] [ 27 ] [ 28 ] that currently available food derived from GM crops poses no greater risk to human health than conventional food, [ 29 ] [ 30 ] [ 31 ] [ 32 ] [ 33 ] but that each GM food needs to be tested on a case-by-case basis before introduction. [ 34 ] [ 35 ] [ 36 ] Nonetheless, members of the public are much less likely than scientists to perceive GM foods as safe. [ 37 ] [ 38 ] [ 39 ] [ 40 ] The legal and regulatory status of GM foods varies by country, with some nations banning or restricting them, and others permitting them with widely differing degrees of regulation. [ 41 ] [ 42 ] [ 43 ] [ 44 ]
Domingo, José L.; Bordonaba, Jordi Giné (2011). "A literature review on the safety assessment of genetically modified plants" (PDF) . Environment International . 37 (4): 734– 742. doi : 10.1016/j.envint.2011.01.003 . PMID 21296423 . In spite of this, the number of studies specifically focused on safety assessment of GM plants is still limited. However, it is important to remark that for the first time, a certain equilibrium in the number of research groups suggesting, on the basis of their studies, that a number of varieties of GM products (mainly maize and soybeans) are as safe and nutritious as the respective conventional non-GM plant, and those raising still serious concerns, was observed. Moreover, it is worth mentioning that most of the studies demonstrating that GM foods are as nutritional and safe as those obtained by conventional breeding, have been performed by biotechnology companies or associates, which are also responsible of commercializing these GM plants. Anyhow, this represents a notable advance in comparison with the lack of studies published in recent years in scientific journals by those companies.
Krimsky, Sheldon (2015). "An Illusory Consensus behind GMO Health Assessment" (PDF) . Science, Technology, & Human Values . 40 (6): 883– 914. doi : 10.1177/0162243915598381 . S2CID 40855100 . Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-08-31 . Retrieved 2021-09-30 . I began this article with the testimonials from respected scientists that there is literally no scientific controversy over the health effects of GMOs. My investigation into the scientific literature tells another story.
And contrast:
Panchin, Alexander Y.; Tuzhikov, Alexander I. (January 14, 2016). "Published GMO studies find no evidence of harm when corrected for multiple comparisons". Critical Reviews in Biotechnology . 37 (2): 213– 217. doi : 10.3109/07388551.2015.1130684 . ISSN 0738-8551 . PMID 26767435 . S2CID 11786594 . Here, we show that a number of articles some of which have strongly and negatively influenced the public opinion on GM crops and even provoked political actions, such as GMO embargo, share common flaws in the statistical evaluation of the data. Having accounted for these flaws, we conclude that the data presented in these articles does not provide any substantial evidence of GMO harm. The presented articles suggesting possible harm of GMOs received high public attention. However, despite their claims, they actually weaken the evidence for the harm and lack of substantial equivalency of studied GMOs. We emphasize that with over 1783 published articles on GMOs over the last 10 years it is expected that some of them should have reported undesired differences between GMOs and conventional crops even if no such differences exist in reality.
and | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Non-GMO_Project |
The Noun Project is a website that aggregates and catalogs symbols that are created and uploaded by graphic designers around the world. Based in Los Angeles , the project functions both as a resource for people in search of typographic symbols and a design history of the genre. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ]
The Noun Project was co-founded by Sofya Polyakov, Edward Boatman, and Scott Thomas and is headed by Polyakov. [ 4 ] Boatman recalled his frustration while working at an architectural firm at the lack of a central repository for common icons, "things such as airplanes, bicycles and people." That idea morphed into a broader platform for visual communication. The site was launched on Kickstarter in December 2010, which raised more than $14,000 in donations, with symbols from the National Park Service and other sources whose content was in the public domain . Site design was by the firm Simple.Honest.Work, with mentoring from the Designer Fund. [ 1 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ]
The Noun Project has generated interest and new symbols by hosting a series of "Iconathons", the first of which was held in the summer of 2011. The sessions typically run five hours and include graphic designers, content experts, and interested volunteers, all working in small groups that focus on a specific issue, such as democracy, transportation or nutrition. The idea for the event came from Chacha Sikes, who was at the time a fellow at Code for America . [ 7 ]
Contributors come from around the world. A 2012 New York Times story profiled one of them: Luis Prado, a graphic designer at the Washington State Department of Natural Resources , who uploaded 83 icons he had created for his agency, including a pruning saw, a logging truck and a candidate symbol for global warming , which he created when he could not find one online. [ 8 ]
The site has four stylistic guidelines: include only the essential characteristics of the idea conveyed, maintain a consistent design style, favor an industrial look over a hand-drawn one, and avoid conveying personal opinions, feelings and beliefs. [ 9 ] Contributors select a public domain mark or a Creative Commons attribution license, which enables others to use the symbol with attribution, free of charge. The attribution requirement can be waived upon payment of a nominal fee, which is split between the artist and The Noun Project. [ 2 ] The founders envisioned the site as being primarily useful for designers and architects, but the range of users includes people with autism and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , who sometimes favor a visual language, as well as business professionals incorporating the symbols into presentations. [ 5 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Noun_Project |
The OpenMS Proteomics Pipeline (TOPP) is a set of computational tools that can be chained together to tailor problem-specific analysis pipelines for HPLC-MS data. It transforms most of the OpenMS functionality into small command line tools that are the building blocks for more complex analysis pipelines. The functionality of the tools ranges from data preprocessing (file format conversion , baseline reduction, noise reduction, peak picking, map alignment,...) over quantitation (isotope-labeled and label-free) to identification (wrapper tools for Mascot , Sequest , InsPecT and OMSSA ).
TOPP is developed in the groups of Prof. Knut Reinert [1] at the Free University of Berlin and in the group of Prof. Kohlbacher [2] at the University of Tübingen .
For more detailed information about the TOPP tools, see the TOPP documentation of the latest release and the TOPP publication in the references.
The OpenMS Proteomics Pipeline is free software released under the 3-clause BSD license . [ 1 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_OpenMS_Proteomics_Pipeline |
The Oyster Question: Scientists, Watermen, and the Maryland Chesapeake Bay since 1880 is a 2009 book by Christine Keiner . It examines the conflict between oystermen and scientists in the Chesapeake Bay from the end of the nineteenth century to the present, which includes the period of the so-called " Oyster Wars " and the precipitous decline of the oyster industry at the end of the twentieth century. [ 1 ] The book engages the myth of the " Tragedy of the Commons " by examining the often fraught relationship between local politics and conservation science, arguing that for most of the period Maryland 's state political system gave rural oystermen more political clout than politicians and the scientists they appointed and allowing oystermen to effectively manage the oyster bed commons. Only towards the end of the twentieth century did reapportionment bring suburban and urban interests more political power, by which time they had latched on to oystermen as elements of the area's heritage and incorporated them and the oysters into broader conservation efforts. [ 2 ] An important theme is the "intersection[] of scientific knowledge with experiential knowledge in the context of use," in that Keiner "treats the knowledge of the Chesapeake Bay’s oystermen alongside that of biologists." [ 3 ] "Through her analysis, Keiner effectively reframes how environmental historians have analyzed histories of common resources and provides a working model for integrating historical and ecological information to bridge the histories of science and environmental history ." [ 4 ]
The book won the 2010 Forum for the History of Science in America Prize. [ 5 ] It shared the 2010 Maryland Historical Trust 's Heritage Book Award, and received an Honorable Mention for the Frederick Jackson Turner Award from the Organization of American Historians in 2010. [ 6 ] [ 7 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oyster_Question |
The People's Petition was an online campaign to express support for medical experimentation using animals in the United Kingdom . Within a year of launch the number of signatures exceeded 21,850 and included Tony Blair , the then-serving Prime Minister .
Launched on 20 April 2006 by the Coalition for Medical Progress , a broad alliance that includes pharmaceutical companies and research agencies, the petition was proposed by a member of the public to represent the " silent majority who accept the need for animal studies". [ 1 ] David Taylor stated that, as neither a scientist nor doctor, he wanted a way "to show people who carry out medical research that I value and support their work." [ 2 ]
The petition offered the opportunity for individuals of any age or place of residence to express support for three assertions:
By 13 May, the petition had recorded 13,000 signatures. The following day, in the wake of publicity around a number of acts of intimidation by animal rights activists, then British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced in the Sunday Telegraph , that he intended to add his name to the petition. As an unusual move for a serving politician , Blair described his intention as "a sign of just how important I believe it is that as many people as possible stand up against the tiny group of extremists threatening medical research and advances in [the UK]." [ 3 ]
Animal rights groups criticised Blair's actions; the National Anti-Vivisection Society calling it "hugely irresponsible". The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection praised Blair's stance in tackling extremists, but expressed concern that he was "blindly backing the animal experimenters" practising "outmoded science." [ 4 ]
Blair's announcement also drew praise, however. Jean-Pierre Garnier , chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline , stated he was encouraged by Blair's "personal commitment" and Colin Blakemore , chief executive of the Medical Research Council , thanked Blair "on behalf of medical researchers, who live in fear of such intimidation." [ 5 ]
Other notable signatories include Caroline Flint and Tom Brake , both MPs , and Polly Toynbee . As of the end of 2006, the number of signatures exceeded 21,850. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_People's_Petition |
The Plant Genomics and Phenomics Research Data Repository (PGP) is a data publication infrastructure to comprehensively publish multi-domain plant research data. [ 1 ] It is hosted at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) in Gatersleben , Germany.
The repository hosts Digital Object Identifier (DOI) citable datasets that are not being published in public repositories because of their volume or data scope. PGP enables the publication of gigabyte-scale datasets and is registered as a research data repository at FAIRSharing.org, re3data.org and OpenAIRE as a valid EU Horizon 2020 open data archive. PGP fulfills the FAIR data principles—findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable.
The PGP repository was created using the e!DAL [ 2 ] [ 3 ] software infrastructure and applies an on-premises approach to bring and connect data to infrastructure.
All submitted and approved data are hosted at IPK Gatersleben and are stably citable in the long-term by a DOI. All datasets are linked in ORCID and indexed by all major web search engines. The PGP repository is accepted by data journals such as GigaScience and Nature Scientific Data as a recommended data repository. All published datasets may be explored in the PGP data report application or retrieved using the DataCite search web application.
The PGP repository accepts submissions from the European plant science community. The web-based submission tool for small datasets and Java desktop submission tool for gigabyte scale datasets use the ELIXIR Authentication and authorization infrastructure (AAI). A review process ensures the technical quality of data submissions.
The PGP repository is a part of the service portfolio of the German Crop BioGreenformatics Network (GCBN) node of the German Network for Bioinformatics Infrastructure . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plant_Phenomics_and_Genomics_Research_Data_Repository |
The Poem of Angkor Wat (ល្បើកអង្គរវត្ត Lpoek Angkor Vat or Lbaeuk Ângkôr Vôtt ), is a Khmer poem which dates from the beginning of the 17th century. It celebrates Angkor Wat , the magnificent temple complex at Angkor and describes the bas-reliefs in the temple galleries that portray the Reamker . [ 1 ] The Poem of Angkor Wat is considered to be the earliest original literary work in Khmer language . [ 2 ] It is one of the two great epic poems of Cambodia with the Reamker [ 3 ] in the style of the Indian epic poetry . [ 4 ]
The Poem of Angkor Wat is the story of a certain prince Ketumala, son in a previous existence to the god Indra , who cannot stay in the gods' realm because his human smell is unbearable to the devata . Out of compassion for his exiled son, Indra sends his personal architect, Preah Pisnukar (or Braḥ Bisṇukār, Vishvakarman ) to the earth to build a palace for Ketumala in the human realm.
Preah Pisnukar supervises and organizes servants from all over the world to build the palace. Preah Pisnukar orders the clearing of the forest around Phnom Bakheng , and the bringing of high quality stones to construct the complex. Once the works are completed, Preah Ketmealea enters his new palace namely Intapras, where he rules as the great king ( Mahārāja , or Mohareach ). [ citation needed ]
The version of The Poem of Angkor Wat was originally inscribed on the temples of Angkor Wat and was first written in modern script in 1878 by the French khmerologist Étienne Aymonier as " Edification d'Angkor Vat ou Satra de Prea Kêt Mealéa " ( sic ). [ 5 ] Later in 2009, Sokha Thoum, Horm Chhayly, and Hay Vanneth reorganized into modern, easier-to-read scripts, including a glossary for interpreting the ancient words used in the poem.
According to khmerologist Grégory Mikaelian, The Poem of Angkor Wat is a cosmogonic text of a new literary genre wanted by the royal government of Oudong engaged in a cycle of refoundation of power following the fall of their capital Longvek conquered by the Siamese in 1594. [ 6 ]
Variously dated 1598 and 1620, a philological study of The Poem of Angkor Wat by Pou Saveros has established its date of composition as 1620 AD and attributed its authorship to a certain Pang Tat, called Neak Pang. [ 7 ]
The Khmer poem is rich in alliterative and rhyming words. The poem is long and uses three different meters : Bat Prohmkoet, Bat Kakketi, and Bat Pomnol . [ 8 ] According to Pou Saveros, much of it defies any intelligence, which contrasts with the clarity of Khmer inscription IMA 38 known as the "great inscription of Angkor". [ 9 ]
The Poem of Angkor Wat is a witness to the cultural shift of Cambodia after the fall of Longvek and reflects the "harmonization of [the] Brahmanic heritage and Theravada ideology." [ 10 ]
One of the main characters, Ketumala, corresponds to King Suryavarman II , in the first half of the twelfth century, the real builder of Angkor Wat, [ 11 ] but at the time of composition the poem in the seventeenth century, Suryavarman II had already vanished from people's minds. [ 12 ]
The Story of Angkor Wat which dates from the beginning of the 17th century, celebrates the magnificent temple complex at Angkor and describes the bas-reliefs in the temple galleries that portray the Rāma story. The epic eulogizes the glory of Cambodian rulers and celebrates the beauty of their palace, Angkor Wat. [ 13 ]
Preah Pisnukar, main hero of the poem, is still invoked as a patron by carpenters, artists and builders in Cambodia [ 14 ] as the legendary builder of Angkor Wat. [ 15 ] He has also been invoked by alien theorists .
The Poem of Angkor has had a lasting influence on Khmer culture and literature.
Etiologically , the main characters of the poem have also given their name to the geography of Siemreap: the name Ketmealea is the basis for the name of the monument Beng Mealea , the modern Buddhist pagoda Wat Beng Mealea, and the village and commune Phum Beng Mealea, which is located in the Svay Leu district , Siem Reap province . It was also chosen for the name of the Preah Ket Mealea Hospital in Phnom Penh.
To this day, The Poem of Angkor is often referred to by Khmer people, in popular plays and pastiche , as well as in the Royal Ballet of Cambodia . [ 16 ]
The Poem of Angkor Wat reveals the poetic potential of the ruins of Angkor Wat. This poetic potential was reflected in the works by generations of bards and poets , both Khmer and foreign, such as American poet Allen Ginsberg 's " Ankor Wat ", one of the most significant evocations of the Khmer temples in modern literature. [ 17 ]
The legend of Angkor is not just a coincidence. It illustrates one of the most beautiful popular creations, not coming out of nothing, but composed from elements belonging to several different traditions, an Indian Hindu tradition and a Southeast Asian Buddhist tradition. According to Saveros Pou , the talent of the poets did the rest, rooting the legend in the heart of the Khmer people: it borders on genius. [ 18 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Poem_of_Angkor_Wat |
The Politics of Large Numbers:A History of Statistical Reasoning is a book by French statistician, sociologist and historian of science, Alain Desrosières , which was originally published in French in 1993. [ 1 ] The English translation, by Camille Naish, was published in 1998 by Harvard University Press . [ 2 ]
Alain Desrosières's ambition is to reconcile an “Internal” history of the field, focusing on theory building and data collection, with an “External” history, examining the social conditions where and why a discipline develops. In his words, applying a science-in-the-making perspective “the distinction between technical and social objects—underlying the separation between internal and external history—
disappears” (p. 5 [ 2 ] ). [ 3 ]
The work of Desrosières mobilize the French style of social analysis of cognitive forms, looking at statistics as the ensemble of concepts, methods, and practices concerned with "making up things that hold". [ 4 ]
A central part of the book explores how
socio-political structures of France, Britain, Germany, and the
United States affect the establishment and evolution of the nationals statistical offices in these countries. [ 5 ] The author discusses in depth how the activity of cathegorization, allocating individuals to classes, provide the encoding necessary for the realization of statistical constructs, following Durkheim 's motto to 'treat social facts as things', thus creating new entities as poverty or unemployment. [ 5 ] This project that Desrosières names 'objectification' is also offered by the author as a way to reconcile objective and subjective visions of probabilities, a dichotomy he retraces to the fourteenth-century confrontation between realists and nominalists. [ 5 ]
Among the critiques to this work is that it reads more as a work of sociology and political economy than as a technical account
of how statistical operations developed, [ 5 ] and the critical balance Desrosières needs to maintain between defending the necessity and legitimacy of critical attacks on
statistical concepts and methods in the name of sociopolitical progress and the stated need for "durably solidified forms" of statistical technique and concepts. [ 4 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Politics_of_Large_Numbers |
The Politics of Modelling, Numbers Between Science and Policy is a multi-authors book edited by Andrea Saltelli and Monica Di Fiore and published in August 2023 by Oxford University Press .
The Politics of Modelling elaborates and expands on themes of responsible modelling from a manifesto published in the journal Nature in 2020. [ 1 ] The text is structured into three main sections: Meeting Models , The Rules , and The Rules in Practice . [ 2 ] [ 3 ] The combination of theory with policy relevant examples makes the book accessible to modellers, researchers of modelling, and policy makers. [ 3 ]
The volume comes with a foreword of Wendy Nelson Espeland and a preface of Daniel Sarewitz , with chapters from Andy Stirling , Wolfgang Drechsler , Philip B. Stark , Ting Xu , Paolo Vineis , Andrea Saltelli , and other scholars.
The book argues that models live in a “state of exception” provided by their access to a wealth of methodology of analysis, and by their epistemic authority borrowed from mathematics. This state allows models to better defend an appearance of neutrality that is appreciated by policymakers in search of a justification. [ 4 ] A review published in the Science notes that the volume incorporated insights from science and technology studies to explore modeling beyond its technical aspects [ 2 ] A second review [ 3 ] in the Minerva notes the book’s reference to the works of historians Margaret Morrison and Mary S. Morgan in considering models as mediators whereby models are simultaneously a tool, an interpretation, and a representation of the system. [ 5 ] : 205
The book contrasts the danger of cynicism with suggestions to make models serve society, based on theory, examples, and a call for participatory modelling linked to Post-normal science , sensitivity auditing and the concept of extended peer community . [ 3 ] Reviewers also noted [ 3 ] that the book ignores other ongoing efforts in enhancing or formalizing modelling practices such as the framework proposed van Voorn, [ 6 ] and the Good Modelling Practice handbook developed for water management purposes in the Netherlands. [ 7 ] Reviewers pointed to the book's failure to cover the ‘fit-for purpose’ [ 8 ] movement in modelling. [ 2 ] Other points where the book was found to be lacking by critics were the challenge of participatory modelling, related to gaming and power relations such as Arnsteinds’ ladder of participation . [ 3 ]
A review in Mathematics Magazine [ 9 ] notes the book’s attention to sensitivity analysis : "[The authors] stress the importance of sensitivity analysis, with a highly-illustrative and illuminating example that analyzes the EOQ (economic order quantity) formula." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Politics_of_Modelling,_Numbers_Between_Science_and_Policy |
Andy Stirling (born 3 March 1961 [ 1 ] ) is Professor of science and technology policy at Sussex University . He has a background in the natural sciences , a master's degree in archaeology and social anthropology (Edinburgh) and a D.Phil. in science and technology policy (Sussex). [ 2 ]
Formerly a board member of Greenpeace International, Stirling has worked in collaboration with a diverse range of organisations. His research interests include technological risk, innovation policy, scientific uncertainty and public involvement in decision-making, and he has been involved in developing some participatory appraisal methods. [ 2 ]
He has served on several policy advisory committees, including the UK Government's Advisory Committee on Toxic Substances and GM Science Review Panel as well as the European Commission's Expert Group on Science and Governance .
This biography article of a United Kingdom academic is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Politics_of_Uncertainty |
The Porter Garden Telescope was an innovative ornamental telescope for the garden designed by Russell W. Porter and commercialized by Jones & Lamson Machine Company at the beginning of the 1920s in the United States .
Oriented to users with high purchasing power, [ 1 ] [ 2 ] and constructed in statuary bronze, it could be left permanently outdoors like sculptures and sundials, keeping the delicate optics in a case.
It was embellished with floral ornament, with a style close to the art nouveau . In its base were the names of celebrated astronomers: Galileo , Kepler , and Newton .
The part called the bowl bore the commercial logo "The Porter Garden Telescope", the name and address of the manufacturer, the serial number of manufacture, and the number and date of the patent.
Russell W. Porter designed the telescope starting from previous concepts that he had explored before, with the idea of simplifying and reducing to the minimum the times of transport, assembly, setup and disassembly of conventional personal telescopes. By making a telescope that could stay outdoors permanently, he maximized observing time. On the other hand, it brought together his dream of promoting astronomy among the uninitiated, by embellishing its form to make it attractive to the public, but without endangering the robustness of bronze. Beginners could manipulate it without fear.
He presented the application of patent on 25 January 1922 and was conceded the same on 25 September 1923 under number US1468973. [ 7 ] However, the final model differed of the aforementioned patent in the zone of the base, since there were later modifications of design that were collected in a new patent for a refracting telescope version. Although it presented the application some months after the first, 7 September 1922, it was conceded years later, on 6 December 1927 under number US1651412 but it was never manufactured. [ 4 ]
The primary mirror was mechanized by J&L.Mac.Co, with the final parabolized handmade, and the specular surface of the glass was obtained by silvering. They offered to resilver at nominal cost, although they claimed that it would not be necessary to do it in years since its lacquered was tested outdoors during the rigour of one winter of Vermont without appreciating deterioration. [ 5 ]
The rest of the optics, prism and ocular, were supplied by John A. Brashear Co. [ 8 ] The election of a prism like a secondary element was usual in the period, previous to the first aluminized optics in vacuum chambers, and deleted the need of maintenance of a second silvering specular surface.
It was commercialized during a pair of years (1923-1924), [ 2 ] with the publication of articles in skilled press [ 5 ] [ 9 ] and announcements in magazines of decoration and gardening, [ 6 ] but since its price without pedestal was equal to a car Ford Model-T of the time, [ 2 ] that saturated the market for which it was oriented with the sale of around 100 units. [ 8 ] [ 10 ] Other influential factors in the decommission of the product were: the few customer understanding of how to use the equatorial mount for astronomical use, [ 11 ] initial underestimation of the costs of production (sale price changed from $250 [ 12 ] to $400 [ 13 ] ) and the own art nouveau style of the sculpture in full tendency of the art deco style. [ 14 ]
Years later, in 1936, during the collaboration of Russell W. Porter in the design of the Palomar Observatory and the Hale Telescope , which was the largest effective telescope in the world during 45 years, [ 15 ] he requested the assignment of using the original patent to J&L.Mac.Co. to be able to implement the horseshoe type mount in that project, obtaining it without obstacles. [ 2 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Porter_Garden_Telescope |
Wanderers Of Time is a collection of five science fiction stories (one short story and four novelettes) by John Wyndham , published in Coronet Books in 1973. The stories were early works, originally published in magazines in the 1930s and written under the name of John Beynon. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Puff-Ball_Menace |
The Purchase of the North Pole or Topsy-Turvy ( French : Sans dessus dessous ) is an adventure novel by Jules Verne , published in 1889 . It is the third and last novel of the Baltimore Gun Club, first appearing in From the Earth to the Moon , and later in Around the Moon , featuring the same characters but set twenty years later.
Like some other books of his later years, in this novel Verne tempers his love of science and engineering with a good dose of irony about their potential for harmful abuse and the fallibility of human endeavors.
In an unspecified year in the 1890s (written "189–" in the novel), an international auction is organized to define the sovereign rights to the part of the Arctic extending from the 84th parallel , the highest yet reached by man, to the North Pole . Several countries send their official delegates, but the auction is won by a representative from an anonymous United States buyer.
After the auction closes, the mysterious buyer is revealed to be Barbicane and Co., a company founded by Impey Barbicane, J.T. Maston and Captain Nicholl — the same members of the Baltimore Gun Club who, twenty years earlier, had traveled around the Moon inside a large cannon shell . The brave gunmen-astronauts had come out of their retirement with an even more ambitious engineering project: using the recoil of a huge cannon to remove the tilt of the Earth's axis — so that it would become perpendicular to the planet's orbit , like Jupiter 's.
That change would bring an end to seasons, as day and night would be always equal and each place would have the same climate all year round. The society's interest lay in another effect of the recoil: a displacement of the Earth's rotation axis, that would bring the lands around the North Pole, which they had secured in the auction, to latitude 67 north. Then the vast coal deposits that were conjectured to exist under the ice could be easily mined and sold. The technical feasibility of the plan had been confirmed by J. T. Maston's computations. The necessary capital had been provided by Ms. Evangelina Scorbitt, a wealthy widow and ardent admirer of Maston.
The cannon needed for that plan would be enormous, much larger than the huge Columbiad that had sent them to the Moon. Once the plan became public, the brilliant French engineer Alcide Pierdeux quickly computes the required force of the explosion. He then discovers that the recoil would buckle the Earth's crust; many countries (mostly in Asia) would be flooded, while others (including the United States) would gain new land.
Alcide's note sends the world into panic and rage, and authorities promptly rush to stop the project. However Barbicane and Nicholl had left America for destination unknown, to supervise the completion and firing of the monster gun. J. T. Maston is caught and jailed, but he is unwilling or unable to reveal the cannon's location. Frantic searches around the world fail to find it either.
The cannon in fact had been dug deep into the flanks of Mount Kilimanjaro , by a small army of workers provided by a local sultan who was an enthusiastic fan of the former Moon explorers. The projectile, a steel-braced chunk of rock weighing 180,000 tons , would exit the barrel at the fantastic speed of 2,800 kilometres per second — thanks to a new powerful explosive invented by Nicholl, which he had called "melimelonite".
The cannon is fired as planned, and the explosion causes huge damage in the immediate vicinity. However, the Earth's axis retains its tilt and position, and not the slightest tremor is felt in the rest of the world. Alcide, shortly before the cannon was fired, had discovered that J. T. Maston, while computing the size of the cannon, had made a calculation error; he had accidentally erased three zeros from the blackboard when he was struck by lightning during a telephone call from Ms. Scorbitt. Because of that single mistake, twelve zeros got omitted from the result. Because Maston's calculations were undoubtedly considered correct when they were discovered, this error was not discovered early enough. The cannon he designed was indeed far too small: a trillion of them would have had to be fired to achieve the intended effect.
Ridiculed by the whole world and bearing the bitter resentment of his two associates, J. T. Maston goes back into retirement, vowing to never again make any mathematical calculations. Ms. Scorbitt finally declares her feelings to Maston, and he gladly surrenders to marriage. Alcide gains worldwide recognition by revealing the cause of the failure of the operation to the public. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Purchase_of_the_North_Pole |
The Quantum Thief is the debut science fiction novel by Finnish writer Hannu Rajaniemi and the first novel in a trilogy [ 1 ] featuring the character of Jean le Flambeur; the sequels are The Fractal Prince (2012) and The Causal Angel (2014). The novel was published in Britain by Gollancz in 2010, and by Tor in 2011 in the US. It is a heist story , set in a futuristic Solar System , that features a protagonist modeled on Arsène Lupin , the gentleman thief of Maurice Leblanc .
The novel was nominated for the 2011 Locus Award for Best First Novel , [ 2 ] [ 3 ] and was second runner-up for the 2011 Campbell Memorial Award . [ 4 ]
Several centuries after the technological singularity largely destroyed Earth, various posthuman factions compete for dominance in the Solar System . Though sentient superintelligent AGI has never been successfully developed, civilization has been greatly transformed by the proliferation of Hansonian brain emulations (termed "gogols" in reference to Nikolai Gogol , and in particular his novel Dead Souls ). An alliance of powerful gogol copies rule the inner system from computronium megastructures housing trillions of virtual minds, laboring to resurrect the dead in religious devotion to the philosophy of Nikolai Fedorov . This alliance, the Sobornost , has been in conflict with a community of quantum entangled minds who adhere to the "no-cloning" principle of quantum information theory, and so do not see the Sobornost's ultimate goal as resurrection, but death. Most of this community, the Zoku, was devastated when Jupiter was destroyed with a weaponized gravitational singularity .
Among the last remnants of near-baseline humanity exist on the mobile cities of Mars, where advanced cryptography and an obsessive privacy culture ensure that the Sobornost cannot upload their citizens' minds. The most notable of these cities is the Oubliette, where time is used as a currency. When a citizen's balance reaches zero their mind is transferred to a robotic body to serve the needs of the city for a set period, before being returned to their original body with a restored balance of time.
Countless gogols of the legendary gentleman thief Jean Le Flambeur are trapped in a virtual Sobornost prison in orbit around Neptune, playing an iterated prisoner's dilemma until his mind learns to cooperate. A warrior from the Oort Cloud , which has been settled by Finnish colonists, successfully retrieves one of the Le Flambeur gogols and uploads it into a real-space body. Acting on behalf of a competing Sobornost authority, this Oortian, Mieli, ferries the thief to the Martian city known as The Oubliette, where he has stored his memories for later recovery. The two intend to recover his memories so that he may return to an operating capacity sufficient to serve his Sobornost benefactor in a theft and repay his liberation.
On the Oubliette, the young detective Isidore Beautrelet helps vigilantes catch Sobornost agents illicitly uploading human minds. These vigilantes are revealed to be in the service of a local colony of Zoku. Beautrelet is employed to investigate the arrival of Le Flambeur, and in the process becomes aware that the Oubliette's cryptographic security was always compromised. The memories of its citizens are fabrications, and the "King of Mars" long believed ousted in a revolution, still reigns behind the scenes. This King, who is another copy of Jean Le Flambeur, is defeated in the ensuing conflict. Le Flambeur fails to recover all of his memories, which he had locked with a quantum entangled revolver that required him to kill several of his old friends to open his stored memory. He and Mieli escape a liberated Mars having recovered only a mysterious "Schrodinger's Box" from the Memory Palace .
Themes central to The Quantum Thief are the unreliability and malleability of memory and the effects of extreme longevity on an individual's perspective and personality. Prisons, surveillance and control in society are also major themes.
In the book, the people living in the Oubliette society on Mars have two types of memory; in addition to a traditional, personal memory, there is the exomemory , which can be accessed by other people, from anywhere in the city. Memories about personal experiences can be stored in the exomemory and partitioned, with different levels of access granted to different people. These memories can be used, among other things, as an expedient form of communication.
The Oubliette society has an economy where time is used as currency. When an individual's time is expended, their consciousness is uploaded into a "Quiet". The Quiet are mute machine servants who maintain and protect the city. Although the quiet seem to have little interest in the world outside their occupations, they do seem to retain some traces of their former personalities and memories.
The conspiracy central to the plot involves the hidden rulers, called the "cryptarchs", manipulating and abusing the exomemory and through the citizens' transformations to quiet and back, the traditional memory as well. In the book, the Oubliette society is compared to a panopticon ; a prison, where every action of the dwellers can be scrutinized.
The first chapter of The Quantum Thief was presented by Rajaniemi's literary agent, John Jarrold, to Gollancz as the basis for the three-book deal that was eventually secured. Rajaniemi has stated that he had "come up with an outline that had every single idea I could cram into it, because I wanted to be worthy of what had happened." The outline eventually expanded into three parts, and the first part became The Quantum Thief . [ 5 ]
The novel's plot was inspired by one of Rajaniemi's favorite characters in fiction, Maurice Leblanc 's gentleman thief Arsène Lupin , who operates on both sides of the law. What intrigued Rajaniemi were the cycles of redemption and relapse Lupin goes through as he tries to go straight, always falling short. [ 1 ] Besides LeBlanc, Rajaniemi mentioned Roger Zelazny as a strong influence. Ian McDonald was the other science fiction author he mentioned as influential, [ 6 ] plus Frances A.Yates's book The Art of Memory , for memory palaces . [ 7 ]
In an interview, Rajaniemi said he wasn't trying to write the novel as hard science fiction : "For me, the more important consequence of having a scientific background is a degree of speculative rigour: trying hard to work out the consequences of the assumptions one begins with." [ 8 ]
The novel has received generally positive reviews. Gary K. Wolfe writes in his Locus review that Rajaniemi has "spectacularly delivered on the promise that this is likely the most important debut SF novel we'll see this year". [ 9 ] James Lovegrove , reviewing the book in his Financial Times column, notes that "many an anglophone author would kill to turn out prose half as good as this, especially on their maiden effort." [ 10 ] Eric Brown, reviewing for The Guardian , finds the novel to be "a brilliant debut", while alluding to the "apocryphal" (and incorrect) myth that "this novel sold on the strength of its first line." [ 11 ] Sam Bandah, at SciFiNow , praises the novel for "its engaging narrative and characters backed by often almost intimidatingly good sci-fi concepts." [ 12 ]
Criticism for the novel has generally centred on Rajaniemi's sparse " show, don't tell " writing style. Brown notes that "the author makes no concessions to the lazy reader with info-dumps or convenient explanations." Niall Alexander, of the Speculative Scotsman, states that "had there been some sort of index, [he] would have gladly (and repeatedly) referred to it during the mind-boggling first third of The Quantum Thief ", while proclaiming the novel to be " the sci-fi debut of 2010." [ 13 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quantum_Thief |
The Rationalists is a 1988 book by the philosopher John Cottingham , in which the author offers an overview of the most important exponents of rationalism , namely René Descartes , Baruch Spinoza and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz . Other thinkers, such as Nicolas Malebranche , are also dealt with.
This article about a philosophy -related book is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rationalists |
The Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI), was established in 2003 as a Centre for Science, Technology & Engineering in collaboration with National University of Ireland, Galway . It obtained an award of €14.9 million from Science Foundation Ireland over five years. [ 1 ]
It conducts basic research and applied research in regenerative medicine , an emerging field that combines the technologies of gene therapy and adult stem cell therapy . The goal is to use cells and genes to regenerate healthy tissues that can be used to repair or replace other tissues and organs in a minimally invasive approach.
Centres for Science, Engineering & Technology help link scientists and engineers in partnerships across academia and industry to address crucial research questions, foster the development of new and existing Irish-based technology companies, attract industry that could make an important contribution to Ireland and its economy, and expand educational and career opportunities in Ireland in science and engineering. CSETs must exhibit outstanding research quality, intellectual breadth, active collaboration, flexibility in responding to new research opportunities, and integration of research and education in the fields that SFI supports. [ citation needed ]
This article about a medical organization or association is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it .
This article about a scientific organization is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Regenerative_Medicine_Institute |
The Robotic Workshop was a toy kit, much like Lego Mindstorms , that allowed users to build and program robots using a home computer.
Access Software announced The Robotic Workshop in the January 1987 issue of Ahoy! magazine. A review later appeared in the May 1988 issue of Compute! magazine. The kit included over 50 Capsela parts, including two motors, gears, wheels, and sensors. It also included an electronic control unit that plugged into the user port of a Commodore 64 , an instruction manual with 50 tutorial projects, and special programming software on a floppy disk . It was later released for Apple II , Atari 8-bit computers , and IBM PC .
This computing article is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it .
This toy -related article is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Robotic_Workshop |
The Second Forty Years is a 1946 nonfiction self-help book about aging, by Edward Stieglitz.
Stieglitz graduated from Rush Medical College in 1921 and was on the faculty of the University of Chicago from 1923 to 1938. In 1940 a grant was given to support a gerontologist at the United States Public Health Service , and Stieglitz was given the post. His research was also supported by the National Institute of Health . Stieglitz left the post after a year, for personal reasons. [ 1 ]
The Second Forty Years provides Stieglitz's professional advice for the layman. It describes what can be expected during the aging process and what can be done about it, discussing chronic progressive disorders which require preventative care, sex, the importance of leisure and rest, and so forth. According to Stieglitz, mere longevity is not goal enough, but rather constructive health practices should be undertaken to enhance the quality of life. [ 2 ] Regarding menopause , Stieglitz characterized it as a "truly normal phase of living" and decried the "distorted descriptions" of old wives' tales . [ 3 ]
Newspaper advertisements for The Second Forty Years are probably the source for the popular quotation "It's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years", which is commonly misattributed to Abraham Lincoln . [ 4 ] [ 5 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Second_Forty_Years |
The semantic turn refers to a paradigm shift in the design of artifacts – industrial , graphic , informational , architectural , and social – from an emphasis on how artifacts ought to function to what they mean to those affected by them – semantics being a concern for meaning. It provides a new foundation for professional design, a detailed design discourse, codifications of proven methods, compelling scientific justifications of its products, and a clear identity for professional designers working within a network of their stakeholders .
The semantic turn suggests a distinction between the technical and user-irrelevant working of artifacts and the human interactions with artifacts, individually, socially, and culturally. Attending to the technical dimension of artifacts, for example, by applied scientists, mechanical or electronic engineers, and experts in economics, production, and marketing, is called technology-centered design. It addresses its subject matter in terms that ordinary users may not understand and applies design criteria users of technology do not care about. Attending to the meanings that users bring to their artifacts, how they use them and talk about them and among various stakeholders, is the domain of human-centered design. For ordinary users, the makeup and technical functioning of artifacts is mere background of what really matters to them.
A prime example for this distinction is the design of personal computers . For most people, the operations inside a computer are incomprehensible, but far from troubling because computers are designed to be experienced primarily through their interfaces. Human-computer interfaces consist of interactively rearrangeable icons, texts, and controls that users can understand in everyday terms and manipulate towards desirable ends. The design of intelligent artifacts suggests that the old adage of “form follows function” is no longer valid [ 1 ] – except for the simplest of tools. The semantic turn suggests that human-centered designers’ unique expertise resides in the design of human interfaces with artifacts that are meaningful, easy to use, even enjoyable to experience, be it simple kitchen implements, public service systems, architectural spaces, or information campaigns. Although an automobile should obviously function as a means of transportation, human-centered designers emphasize the experiences of driving, ease of operation , feeling of safety, including the social meanings of driving a particular automobile. As artifacts have to work within many dimensions, human-centered designers must have a sense of and be able to work with all relevant stakeholders addressing different dimensions of the artifact.
The Semantic Turn is also the title of a book by Klaus Krippendorff , [ 2 ] Professor of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania , cybernetician, degreed designer, and researcher who has published much to advance the science for design. The subtitle of the book, A new Foundation for Design , suggests a redesign of design practices in a human-centered design culture. Krippendorff takes an encompassing view of design, centering it on the meanings that artifacts acquire and what is or should be designers' primary concern.
The Semantic Turn represents an evolution from "Product Semantics" by Krippendorff and Butter, [ 3 ] which was defined as "A systematic inquiry into how people attribute meanings to artifacts and interact with them accordingly" and "a vocabulary and methodology for designing artifacts in view of the meanings they could acquire for their users and the communities of their stakeholders" . While retaining the emphasis on meaning and on the importance of both theory and practice, The Semantic Turn extends the concerns of designers first to the new challenges of design, including the design of ever more intangible artifacts such as services, identities, interfaces, multi-user systems, projects and discourses; and second, to consider the meaning of artifacts in use, in language, in the whole life cycle of the artifact, and in an ecology of artifacts.
For Krippendorff, design "brings forth what would not come naturally (...); proposes realizable artifacts to others (...) must support the lives of ideally large communities (...) and must make sense to most, ideally to all who have a stake on them" . [ 4 ] Design thus is intimatelly involved with the meaning that stakeholders attribute to artifacts. Designers "consider possible futures (...) evaluate their desirability (...) and create and work out realistic paths from the present towards desirable futures, and propose them to those that can bring a design to fruition" . [ 5 ] Acknowledging that all design serves others, The Semantic Turn does not treat THE user as statistical fiction, but as knowledgeable stakeholders and necessary partners in human-centered design processes. [ 6 ]
Krippendorff quotes the Greek philosopher Protagoras who is believed to have been the first to express human-centeredness in words by saying that "Man is the measure of all things, of things that are (...) and of things that are not (...)." Krippendorff goes on to cite the color theory of J. W. von Goethe [ 7 ] who exposed Isaac Newton’s spectral theory of colors as epistemologically flawed by pointing out that color is the product of the human eye. Color does not exist without it. Krippendorff refers to the Italian philosopher G. Vico for opposing R. Descartes by claiming we humans know what we have constructed, made up, cognitively, materially, or socially, [ 8 ] to the biologists J. Uexküll for his species-specific theory of meaning [ 9 ] and H. Maturana and F. Varela for developing a biological foundation of cognition, [ 10 ] to the psychologist J. J. Gibson for his conception of affordance, which acknowledges that our environment does not account for our perception, it merely affords our sensory-motor coordinations [ 11 ] or it does not; and to the anthropological linguist B. L. Whorf for his recognition that our perceptions are correlated with language, its grammar and vocabulary. [ 12 ] Most important, Krippendorff allies himself with L. Wittgenstein’s definition of meaning as use, [ 13 ] culminating in the axiom that Humans do not see and act on the physical qualities of things, but on what they mean to them . [ 14 ]
Attributing meaning to something follows from sensing it, and is a prelude to action. " One always acts according to the meaning of whatever one faces " [ 15 ] and the consequences of these actions in turn become part of the meanings of what one interacts with. Meanings are always someone's construction and depend on context and culture. The same artifact may invoke different meanings at different times, in different contexts of use, and for different people. To design artifacts for use by others calls on designers to understand the understanding of others, a second order understanding that is fundamentally unlike the understanding of physical things. Since meanings cannot be observed directly, designers need to carefully observe the actions that imply certain meanings; involve themselves in dialog with their stakeholders; and invite them to participate in the design process.
People acquire the meanings of artifacts by their interfacing with them, where meanings become anticipated usabilities. Krippendorff does not limit the concept of interfaces to human computer interactions, however. For him, the concept applies to any artifact one faces. To users, artifacts are perceived as affordances, as the kind of interactions they enable or prohibit. Thus scissors and coffee cups are experienced as interfaces, just as personal computers are. Their physical or computational makeup become background phenomena to use. The meaning of an artifact in use is then " the range of imaginable senses and actions that users have reasons to expect" . [ 16 ] Ideal interfaces are self-evident and " intrinsically motivating interactions between users and their artifacts" . [ 17 ]
Drawing on Heidegger's explorations of the human use of technology, Krippendorff argues that all artifacts must be designed to afford three stages of use: initial recognition, intermediate exploration, and ideally, unproblematic reliance. The latter is achieved when the artifact is so incorporated into the user's world that it becomes hardly noticed, is taken for granted while looking through it to what is to be accomplished. Recognition involves users' categorizations, how close the artifact is to the ideal type of its kind. Exploration is facilitated by informatives such as state indicators, progress reports, confirmations of actions and readiness, alarm signals, close correlations between actions and their expected effects, maps of possibilities, instructions, error messages, and multi-sensory feedback. Users' intrinsic motivation arises from reliance, the seemingly effortless, unproblematic yet skillful engagement with artifacts free of disruptions. A well designed interface enables unambiguous recognition, effective exploration, and leads to enjoyable reliance. To accomplish these transitions, human-centered designers need to involve second-order understanding of users' cognitive models, cultural habits, and competencies.
Typically, users approach their artifacts with very different competencies. The Semantic Turn offers the possibility of accommodating these differences by allowing the design of several semantic layers. For example, contemporary Xerox machines exhibit one layer for making copies, another for clearing paper jams, a third for replacing defective parts by trained service personnel, and a fourth is reserved for the factory repair of replaced components.
"The fate of all artifacts is decided in language" , [ 18 ] says Krippendorff. Indeed, designers must pay attention to the narratives in which an artifact appears as soon as it enters the conversations among stakeholders, bystanders, critics, and users, to the names that categorize the artifact as being of one kind or another, and to the adjectives that direct perception to particular qualities (is it a fast car? a clumsy cell phone? a high class dress?). Such characterizations can make or break an artifact and designers cannot ignore how people talk about them. Krippendorff proposes that artifacts should be designed so that their interfaces are [easily] narratable [ 19 ] and fit into social or communicational relationships.
The character of an artifact – the set of adjectives deemed appropriate to it – can be assessed by means of semantic differential scales – seven point scales between polar opposite attributes such as elegant––––graceless; by categorizing free associations elicited from users, whether as first impressions or after extended use; by examining the content of stories people tell about the artifacts for implied judgments; or by pair comparisons of similar artifacts. Such methods give human-centered designers ways to quantify meanings, to work towards defined design criteria, including pursuing quantifiable aesthetic objectives, and justify a design to potential stakeholders.
Language permeates all of human life, including with artifacts. This applies not only to the users of artifacts but also to their designers. The narratives that evolve within design teams determine the direction a design is taking, and might end up convincing stakeholders to go along with a design project or oppose it, well before it is built, and influence designers in turn. What we know of current artifacts, ancient ones, outdated ones, antiques or museum pieces come to us in the form of stories. Designers need to analyse them for, as Krippendorff asserts, " The meanings that artifacts acquire in use are largely framed in language" . [ 20 ]
Here, Krippendorff invites designers to consider artifacts in their whole life cycle. In the case of industrial products, the life cycle might start with an initial idea, then followed by design, engineering, production, sales, use, storage, maintenance and finally retirement, as recycled or as waste. Well, not so "finally;" designers may learn much about a product's performance, unintended uses, unexpected problems, and resulting social consequences, which can serve to improve the design of the next generation of that product – design never ends. In each phase of the life cycle of an artifact, that artifact will have to support diverse but subjectively meaningful interfaces for different communities of stakeholders. In such stakeholder networks, artifacts need to proceed from one to the next: " no artifact can be realized within a culture without being meaningful to those who can move it through its various definitions" . [ 21 ]
Dictionaries tend to define ecology as multi-species interaction in a common environment, the species being animals and plants. Humans, however, have created a perhaps greater diversity of species of artifacts than has nature. Krippendorff observes that species of artifacts too are born, grow in size and number, diversify into sub-species, associate with other species, adapt to each other and to their human environment, and either reproduce, evolve, or disappear – just as in nature. Species of artifacts may compete, cooperate or be parasitic on other artifacts. For an example of the latter, consider spam, which thrives in the email ecosystem and could not exist outside it. Whereas species of animals and plants interact with one another in their own terms, species of artifacts are brought into interaction through human agency. People arrange artifacts, like the furniture at home; connect them into networks, like computes in the internet; form large cultural cooperatives, like hospitals full of medical equipment, drugs, and treatments; retire one species in favor of another, like typewriters gave way to personal computers; or change their ecological meanings, like horses, originally used for work and transportation, found an ecological niche in sports.
In an ecology of artifacts, the meaning of one consists of the possible interactions with other artifacts: cooperation, competition (substitution), domination or submission, leading technological development, like computers do right now, supporting the leaders, like the gadgets found in computer stores. Similarly, roads and gas stations follow the development of automobiles and participate in a very large cultural complex, including the design of cities and the distribution of work, and affect nature through depletion of resources, creating waste and CO 2 emissions. Clearly, " designers who can handle the ecological meaning of their proposals have a better chance of keeping their designs alive" . [ 22 ]
In 1969, Nobel laureate Herbert Simon called for a science of the artificial. [ 23 ] Natural scientists, he argued, are concerned with what exists, whereas designers are concerned with what should be and how to achieve it. His conception of design was shaped by rational decision theory and early conceptions of computational logic, hence limited largely to technology-centered design. Krippendorff added the following contrasts to Simon’s:
A science for design makes three contributions to design:
Generally, research is any inquiry that generates communicable knowledge. [ 24 ] Human-centered design research typically involves
Human-centered design methods may aim at:
In a science for design, validation consists of generating compelling justifications for the claims that designers must make regarding the meaning, virtue, potential reality, costs and benefits of their design for particular communities. [ 26 ] Inasmuch as any design can prove itself only in the future, post factum , and with the collaboration of others, human-centered design is justifiable only by means of plausible arguments Issue-Based Information System [ 27 ] [ 28 ] that motivate its stakeholders to realize or use that design. The science for design, always concerned with not yet observable contingencies, cannot provide the simple truth claims of the kind that natural scientist aspire to for their theories. But it can provide several other human-centered ways to back the claims designers need to make:
Since its coinage in 1984, [ 29 ] the use of “product semantics” has mushroomed. In 2009, a Google search identified over 18,000 documents referring to it. However, it has been critiqued by advocates of a more critical approach to design as overly simplistic. [ citation needed ]
The semantics of artifacts has become of central importance in courses taught at leading design departments of many universities all over the world, among them at the Arizona State University; the Cranbrook Academy of Arts; The Ohio State University; the Savannah College of Art and Design ; the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, USA; the Hochschule fűr Gestaltung Offenbach in Germany; [ 30 ] the Hongik University in Seoul, Korea; the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai; the Musashino Art University in Tokyo, Japan; the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology; the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, Finland; and more. It has also permeated other disciplines, notably ergonomics , marketing , cognitive engineering .
Reviews can be found by writers on design theory, [ 31 ] [ 32 ] design history, [ 33 ] corporate strategy, [ 34 ] national design policy, [ 35 ] design science studies, [ 36 ] participatory design, [ 37 ] interaction design, [ 38 ] [ 39 ] human-computer interaction, [ 40 ] and cybernetics. [ 41 ]
The Semantic Turn has been translated into Japanese [ 42 ] and is currently being translated into German. [ 43 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Semantic_Turn |
The Seven Pillars of Life are the essential principles of life described by Daniel E. Koshland in 2002 in order to create a universal definition of life. [ 1 ] One stated goal of this universal definition is to aid in understanding and identifying artificial and extraterrestrial life . [ 2 ] The seven pillars are Program, Improvisation, Compartmentalization, Energy, Regeneration, Adaptability, and Seclusion. These can be abbreviated as PICERAS.
Koshland defines "Program" as an "organized plan that describes both the ingredients themselves and the kinetics of the interactions among ingredients as the living system persists through time." [ 2 ] In natural life as it is known on Earth, the program operates through the mechanisms of nucleic acids and amino acids , but the concept of program can apply to other imagined or undiscovered mechanisms.
"Improvisation" refers to the living system's ability to change its program in response to the larger environment in which it exists. An example of improvisation on earth is natural selection .
"Compartmentalization" refers to the separation of spaces in the living system that allow for separate environments for necessary chemical processes. Compartmentalization is necessary to protect the concentration of the ingredients for a reaction from outside environments.
Because living systems involve net movement in terms of chemical movement or body movement, and lose energy in those movements through entropy , energy is required for a living system to exist. The main source of energy on Earth is the sun, but other sources of energy exist for life on Earth, such as hydrogen gas or methane, used in chemosynthesis .
"Regeneration" in a living system refers to the general compensation for losses and degradation in the various components and processes in the system. This covers the thermodynamic loss in chemical reactions, the wear and tear of larger parts, and the larger decline of components of the system in ageing . Living systems replace these losses by importing molecules from the outside environment, synthesizing new molecules and components, or creating new generations to start the system over again.
"Adaptability" is the ability of a living system to respond to needs, dangers, or changes. It is distinguished from improvisation because the response is timely and does not involve a change of the program. Adaptability occurs from a molecular level to a behavioral level through feedback and feedforward systems. For example, an animal seeing a predator will respond to the danger with hormonal changes and escape behavior.
"Seclusion" is the separation of chemical pathways and the specificity of the effect of molecules, so that processes can function separately within the living system. In organisms on Earth, proteins aid in seclusion because of their individualized structure that are specific for their function, so that they can efficiently act without affecting separate functions.
Y. N. Zhuravlev and V. A. Avetisov have analyzed Koshland's seven pillars from the context of primordial life and, though calling the concept "elegant," point out that the pillars of compartmentalization, program, and seclusion don't apply well to the non-differentiated earliest life. [ 3 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Pillars_of_Life |
The Shift Project (also called The Shift or TSP) is a French nonprofit created in 2010 that aims to limit both climate change and the dependency of our economy on fossil fuels .
The Shift Project is a French nonprofit [ 1 ] created in January 2010 in Paris by energy-climate experts such as Jean-Marc Jancovici , Geneviève Férone -Creuzet and Michel Lepetit. [ 2 ] The organization aims to address two issues raised by the use of carbon : climate change and the depletion of fossil fuels . The Shift works as a think tank that shares ideas with economic, political, academic and voluntary actors.
The Shift Project is funded by corporate sponsors. [ 1 ] Its budget for 2017 was about 600,000 euros. [ 3 ]
The organization is led by a group of three people elected by the board of directors, which includes members of the sponsoring companies. A group of experts, called the "Expert Committee" ( Comité des experts ), [ 4 ] ensures the scientific validity of the work done by The Shift Project. This group of experts (in economics, finance, climate, physics, history...) includes Alain Grandjean , Gaël Giraud , Hervé Le Treut , Jean-Pascal van Ypersele and Jacques Treiner. When the think tank was created, the first director was Cédric Ringenbach . He held this position until 2016, when he left The Shift Project and created the nonprofit organization The Climate Collage , which was later renamed to The Climate Fresk . [ 5 ] Now headed by Matthieu Auzanneau , The Shift has a team of about ten employees and works with volunteers who are grouped into an independent nonprofit called The Shifters . [ 4 ]
The Shift examines the dependency of our economy on oil [ 6 ] through three angles: the potential return of economic growth, [ 7 ] the issues related to the finite amount of oil [ 8 ] and, of course, the climate change due to carbon emissions. According to The Shift, although the GDP may have use cases, it is not really useful, [ 9 ] especially because it does not consider natural resources (so it does not account for their limited availability) or resulting externalities like greenhouse gas emissions .
Since 2012, The Shift Project has organized an annual two-day meeting called The Shift Forum [ 4 ] with the objective of running a debate between big industrial and financial company leaders and experts on climate, energy and economics. The Shift also organizes many public events, [ 10 ] sometimes in collaboration with other organizations like the Business and Climate Summit 2015 [ 11 ] or the World Efficiency 2015. [ 12 ]
The nonprofit also contributed to the National Debate for Energy Transition in France [ 13 ] [ 14 ] and its president, Jean-Marc Jancovici , is a member of the French Committee on Climate Change. [ 15 ]
The Shift mostly works in task forces: for a couple of months or years, a group of experts (from higher education and academic research, NGOs, public sector, companies...) is set up on a well-defined question. When the project ends, the task force writes a report and presents it to concerned actors. The report is then made publicly available.
Addressed issues include the building rehabilitation to make them more energy-efficient, [ 16 ] the relation between energy and GDP, [ 17 ] [ 18 ] [ 19 ] alternative metrics to GDP, [ 20 ] the scientific rigor of energy scenarios, [ 21 ] sustainable mobility [ 22 ] or the price of carbon. [ 23 ] [ 24 ]
For the price of carbon in Europe, the Shift suggests to set a reservation price to 20 euros and increase it every year. [ 25 ]
Since 2013, The Shift has been gathering experts on the energy rehabilitation of buildings and made propositions like the Energy Efficiency Passport. [ 26 ] In addition to being experimented by the Shift through the nonprofit organization Expérience P2E , [ 27 ] this building passport was then included in the Energy Transition Law and is now used by various actors in the building industry. [ 28 ]
In 2016, at The Shift Project request, the engineer Francisco Luciano gathered a team of experts including the SNCF , Vinci Autoroutes , EDF , the CVTC , start-ups in car sharing , the senior official Olivier Paul-Dubois-Taine and researchers. In September 2017, The Shift published the report " Decarbonize mid-density areas – Less carbon more bond ", [ 29 ] for which The Shift and the project leader Francisco Luciano were invited by the Ministry for Transportation to attend the Mobility Foundations [ 30 ] and various governmental working groups. The report, which is aimed to be well-argued and quantitative, concludes that it is possible to strongly decarbonize mobility in suburban areas thanks to cycling , car sharing and fast public transports. The working group also studied the delivery of goods and remote work .
On 4 October 2018, the think tank published a report on the digital economy impact on climate and environment. [ 31 ] The report notes that the worldwide energy consumption of the digital economy grows at a very fast rate (about 9% a year) with a worsening energy efficiency , unlike most economic sectors. It concludes by advocating digital sobriety to minimize most of this impact growth. [ 32 ]
On 21 March 2017, the think tank made public the signatories of a text called "Decarbonize Europe Manifesto". This text is described as a wake-up call 15 months after the Paris Agreement . [ 33 ] It begins with: "We, the signatories of this Manifesto to decarbonize Europe, call upon all European States to immediately implement policies aiming to achieve a level of greenhouse gas emissions close to zero by 2050!" [ 34 ] and aims to " guarantee peace ". [ 35 ] It ends with: "We call upon all European actors – individuals, businesses and public authorities – to implement concrete and coherent strategies which can meet the challenge posed by climate change and the limits of natural resources. http://decarbonizeurope.org/en/ " The Shift project claims the decarbonization of Europe is a challenge, but it is necessary for a modern future.
It is supported by more than 3,000 citizens including 80 company directors and around forty scientists and political figures. The press mainly mentions the signature of economic leaders like the magazine Challenges : "Climate: Why the company directors (at last) unite to decarbonize Europe". [ 36 ]
The think tank then called candidates running for president for a commitment in favor of a European plan to fight climate change that would abide by the Paris Agreement [ 37 ]
Company directors who signed the Manifesto include [ 38 ] Elisabeth Borne ( RATP ), Martin Bouygues ( Bouygues ), Patricia Barbizet ( Artémis-Kering ), Guillaume Pepy ( SNCF ), Christophe Cuvillier ( Unibail Rodamco ), Nicolas Dufourq ( BPI France ), Pierre Blayau ( Caise centrale de réassurance ), Stéphane Richard ( Orange ), Alain Montarant ( MACIF ), Nicolas Théry ( Crédit mutuel ), Denis Kessler ( SCOR ), Xavier Huillard ( Vinci ), Jean-Dominique Senard ( Michelin ) and Agniès Ogier ( Thalys ).
Scientists who signed the Manifesto include climatologists like Jean Jouzel , Hervé Le Treut and Jean-Pascal van Ypersele ; the biologist and senior official Dominique Dron ; the mathematician Ivar Ekeland ; physicists like Sébastien Balibar , Roger Balian and Yves Bréchet ; economists like Gaël Giraud , Roger Guesnerie , Philippe Aghion , Christian de Perthuis , Jean-Marie Chevalier and Jean-Charles Hourcade ; directors of grandes écoles like Meriem Fournier ( AgroParis-Tech Nancy ), Olivier Oger ( EDHEC ) and Vincent Laflèche ( Mines ParisTech ).
Other people who signed it include former ministers like Arnaud Montebourg , Serge Lepeltier , the Belgian Philippe Maystadt and the president of the union CFE-CGC François Hommeril .
The Shift Project published "9 propositions to take Europe to a new area" about as many projects that should be done imperatively to meet the Paris Agreement, according to the Shift. The AFP specifies that these propositions are made "in parallel with the Manifesto" and are not "endorsed by the signatories". [ 39 ] The daily economic newspaper Les Échos highlights the "plan for a 'carbon-free' Europe". [ 40 ]
These propositions concern seven sectors: electricity, transportation, construction, industry, food, agriculture and forestry. They are described in depth in the book "Let's decarbonize!". [ 41 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shift_Project |
The Sky was a magazine for amateur astronomers published between 1935 and 1941. [ 1 ] It was the successor to a monthly bulletin called The Amateur Astronomer , which was published by the Amateur Astronomers Association (AAA) of New York City, and a precursor to Sky & Telescope before merging with The Telescope . [ 2 ] [ citation needed ]
This astronomy -related article is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it .
This science and technology magazine–related article is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it .
See tips for writing articles about magazines . Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sky_(magazine) |
The Social Dilemma is a 2020 American docudrama film directed by Jeff Orlowski and written by Orlowski, Davis Coombe , and Vickie Curtis. The documentary covers the negative social effects of social media and is interspersed by a dramatized narrative surrounding a family of five who are increasingly affected by problematic social media use .
The Social Dilemma premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival , on January 26, 2020, and was released on Netflix on September 9, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic . It received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised its message and use of interviews with established tech experts but criticized the narrative and lack of nuance in addressing technological problems.
The Social Dilemma covers the psychological underpinnings and manipulation techniques by which, it claims, social media and technology companies addict users. People's online activity is watched, tracked, and measured by these companies, who then use this data to build artificial intelligence models that predict the actions of their users. Tristan Harris , former Google design ethicist and co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology , explains in the documentary that there are three main goals of tech companies:
Harris summed this up with the warning: "If you're not paying for the product, you are the product", paraphrasing earlier insights from Television Delivers People , Tom Johnson, and Andrew Lewis. [ 1 ]
Another interviewee, Jonathan Haidt , a social psychologist at NYU Stern School of Business , brings up the concerns of mental health in relation to social media.
The film also discusses the dangers of fake news . Harris argues that this is a "disinformation-for-profit business model" and that companies make more money by allowing "unregulated messages to reach anyone for the best price".
In the end credits, the interviewees propose ways the audience can take action to fight back, such as turning off notifications, never accepting recommended videos on YouTube , using search engines that do not retain search history, and establishing rules in the house on cell phone usage.
The documentary uses a fictional dramatized narrative to illustrate the issues discussed, centering around "a middle-class, average American family" [ 2 ] whose members each interface with the internet differently: Ben, a teenager who falls deeper into social media addiction and online radicalization ; Isla, an adolescent who develops depression and low self-esteem from social media's unrealistic beauty standards ; [ 3 ] Cassandra, an older teenager who does not have a mobile phone and is depicted as being free from online manipulation; and their mother and stepfather, who try to curb their children's screen time but do not fully understand the factors of the situation. The narrative depicts Ben and Isla as they are increasingly affected by social media and internet addictions, driven by the Engagement, Growth, and Advertisement AIs, represented by anthropomorphized tech executives in a "behind-the-screen" control room who find ways to keep their users as addicted to social media as possible while only viewing them as depersonalized avatars , with little concern for theirs or society's well-being. [ 2 ]
The narrative starts with Isla ignoring her mother's requests to set the table, followed by her becoming depressed after her appearance is criticized on social media. After Cassandra criticizes Isla and Ben's problematic smartphone use , their mother proposes locking everyone's phones in a safe so they can have dinner together, but when one phone receives a notification, Isla tries to open the safe and ultimately breaks it open with a tool, damaging Ben's phone screen. In return for a new phone screen, Ben promises his mother he will not use his phone for a week, but the AIs, confused as to why he is suddenly inactive, draw him back in by sending him a notification that his ex has started a new relationship, prompting Ben to break his promise and doomscroll in an attempt to cope. The AIs, deducing he is a centrist , begin recommending him radical centrist content to keep him engaged, which quickly devolve into propaganda and conspiracy theories by the anti-democratic "Extreme Center" movement, radicalizing Ben and affecting his daily life to the point of near-isolation. Ultimately, Ben attends an Extreme Center rally that escalates when similarly radicalized counter-protestors arrive. Cassandra learns Ben is there and searches for him, but both are detained by riot police . At the end of the narrative, the AIs merge into one entity while Ben's avatar becomes a human representation of himself, and they stare at each other. [ 2 ]
Narrative casting was led by Jenny Jue. [ 42 ]
The Social Dilemma centers on the social and cultural impact of social media usage on regular users, with a focus on algorithmically enabled forms of behavior modification and psychological manipulation . The film depicts an array of related themes, including technological addiction, fake news , depression, and anxiety . [ 43 ]
One interviewee, Tim Kendall, a former director of Facebook, spoke up on the alarming goal of the company: updating the app with increased addictiveness for a consistent boost in engagement. [ 8 ] Another interviewee, Tristan Harris, former Google designer, compares the addiction level to a "Vegas slot machine" as users "check their phones hoping that they have a notification, as it's like they are pulling the lever of a slot machine hoping they hit the jackpot". [ 44 ]
Misinformation and fake news are commonly spread on social media, and users are unable to distinguish between fake and real news, resulting in differences in ideology and societal division. The immersion of users in this app, who are thus exposed to limitless information, according to Kendall, could potentially lead to tension within society. [ 8 ]
The Social Dilemma also discusses how social media can cause depression and give users anxiety. Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist and author, highlights the influence of social media on depression and anxiety, especially in younger adolescents. The documentary reports statistics on depression, self-harm, and suicide leading to hospitalization, specifically in American teen girls, resulting from social media use. The number of hospitalizations remained stable until around 2011 and rose a significant 62 percent in older teen girls (ages 15–19) and up 189 percent in younger teen girls (ages 10–14) since 2009 in the US. The same pattern is shown in the rates of suicide, which had increased 70 percent in older teen girls and 151 percent in younger teen girls compared to 2001–2010. According to Haidt's interview, people born after 1996 have grown up in a society where social media usage is the norm, thus resulting in consistent exposure to overwhelming content from a young age.
Jeff Orlowski , who is mostly known for his work in Chasing Coral and Chasing Ice , began production on The Social Dilemma in 2018 and concluded it in 2019. When asked where his inspiration came from during the film's panel at Deadline Hollywood ' s Contenders Documentary event, Orlowski said that he has "always been curious about big systemic and societal challenges". [ 45 ] He came to believe that "invisibly, a handful of designers in Silicon Valley are writing code that is shaping the lives of billions of people around the planet". [ 45 ]
Orlowski, on the film's FAQ page, states: [ 46 ]
We were drawn to tell the stories of our changing glaciers and changing coral reefs because they were powerful signs of a huge global issue facing humanity: climate change. When we started talking with Tristan Harris and the Center for Humane Technology , we saw a direct parallel between the threat posed by the fossil fuel industry and the threat posed by our technology platforms. Harris calls this "the climate change of culture", an invisible force that is shaping how the world gets its information and understands truth. Our hope has always been to work on big issues, and we now see the "social dilemma" as a problem beneath all our other problems.
The film's graphics , animation , and visual effects were made by Mass FX Media and produced by Netflix . [ 47 ]
The film's music is composed by Mark Crawford, "a Primetime Emmy-nominated composer and filmmaker" who was nominated for an ASCAP Award for his work on The Social Dilemma . [ 48 ] With the use of "human-produced" and mechanical sounds, as Crawford explained in The Social Dilemma interview, he displayed the alarming impacts of social media through this soundtrack. [ 49 ]
The Social Dilemma premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2020, and was released worldwide on Netflix on September 9, 2020. [ 50 ] The documentary went on to be viewed in 38,000,000 homes within the first 28 days of release. [ 51 ] It won two awards out of seven nominations at the 73rd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2021. [ 52 ]
The film is approximately 94 minutes long and can only be accessed on Netflix. However, a free 40-minute version can be viewed by requesting it through the film's official webpage. [ 53 ]
The Social Dilemma received generally positive reviews. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , the film holds an approval rating of 85%, based on 66 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Clear-eyed and comprehensive, The Social Dilemma presents a sobering analysis of our data-mined present." [ 54 ] On Metacritic , the film has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100, based on nine critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [ 55 ]
Devika Girish from The New York Times gave the film a positive review, stating it was "remarkably effective in sounding the alarm about the incursion of data mining and manipulative technology into our social lives and beyond". [ 56 ] Mark Kennedy of ABC News called the film "an eye-opening look into the way social media is designed to create addiction and manipulate our behaviour, told by some of the very people who supervised the systems at places like Facebook, Google, and Twitter". [ 57 ] Nell Minow of RogerEbert.com noted that the film "asks fundamental and existential questions" of humanity's potential self-destruction through its own use of computer technology, and praised its "exceptional" use of confessions from leaders and key players in the social media industry. [ 58 ]
Elizabeth Pankova of The New Republic noted "none of the information in the film is particularly new" but argued what made The Social Dilemma effective was "the purveyors of this information: the remorseful, self-aware warriors turned conscientious objectors of Silicon Valley". [ 59 ] Pranav Malhotra of Slate stated the film "plays up well-worn dystopian narratives surrounding technology" and "depend[s] on tired (and not helpful) tropes about technology as the sole cause of harm, especially to children", while also failing to acknowledge activists and commentators who have long criticized social media, citing scholars such as Safiya Noble , Sarah T. Roberts , and Siva Vaidhyanathan . [ 60 ] In an analysis of the film's persuasive techniques, Laura Alvarez Trigo of PopMecC stated, " The Social Dilemma manages to construct a Manichean narrative with a very elusive and misconstrued evil side" but pointed to the film's own resemblance to the propaganda and manipulation it criticizes, stating the film could have benefited from "providing the audience with the necessary tools to engage with the platforms that they use in a more critical way" and "a nuanced explanation of the present ethical problems [to] help people benefit from new technologies without having to completely shut them down or ban them for their teenage children". [ 2 ]
Notable criticism was directed toward the fictional narrative surrounding the family and the AIs. Casey Newton at The Verge pointed to certain directorial decisions, such as "the ominous piano score that pervades every scene" as giving it "the feeling of camp ". [ 61 ] Nell Minow stated that "even the wonderfully talented Skyler Gisondo cannot make a sequence work where he plays a teenager seduced by extremist disinformation, and the scenes with Vincent Kartheiser embodying the formulas that fight our efforts to pay attention to anything outside of the online world are just silly." [ 58 ] Pranav Malhotra called the narratives an "uncritical" presentation of a dystopia lacking nuance. [ 60 ] In a rare defense of the film's oft-denounced dramatizations, John Naughton of The Guardian commented on the narrative's focus, stating that "the fictional strand is necessary because the biggest difficulty facing critics of an industry that treats users as lab rats is that of explaining to the rats what's happening to them while they are continually diverted by the treats (in this case dopamine highs) being delivered by the smartphones that the experimenters control." [ 62 ]
Facebook released a statement on its About page, stating that the film "gives a distorted view of how social media platforms work to create a convenient scapegoat for what are difficult and complex societal problems". [ 63 ]
CNBC reported that social media users were doubting if they should continue using Facebook or Instagram after watching The Social Dilemma . However, when asked about the possibility of a decline in its users, Facebook refused to answer or give any comment on the subject. [ 64 ]
Mozilla employees Ashley Boyd and Audrey Hingle noted that while the "making, release and popularity of The Social Dilemma represents a major milestone towards [the goal of] building a movement of internet users who understand social media's impact and who demand better from platforms", the film would have benefited from featuring more diverse voices. [ 65 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Dilemma |
The Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry ( SEAC ) is a scientific society based in the United States which promotes advances in both basic and applied research in electroanalysis. Founded in 1984, SEAC has members at all education levels from academia, industry, and government. It provides a platform for the exchange of ideas and recognition of achievement in the electroanalytical community. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ]
In 1984, a group of electroanalytical chemists formalized a new organization for scientists who were interested in the theory and application of electroanalytical chemistry. The initial and primary purpose of SEAC was to select the annual recipients of the Charles N. Reilley Award in Electroanalytical Chemistry. The first award went to Allen J. Bard from University of Texas at Austin and was presented from University of Texas at Austin and was presented on Monday, March 5, 1984 in Atlantic City, New Jersey at the 1984 Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy in the “Symposium on New Techniques in Electroanalytical Chemistry”. [ 5 ] [ 6 ]
SEACommunications is an online newsletter, covering recent news for the electroanalytical research and community, member news, award information and more. [ 7 ]
SEAC offers several awards as described below. Awardee history is maintained on their website. [ 8 ]
The Charles N. Reilley Award is given in memory of one of the most distinguished analytical chemists of the 20th century, Charles N. Reilley. The award is
given annually at Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy to recognize the awardee's significant contributions to electrochemistry. [ 9 ] [ 10 ] [ 11 ] [ 12 ]
The Royce W. Murray Young Investigator Award , named for electrochemist Royce W. Murray , is given annually at Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy to untenured professors who obtained their Ph.D. or other terminal degree within the last ten years prior to nomination. Candidates may be nominated by any member of SEAC. [ 10 ] [ 13 ] [ 14 ]
The Student Travel Awards are awarded to promising graduate students to offset the cost of travel to the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy to deliver a presentation in at a conference symposium. The presentation should be on a topic related to their dissertation or thesis, and in some area or application of electroanalytical chemistry. [ 15 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Society_for_Electroanalytical_Chemistry |
The Observatoire de l’Espace (Space Observatory) is a cultural laboratory created in 2000 by CNES (the French Space Agency) to promote a new vision of outer space , different from that of popular science. [ 1 ] Space has a major influence on people's perceptions and imagination. The Observatoire de l’Espace introduces artists to the activities of the CNES and paves the way for any kind of space-inspired creations. Those creations strongly connected to space art are thereafter shared with the wider audience.
As a cultural laboratory, the Observatoire de l’Espace has a specific methodology: the goal is to share space-related items and innovations with artists, in order to inspire new creations. [ 2 ] Two programmes have been developed following this process.
For many years, the Observatoire de l’Espace has been developing a cultural story of outer space by building an inventory of everything created on Earth about outer space. It resulted in a wide classification: space instruments (for example satellite prototypes), audio and video items (documentaries, video archives...), works of art inspired by outer space, laboratories and other space related buildings, and all kinds of everyday life objects.
The Observatoire de l’Espace is also welcoming researchers in human sciences and art history as well as building partnerships with research laboratories to foster works about Space in those fields.
An academic blog called Humanités spatiales (Space humanities) [ 3 ] was also created in 2015. This website is dedicated to analysis and dialogue for researchers who are interested in space activities and its cultural representations. All this work can be used by artists as a basis for new creations.
The Observatoire de l’Espace fosters space-related artistic creation through its programme called "Création et Imaginaire spatial" (Spatial creation and imagination) [ 4 ] which enables artists to benefit from an off-site residency. Various immersive ways to discover the space field are suggested to the artists: interviews with space experts, scientific data and documentation, [ 5 ] access to places where spatial activities take place (laboratories, technical or industrial centers...), participation in scientists seminaries or even weightlessness flights aboard the Airbus Zero-G . Many creations arise from this programme: from literature to contemporary art and from performing arts to contemporary music. Many cultural events are organized by the Observatoire de l’Espace in order to present those creations but they are also displayed in many cultural places [ 6 ] . [ 7 ]
The Sideration festival takes place every year in March at the CNES’ headquarters in Paris. [ 8 ] Since 2011, it enables a deep immersion in Space and imagination through an eclectic programme: theatre, music, video, cinema, visual arts, readings and even real or fictional science stories. Every year, the CNES’ headquarters become a large art-science stage where about 30 artists have the opportunity to exhibit their space related productions. [ 9 ] Those creations are often the result of a strong collaboration with the artists through the « off-site » residency programme, the sharing of studies about space or through calls for submissions regarding the journal Espace(s).
One opportunity for the Observatoire de l’Espace to organize an exhibition is for the Nuit Blanche which is an annual all night long, cultural, free arts festival . Since 2014, [ 10 ] the Observatoire de l’Espace has called for artistic projects dealing with Space history. Selected archives are given to artists in order to widen their imagination or to be the core material of their creations. Archives and creations are both exhibited during the Nuit Blanche at the CNES’ headquarter.
The journal Espace(s) [ 11 ] is an semi-annual journal dedicated to literature and a large variety of creations (typography, performing arts, comic strip, music, poetry...). It gathers texts dealing with a chosen theme linked with Space (Dreams, revolt, revolution, or Obsession and fascination). About thirty authors contribute to each issue. [ 12 ] This collection is written under the format of laboratory books in order to mix up both literary and scientific universes. The works of the Spatial creation and imagination programme, made by the artists in residency, also have their place in the journal. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Space_Observatory_(Observatoire_de_l'Espace) |
The Symmetries of Things is a book on mathematical symmetry and the symmetries of geometric objects, aimed at audiences of multiple levels. It was written over the course of many years by John Horton Conway , Heidi Burgiel, and Chaim Goodman-Strauss , [ 1 ] and published in 2008 by A K Peters . Its critical reception was mixed, with some reviewers praising it for its accessible and thorough approach to its material and for its many inspiring illustrations, [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] and others complaining about its inconsistent level of difficulty, [ 6 ] overuse of neologisms, failure to adequately cite prior work, and technical errors. [ 7 ]
The Symmetries of Things has three major sections, subdivided into 26 chapters. [ 8 ] The first of the sections discusses the symmetries of geometric objects. It includes both the symmetries of finite objects in two and three dimensions, and two-dimensional infinite structures such as frieze patterns and tessellations , [ 2 ] and develops a new notation for these symmetries based on work of Alexander Murray MacBeath that, as proven by the authors using a simplified form of the Riemann–Hurwitz formula , covers all possibilities. [ 9 ] Other topics include Euler's polyhedral formula and the classification of two-dimensional surfaces. [ 8 ] It is heavily illustrated with both artworks and objects depicting these symmetries, such as the art of M. C. Escher [ 2 ] and Bathsheba Grossman , [ 3 ] [ 4 ] as well as new illustrations created by the authors using custom software. [ 2 ]
The second section of the book considers symmetries more abstractly and combinatorially , considering both the color-preserving symmetries of colored objects, the symmetries of topological spaces described in terms of orbifolds , and abstract forms of symmetry described by group theory and presentations of groups . This section culminates with a classification of all of the finite groups with up to 2009 elements. [ 2 ]
The third section of the book provides a classification of the three-dimensional space groups [ 2 ] and examples of honeycombs such as the Weaire–Phelan structure . [ 3 ] It also considers the symmetries of less familiar geometries: higher dimensional spaces, non-Euclidean spaces , [ 2 ] and three-dimensional flat manifolds . [ 9 ] Hyperbolic groups are used to provide a new explanation of the problem of hearing the shape of a drum . [ 8 ] [ 9 ] It includes the first published classification of four-dimensional convex uniform polytopes announced by Conway and Richard K. Guy in 1965, and a discussion of William Thurston 's geometrization conjecture , proved by Grigori Perelman shortly before the publication of the book, according to which all three-dimensional manifolds can be realized as symmetric spaces. [ 2 ] One omission lamented by Jaron Lanier is the set of regular projective polytopes such as the 11-cell . [ 4 ]
Reviewer Darren Glass writes that different parts of the book are aimed at different audiences, resulting in "a wonderful book which can be appreciated on many levels" [ 2 ] and providing an unusual level of depth for a popular mathematics book. [ 5 ] Its first section, on symmetries of low-dimensional Euclidean spaces , is suitable for a general audience. The second part involves some understanding of group theory , as would be expected of undergraduate mathematics students, and some additional familiarity with abstract algebra towards its end. And the third part, more technical, is primarily aimed at researchers in these topics, [ 2 ] although much still remains accessible at the undergraduate level. [ 9 ] It also has exercises making it useful as a textbook, and its heavy use of color illustration would make it suitable as a coffee table book . [ 2 ] However, reviewer Robert Moyer finds fault with its choice to include material at significantly different levels of difficulty, writing that for most of its audience, too much of the book will be unreadable. [ 6 ]
Much of the material in the book is either new, or previously known only through technical publications aimed at specialists, [ 1 ] [ 6 ] [ 8 ] and much of the previously-known material that it presents is described in new notation and nomenclature. [ 1 ] [ 8 ] Although there are many other books on symmetry, [ 2 ] reviewer N. G. Macleod writes that this one "may well become the definitive guide in this area for many years". [ 3 ] Jaron Lanier calls it "a plaything, an inexhaustible exercise in brain expansion for the reader, a work of art and a bold statement of what the culture of math can be like", and "a masterpiece". [ 4 ]
Despite these positive reviews, Branko Grünbaum , himself an authority on geometric symmetry, is much less enthusiastic, writing that the book has "some serious shortcomings". These include the unnecessary use of "cute" neologisms for concepts that already have well-established terminology, an inadequate treatment of MacBeath's and Andreas Dress 's contributions to the book's notation, sloppy reasoning in some arguments, inaccurate claims of novelty and failure to credit previous work in the classification of colored plane patterns, missing cases in this classification, likely errors in other of the more technical parts, poor copyediting, and a lack of clear definitions that ends up leaving out such central notions as the symmetries of a circle without providing any explanation of why they were omitted. [ 7 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Symmetries_of_Things |
" The Talking Stone " is a science fiction mystery short story by American writer Isaac Asimov [ 1 ] which first appeared in the October 1955 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and was reprinted in the 1968 collection Asimov's Mysteries . "The Talking Stone" was the second of Asimov's Wendell Urth stories.
Larry Verdansky, a repair technician assigned alone on Station Five, is interested in "siliconies", the silicon-based life forms found on some asteroids . The creatures typically grow to a maximum size of 2 inches (5 cm) by absorbing gamma rays from radioactive ores. Some are telepathic .
When the space freighter Robert Q appears at the station with a giant of a "silicony" 1 foot (30 cm) in diameter, Verdansky deduces that the crew has found an incredibly rich source of uranium . Verdansky contacts the authorities, but before a patrol ship can reach her, the Robert Q is hit by a meteor , killing the three human crew members. The silicony itself is fatally injured from the explosive decompression.
When questioned, the dying silicony states that the coordinates of its home are written on "the asteroid". Dr. Wendell Urth deduces that the silicony meant that the numbers were actually engraved on the hull of the Robert Q , disguised as serial and registration numbers, since the ship fit the definition of an asteroid (a small body orbiting the Sun ) the ship's crew had read to it from an ancient astronomy book.
Asimov received fan mail, some of which criticized him for "for allowing it [the silicony] to die in so cold-blooded a fashion". He conceded, "I showed a lack of sensitivity to the silicony's rather pathetic death because I was concentrating on his mysterious last words." [ 1 ]
This article about a mystery short story (or stories) published in the 1950s is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Talking_Stone |
The Taming of Chance is a 1990 book about the history of probability by the philosopher Ian Hacking . First published by Cambridge University Press , it is a sequel to Hacking's The Emergence of Probability (1975). The book received positive reviews.
The Taming of Chance explores the historical development of probability and its role in shaping modern thought. Ian Hacking examines how the concept of chance evolved from being a philosophical abstraction to a practical tool for understanding and managing uncertainty in various fields, including science, medicine, and social policy. Drawing on Michel Foucault's ideas , Hacking delves into the interplay between statistics, governance, and societal norms, illustrating how probabilistic thinking influenced the emergence of modern institutions and practices. [ 1 ]
The Taming of Chance was first published in the United Kingdom by Cambridge University Press in 1990. It is part of the series Ideas in Context. [ 2 ]
The Taming of Chance has been described as ground-breaking. [ 3 ] The book received positive reviews from the statistician Dennis Lindley in Nature , [ 4 ] the philosopher Stephen P. Turner in the American Journal of Sociology , [ 5 ] the historian of science Theodore M. Porter in American Scientist and in Poetics Today , [ 6 ] [ 7 ] and Timothy L. Alborn in Isis . [ 8 ] The book received mixed reviews from the philosopher Margaret Schabas in Science and Bruce Kuklick in American Historical Review . [ 9 ] [ 10 ]
Lindley credited Hacking with presenting a careful and entertaining discussion of the development of the idea of chance, successfully showing that the laws of chance developed from "collections of data." He noted that, "Hacking's argument is supported by a vast number of references to statistical work and the interpretations put upon it." However, he criticized Hacking's style for being sometimes "overwhelming in its complexity", and questioned whether Hacking's thesis was original. [ 4 ] Turner wrote that the book was useful for both sociologists of science and historians of social science, and that while Hacking's arguments were open to objections, Hacking was "too sophisticated" to be caught by them. [ 5 ] Porter wrote in American Scientist that Hacking made "outstanding use" of Foucault's insights. He believed that Hacking's perspective was "especially fitting as an approach to the history of probability and statistics." Although he was not entirely satisfied with Hacking's arguments, he concluded that the book was "eminently worth reading." [ 6 ] In Poetics Today , Porter described the book as "exceptionally illuminating on the issue of statistics and control" and credited Hacking with suggesting a "suitably subtle way of understanding social statistics." [ 7 ] Alborn wrote that Hacking had a "vibrant writing style" and presented a "wealth of material". However, he also wrote that the book left many questions unanswered. [ 8 ]
Schabas complimented Hacking for his discussion of "the debate over free will and determinism ." However, she wrote that because the book built on previous works by Hacking such as The Emergence of Probability , it "does not exhilarate quite as much." She disputed the novelty of parts of Hacking's argument, noting that Porter had dealt with much of the same subject matter in The Rise of Statistical Thinking (1986). [ 9 ] Kuklick noted that the book was a sequel to Hacking's earlier work The Emergence of Probability . Kuklick praised Hacking for the "richness of his ideas" and credited him with mastering complicated literature in several languages and "meticulous scholarship" superior to that of Foucault. However, he considered the book a "strain to understand" and criticized Hacking for giving insufficient emphasis to the role of the hospital in "acclimating the public to chance and probability", and for his "penchant for irrelevant anecdotes" and poor judgment about how to write about the past. [ 10 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Taming_of_Chance |
The Theory of Island Biogeography is a 1967 book by the ecologist Robert MacArthur and the biologist Edward O. Wilson . [ 1 ] It is widely regarded as a seminal work in island biogeography and ecology . The Princeton University Press reprinted the book in 2001 as a part of the "Princeton Landmarks in Biology" series. [ 1 ] The book popularized the theory that insular biota maintain a dynamic equilibrium between immigration and extinction rates. The book also popularized the concepts and terminology of r/K selection theory . [ 2 ]
The Theory of Island Biogeography has its roots in Wilson's work on the ants of Melanesia . MacArthur synthesized Wilson's ideas about competition, colonization and equilibrium into a simple graphical representation of immigration and extinction curves, from which one can determine the equilibrial species number on an island. [ 3 ] MacArthur and Wilson's ideas were first presented in a paper published in 1963, [ 4 ] and were further developed into a book. [ 3 ]
In the introductory chapter, MacArthur and Wilson highlight the significance of studying island biogeography. Since islands are less complex and more numerous than larger ecosystems, islands provide better opportunities to develop insights and perform replicable field research. Given that insular microcosms are common to all ecosystems, principles from island biogeography can be applied generally.
In Chapters 2 and 3, MacArthur and Wilson postulate that insular species richness depends on island size and isolation from source regions. The authors present an equilibrium model that is based on the following concept: when there is an addition of the number of species on an island, the island's immigration rate of new species will decrease while the extinction rate of resident species will increase. MacArthur and Wilson thus assume that there will be an equilibrial point where the immigration rate equals the extinction rate. They further hypothesize that an increase in island size will lower extinction curves while a decrease in distance between the island and the source region will raise immigration curves. Since the intersection of immigration and extinction rate curves determines the species number, the authors predict that larger islands will have more species than smaller islands (assuming these islands are comparably isolated) and isolated islands will have fewer species than islands more proximal to source regions (assuming these islands are equally large). There is additional discourse on how insular clusters and stepping stones affect this model.
Chapter 4 discusses survivorship theory. The authors describe a model which states that the probability for successful colonization is dependent on birth rate, death rate, and carrying capacity of the environment. From this model, conclusions are made on the average survival time for a propagule's offspring, the average survival time of a saturated population, and characteristics of successful propagules.
In Chapter 5, MacArthur and Wilson examine why species can be excluded from insular environments and how the niche of a species changes after introduction. The authors surmise that pioneering species can be excluded for the following reasons: the island has saturated levels of pre-existing competition, the pioneering species cannot maintain a population large enough to avoid extinction, and the island hosts too many or too few natural predators. When a species colonizes a new area, the authors state that the species will either shift, expand or contract its realized niche.
Chapter 6 is a theoretical exploration of dispersal models. The authors consider how insular stepping stones affect the dispersion of species—particularly, the effects that size and isolation of stepping stones have on dispersion. Further consideration is given to how dispersal curves and average distance travelled by pioneers impacts this study.
In Chapter 7, the authors state that there are generally three consecutive phases to the evolution of populations after colonization. Initially, there is a trend for colonizers to evolve from r-strategists into K-strategists . The founder effect may also influence colonizing populations during this first phase. The second phase is marked by long term adaptations to the local environment. In this period, abilities for dispersal are commonly reduced, and colonizers will either differentiate or assimilate with competing species. In the third phase, the evolution of colonizing populations may result in speciation and/or adaptive radiation .
The insular biota equilibrium theory was experimentally tested by E. O. Wilson and his then-graduate student Daniel Simberloff in six small mangrove islands in the Florida Keys. The islands were fumigated to clear the arthropod populations. Immigration of species onto the island was then observed in a first and second year census. Wilson and Simberloff confirmed that there was an inverse relationship between the number of species on an island and the distance to the source region as predicted in The Theory of Island Biogeography . [ 5 ]
MacArthur and Wilson's theory of island biogeography has been widely applied outside of island ecosystems. For microbiota, the theory has been applied to the distribution of ectomycorrihzal fungi on trees, [ 6 ] the distribution of bacteria in water-filled treeholes, [ 7 ] and the distribution of fungi among shrubs. [ 8 ] While for flora and fauna, the theory's predictions have been realized with the species richness of plants on mountains [ 9 ] and with the species richness of aquatic snails in bodies of water. [ 10 ] Novel applications looked at plants as islands for insect species [ 11 ] and the dependence of the species richness of mites on the areas of the host ranges of rodent species. [ 12 ] MacArthur and Wilson's work has been used as a basis in other ecological theories, notably the unified neutral theory of biodiversity , [ 13 ] and has been foundational for the fields of landscape ecology , invasion biology , and conservation biology . [ 3 ] [ 1 ]
Several studies have disputed the underlying assumptions in MacArthur and Wilson's theory of island biogeography: specifically, the interchangeability of species and islands, the independence between immigration and extinction, and the insignificance of non-equilibrial processes. [ 14 ] The Island Biogeography theory can also be applied to habitat fragmentation . [ 15 ] However, limitations and nuances like edge effects, matrix effects, and community level changes inhibit this theory from being universally applied to all systems. [ 15 ] In the 2001 preface, Wilson stated that "the flaws of the book lie in its oversimplification and incompleteness". [ 1 ]
In 2007, a symposium was held at Harvard University honoring the fortieth anniversary of The Theory of Island Biogeography . [ 3 ] Following this conference, a collection of papers was published in the book The Theory of Island Biogeography Revisited . [ 3 ]
The SLOSS Debate is based on the authors suggestion that a single large reserve was preferable to several small reserves. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_Island_Biogeography |
The Toyota Way is a set of principles defining the organizational culture of Toyota Motor Corporation . [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The company formalized the Toyota Way in 2001, after decades of academic research into the Toyota Production System and its implications for lean manufacturing as a methodology that other organizations could adopt. [ 3 ] The two pillars of the Toyota Way are respect for people and continuous improvement . [ 4 ] Jeffrey K. Liker popularized the philosophy in his 2004 book, The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer. [ 5 ] Subsequent research has explored the extent to which the Toyota Way can be applied in other contexts. [ 6 ]
The principles were first collated into a single document in the company's pamphlet "The Toyota Way 2001", to help codify the company's organizational culture . The philosophy was subsequently analyzed in the 2004 book The Toyota Way by industrial engineering researcher Jeffrey Liker and has received attention in business administration education and corporate governance .
The principles of the Toyota Way are divided into the two broad categories of continuous improvement and respect for human resources. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] The standards for constant improvement include directives to set up a long-term vision, to engage in a step-by-step approach to challenges, to search for the root causes of problems, and to engage in ongoing innovation. The standards pertain to respect for individuals and incorporate ways of building appreciation and cooperation.
The system is summarized in 14 principles: [ 10 ]
In 2004, Jeffrey Liker, a University of Michigan professor of industrial engineering , published The Toyota Way . In his book, Liker calls the Toyota Way "a system designed to provide the tools for people to continually improve their work." [ 11 ]
According to Liker, the 14 principles of The Toyota Way are organized into four sections:
The first principle involves managing with a long-term view rather than for short-term gain. It reflects a belief that people need a purpose to find motivation and establish goals.
The following seven principles are focused on process with an eye towards a quality outcome. Following these principles, work processes are redesigned to eliminate waste ( muda ) through continuous improvement — kaizen . The seven types of muda are (1) overproduction; (2) waiting, time on hand; (3) unnecessary transport or conveyance; (4) overprocessing or incorrect processing; (5) excess inventory; (6) motion; and (7) defects.
The principles in this section empower employees despite the automaker's bureaucratic processes. Any employee in the Toyota Production System has the authority to stop production to signal a quality issue, emphasizing that quality takes precedence ( Jidoka ). The way the Toyota bureaucratic system is implemented allows for continuous improvement (kaizen) from the people affected by that system so that any employee may aid in the growth and improvement of the company.
Recognition of the value of employees is also part of the principle of measured production rate ( heijunka ), as a level workload helps avoid overburdening people and equipment ( muri ), but this is also intended to minimize waste (muda) and avoid uneven production levels ( mura ).
These principles are also designed to ensure that only essential materials are employed (to avoid overproduction), that the work environment is maintained efficiently (the 5S Program) to help people share workstations and to reduce time looking for needed tools, and that the technology used is reliable and thoroughly tested.
The concept of "standardized work" has been extended to managers referring to "standardized work for (executive) leadership" (or Leader Standard Work ), [ 12 ] looking at elements such as
Human development is the focus of principles 9 through 11. Principle 9 emphasizes the need to ensure that leaders embrace and promote the corporate philosophy. According to Liker, this reflects a belief that these principles must be ingrained in employees to survive. The 10th principle emphasizes the need for individuals and work teams to embrace the company's philosophy, with teams of 4-5 people who are judged in success by their team achievements, rather than their solo efforts. Principle 11 looks to business partners, who are treated by Toyota much like they treat their employees. Toyota challenges them to do better and helps them achieve it. The automaker provides cross-functional teams to help suppliers discover and fix problems to become more robust, better suppliers.
The final principles embrace a philosophy of problem-solving that emphasizes thorough understanding, swiftly implemented consensus -based solutions, continual reflection ( hansei ), and improvement ( kaizen ). The 12th principle ( Genchi Genbutsu ) sets out the expectation that managers will personally evaluate operations to understand situations and problems firsthand. Principle 13 encourages thorough consideration of possible solutions through a consensus process, with rapid implementation of decisions once reached ( nemawashi ). The final principle requires that Toyota be a "learning organization", continually reflecting on its practices and striving for improvement. According to Liker, becoming a learning organization involves criticizing every aspect of what one does.
There is a question of uptake of the principles now that Toyota has production operations in many countries. While the corporate culture may have been quickly disseminated by word of mouth when Toyota manufacturing was only in Japan, with worldwide production, many different cultures must be taken into account. [ 14 ] Concepts such as "mutual ownership of problems", or " genchi genbutsu " , (solving problems at the source instead of behind desks), and the " kaizen mind" , (an unending sense of crisis behind the company's constant drive to improve), may be unfamiliar to North Americans and people of other cultures. [ 14 ] The automaker's increase in vehicle recalls may be due, in part, to "a failure by Toyota to spread its obsession for craftsmanship among its growing ranks of overseas factory workers and managers." [ 14 ] Toyota is attempting to address these needs by establishing training institutes in the United States and Thailand. [ 14 ]
Toyota Way has been driven so deeply into the psyche of employees at all levels that it has morphed from a strategy into an essential element of the company's culture. [ 15 ] According to Masaki Saruta, author of several books on Toyota, "the real Toyota Way is a culture of control." [ 16 ] [ 17 ] A management consultancy perspective of the Toyota Way "was not only the value of teaching and training their entire workforce to continuously improve their jobs, but also the power of entrusting the entire workforce to do so to the betterment of all." [ 18 ] The Toyota Way thus rewards intense company loyalty that at the same time invariably reduces the voice of those who challenge authority. [ 19 ] [ 20 ] "The Toyota Way of constructive criticism to reach a better way of doing things 'is not always received in good spirit at home.'" [ 21 ] The Toyota Way management approach at the automaker "worked until it didn't." [ 15 ]
One consequence was when Toyota was given reports of sudden acceleration in its vehicles, and the company faced an expensive recall situation. There were questions if Toyota's crisis was caused by the company losing sight of its principles. [ 22 ] The Toyota Way did not address the problem and provide direction on what the automaker would be doing. [ 23 ] Instead, managers protected the company. [ 23 ] They issued flat-out denials and placed the blame on others. [ 23 ] The consequence of the automaker's actions led to the 2009–11 Toyota vehicle recalls . Although one of the Toyota Way principles is to "build a culture of stopping to fix problems to get quality right the first time," Akio Toyoda , President and CEO, stated during Congressional hearings that the reason for the problems was that his "company grew too fast." [ 24 ] Toyota management had determined its goal was to become the world's largest automotive manufacturer. [ 25 ] According to some management consultants, when the pursuit of growth took priority, the automaker "lost sight of the key values that gave it its reputation in the first place." [ 26 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Toyota_Way |
" The Triple Revolution " was an open memorandum sent to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and other government figures on March 22, 1964. It concerned three megatrends of the time: increasing use of automation, the nuclear arms race, and advancements in human rights. Drafted under the auspices of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions , it was signed by an array of noted social activists , professors, and technologists who identified themselves as the Ad Hoc Committee on the Triple Revolution. The chief initiator of the proposal was W. H. "Ping" Ferry , at that time a vice-president of CSDI, basing it in large part on the ideas of the futurist Robert Theobald . [ 1 ]
The statement identified three revolutions underway in the world: the cybernation revolution of increasing automation ; the weaponry revolution of mutually assured destruction ; and the human rights revolution . It discussed primarily the cybernation revolution. The committee claimed that machines would usher in "a system of almost unlimited productive capacity" while continually reducing the number of manual laborers needed, and increasing the skill needed to work, thereby producing increasing levels of unemployment . It proposed that the government should ease this transformation through large-scale public works , low-cost housing , public transit , electrical power development, income redistribution , union representation for the unemployed, and government restraint on technology deployment.
Martin Luther King Jr. 's final Sunday sermon, delivered six days before his April 1968 assassination , explicitly references the thesis of "The Triple Revolution": [ 2 ]
There can be no gainsaying of the fact that a great revolution is taking place in the world today. In a sense it is a triple revolution: that is, a technological revolution, with the impact of automation and cybernation; then there is a revolution in weaponry, with the emergence of atomic and nuclear weapons of warfare; then there is a human rights revolution, with the freedom explosion that is taking place all over the world. Yes, we do live in a period where changes are taking place. And there is still the voice crying through the vista of time saying, "Behold, I make all things new; former things are passed away."
In Harlan Ellison 's 1967 anthology Dangerous Visions , Philip José Farmer 's story " Riders of the Purple Wage " uses the Triple Revolution document as the premise of a future society, in which the "purple wage" of the title is a guaranteed income dole on which most of the population lives. At the 1968 World Science Fiction Convention in San Francisco, Farmer delivered a lengthy Guest of Honor speech in which he called for the founding of a grassroots activist organization called REAP which would work for implementation of the Ad Hoc Committee's recommendations.
Looking back on the proposal in his 2008 book, [ 4 ] Daniel Bell wrote:
"the cybernetic revolution quickly proved to be illusory. There were no spectacular jumps in productivity. ... Cybernation had proved to be one more instance of the penchant for overdramatizing a momentary innovation and blowing it up far out of proportion to its actuality. ... The image of a completely automated production economy—with an endless capacity to turn out goods—was simply a social-science fiction of the early 1960s. Paradoxically, the vision of Utopia was suddenly replaced by the spectre of Doomsday. In place of the early-sixties theme of endless plenty, the picture by the end of the decade was one of a fragile planet of limited resources whose finite stocks were being rapidly depleted, and whose wastes from soaring industrial production were polluting the air and waters." [ 4 ]
In his 2015 book Rise of the Robots , [ 2 ] Martin Ford claims The Triple Revolution's predictions of steady decline in future employment were not wrong, but rather premature. He cites "Seven Deadly Trends" that began in the 1970s-1980s and by the mid-2010s appeared set to continue:
According to Ford, the 1960s were part of what in retrospect seems like a golden age for labor in the United States, when productivity and wages rose together in near lockstep, and unemployment was low. But after about 1980, wages began stagnating while productivity continued to rise. Labor's share of the economic output began to decline. Ford describes the role that automation and information technology play in these trends, and how new technologies including narrow AI threaten to destroy jobs faster than displaced workers can be retrained for new jobs, before automation takes the new jobs as well. This includes many job categories, such as in transportation , that were never threatened by automation before. According to a 2013 study, about 47% of US jobs are susceptible to automation. [ 5 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Triple_Revolution |
" The Unparalleled Invasion " is a science fiction story written by American author Jack London . It was first published in McClure's in 1910. [ 1 ]
Under the influence of Japan , China modernizes and undergoes its own version of the Meiji Reforms in the 1910s. In 1922, China breaks away from Japan and fights a brief war that culminates in the Chinese annexation of the Japanese possessions of Korea , Formosa , and Manchuria . Enraged over the loss of Indochina to Chinese migrants and invading armies, France attempts to blockade China, but is thwarted by China's economic self-sufficiency . In a last-ditch attempt, France assembles a large military force to invade China, but the entire force is quickly defeated by China's vast army. Over the next half century, China's population steadily grows, and eventually migration overwhelms every other European colony in Asia .
By 1975, the population of China is double that of the Western world combined, and China's government is confident that the nation's high birth rate and population will result in Chinese world domination. The United States enlists the help of other Western powers and amasses an invasion force on China's borders. America then launches a biological warfare campaign against China, resulting in the total destruction of China's population, with the few survivors of the plague being killed out of hand by European and American troops. Some German soldiers are exposed to "a sort of hybridization between plague-germs" in China and are studied by German scientists, but the infection is safely kept from spreading. China is then colonized by the Western powers, opening the way to a joyous epoch of "splendid mechanical, intellectual, and art output". In the 1980s, war clouds once more gather between Germany and France over Alsace–Lorraine . The story ends with the nations of the world solemnly pledging not to use the same techniques that they had used against China.
London wrote the story in 1907 and it was published in McClure's in 1910 [ 2 ] [ 3 ] : 18
"The Unparalleled Invasion" was included in The Strength of the Strong , a collection of stories by London published by Macmillan in 1914, [ 4 ] which also included " The Dream of Debs ", a critique of capitalist society in the US, and "The Strength of the Strong", which used a primitive background as metaphor of social injustice among men.
Many academics take the text at face value. [ 3 ] : 19 "The Unparalleled Invasion" has been used to support claims of racism in London's work. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] Academics pointed out that the premise, themes, and even some passages were borrowed directly from London's 1904 "Yellow Peril" essay, where London warns that "the menace to the Western World lies, not in the [Japanese] little brown man, but in the four hundred millions of [Chinese] yellow men". [ 7 ] Academic H. Bruce Franklin described the story as celebrating superweapons and the genocide of Asians. [ 3 ] : 19
However, other academics have also claimed that this story is a "strident warning against race hatred and its paranoia", due to its focus on the danger posed to China by the West. Some academics argue that the story represents a warning of what happens when racial hatred is allowed to develop or an ironic criticism of imperialism . [ 3 ] : 19 The story has also been viewed as a prescient political prediction of the rise of China as a world political power triggered in part by Japan's imperial aspirations. [ 8 ] [ 9 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unparalleled_Invasion |
The Unscrambler X is a commercial software product for multivariate data analysis , used for calibration of multivariate data which is often in the application of analytical data such as near infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy , and development of predictive models for use in real-time spectroscopic analysis of materials. The software was originally developed in 1986 by Harald Martens [ 1 ] and later by CAMO Software .
The Unscrambler X was an early adaptation of the use of partial least squares (PLS). [ 2 ] Other techniques supported include principal component analysis (PCA), [ 3 ] 3-way PLS, multivariate curve resolution , design of experiments , supervised classification , unsupervised classification and cluster analysis . [ 4 ]
The software is used in spectroscopy (IR, NIR, Raman, etc.), chromatography, and process applications in research and non-destructive quality control systems in pharmaceutical manufacturing, [ 5 ] [ 6 ] sensory analysis [ 7 ] [ 8 ] and the chemical industry . [ 9 ] [ 10 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unscrambler |
The Valley of the Shadow is a digital history project about the American Civil War , launched in 1993 [ 1 ] and hosted by the University of Virginia . It details the experiences of Confederate soldiers from Augusta County , Virginia and Union soldiers from Franklin County , Pennsylvania , United States.
Project founders William G. Thomas III and Edward L. Ayers referred to it as "an applied experiment in digital scholarship." [ 2 ] The site contains scanned copies of four newspapers from each of the counties in addition to those of surrounding cities such as Richmond and New York: the Staunton Spectator ( Staunton, Virginia ; Whig ), the Republican Vindicator (Staunton, Virginia; Democratic), the Franklin Repository and Transcript ( Chambersburg, Pennsylvania ; Republican), and the Valley Spirit (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania; Democratic). [ 3 ] Elsa A. Nystrom and Justin A. Nystrom state about the site: [ 4 ]
...the digital article challenges the user to select their own path through the material, following what most closely aligns with their specific interests – "alternative readings" in the words of the authors. Initially, their use of the digital medium seems fairly straightforward until one realizes just how much is there, and as an extension, how much one might miss inadvertently.
In 2022, on the 30th anniversary of the project, New American History released an updated version of the Valley of the Shadow with enhanced images and search features. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Valley_of_the_Shadow |
The Verge is an American technology news website headquartered in Lower Manhattan , New York City and operated by Vox Media . The website publishes news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts . [ 3 ] [ 5 ]
The website was launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media's proprietary multimedia publishing platform Chorus. [ 6 ] [ 7 ] In 2014, Nilay Patel was named editor-in-chief and Dieter Bohn executive editor; Helen Havlak was named editorial director in 2017. [ 8 ] [ 9 ] The Verge won five Webby Awards for the year 2012 including awards for Best Writing (Editorial), Best Podcast for The Vergecast , Best Visual Design, Best Consumer Electronics Site, and Best Mobile News App. [ 10 ] [ 11 ]
Between March and April 2011, up to nine of Engadget ' s writers, editors, and product developers, including editor-in-chief Joshua Topolsky , left AOL , the company behind that website, to start a new gadget site. [ 12 ] [ 13 ] [ 14 ] The other departing editors included managing editor Nilay Patel and staffers Paul Miller, Ross Miller, Joanna Stern, Chris Ziegler, as well as product developers Justin Glow and Dan Chilton. [ 12 ] [ 15 ] [ 16 ] In early April 2011, Topolsky announced that their unnamed new site would be produced in partnership with sports news website SB Nation , debuting some time in the fall. [ 15 ] [ 17 ] Topolsky lauded SB Nation 's similar interest in the future of publishing, including what he described as their beliefs in independent journalism and in-house development of their own content delivery tools. [ 15 ] [ 16 ] SB Nation's Jim Bankoff saw an overlap in the demographics of the two sites and an opportunity to expand SB Nation's model. [ 15 ] Bankoff previously worked at AOL in 2005, where he led their Engadget acquisition. [ 18 ] Other news outlets viewed the partnership as positive for both SB Nation and Topolsky's staff, and negative for AOL's outlook. [ 19 ] [ 20 ] [ 21 ] [ 22 ]
Bankoff, chairman and CEO of Vox Media (owner of SB Nation ), said in a 2011 interview that though the company had started out with a focus on sports, other categories including consumer technology had growth potential for the company. [ 23 ] Development of Vox Media's content management system (CMS), Chorus, was led by Trei Brundrett, who later became the chief operating officer for the company. [ 24 ]
Following news of his untitled partnership with SB Nation in April 2011, Topolsky announced that the Engadget podcast hosted by Patel, Paul Miller, and himself would continue at an interim site called This Is My Next . [ 15 ] [ 25 ] By August 2011, the site had reached 1 million unique visitors and 3.4 million page views. [ 25 ] By October 2011, the site had 3 million unique views per month and 10 million total page views. [ 2 ] Time listed the site in its Best Blogs of 2011, [ 25 ] calling the prototype site "exemplary". [ 26 ] The site closed upon The Verge ' s launch on November 1, 2011. [ citation needed ]
On June 11, 2014, The Verge launched a new section called "This Is My Next", edited by former editor David Pierce, as a buyer's guide for consumer electronics. [ 27 ] By 2022, this section had been retitled simply "Buying Guide". [ 28 ]
The Verge launched November 1, 2011, [ 4 ] along with an announcement of a new parent company: Vox Media. [ 2 ] According to the company, the site launched with 4 million unique visitors and 20 million pageviews. [ 29 ] At the time of Topolsky's departure, Engadget had 14 million unique visitors. [ 12 ] [ 21 ] Vox Media overall doubled its unique visitors to about 15 million during the last half of 2012. [ 29 ] The Verge had 12 former Engadget staffers working with Topolsky at the time of launch. [ 2 ] It hired Tom Warren, former Neowin editor-in-chief and WinRumors blogger, as their new United Kingdom based senior editor. [ 30 ] In 2013, The Verge launched a new science section, Verge Science , with former Wired editor Katie Drummond leading the effort. [ 31 ] Patel replaced Topolsky as editor-in-chief in mid-2014. [ 32 ] Journalist Walt Mossberg joined The Verge 's editing team after Vox Media acquired Recode in 2015. [ 3 ] By 2016, the website's advertising had shifted from display advertisements, matched with articles' contents, to partnerships and advertisements adjusted to the user. [ 33 ]
Vox Media revamped The Verge 's visual design for its fifth anniversary in November 2016. [ 34 ] Its logo featured a modified Penrose triangle , an impossible object . [ 35 ] On November 1, The Verge launched version 3.0 of its news platform, offering a redesigned website along with the new logo. [ 36 ]
In September 2016, The Verge fired deputy editor Chris Ziegler after it learned that he had been working for Apple since July. [ 37 ] Helen Havlak was promoted to editorial director in mid-2017. [ 38 ] In 2017, The Verge launched "Guidebook" to host technology product reviews. [ 39 ] In May 2018, Verge Science launched a YouTube channel, which had more than 638,000 subscribers and 30 million views by January 2019. The channel received more than 5.3 million views in November 2018 alone. [ 40 ] As of August 2023, the channel has over 100 million views and 1.15 million subscribers.
In March 2022, Dieter Bohn announced his resignation from The Verge in his position of Executive Editor, and that he would be moving to a new position at Google . [ 41 ]
The Verge rebranded and redesigned its website in September 2022 with a sharper, more simplistic logo, more colorful visual design, and new typefaces. Its new home page format resembled a news feed, incorporating external conversations from social media and reporting from other publications. The new format will, in part, reduce aggregation reporting. [ 42 ]
In December 2024, The Verge began to paywall some content behind a subscription service; this offering covers "premium" reports, newsletters, and reviews, as well as fewer advertisements and other features. [ 43 ] [ 44 ] In a blog post, [ 45 ] Patel announced the initial subscription rate as $7 per month or $50 per year. Patel also writes in the post that the reason for moving to a subscription model was for the site to survive an increasingly difficult market for "the kind of rigorous, independent journalism we want to do."
The Verge broadcasts a live weekly podcast , The Vergecast . The inaugural episode was November 4, 2011. It included a video stream of the hosts. [ 46 ] A second weekly podcast was introduced on November 8, 2011. Unlike The Vergecast , The Verge Mobile Show was primarily focused on mobile phones. [ 47 ] [ 48 ] The Verge also launched the weekly podcast Ctrl-Walt-Delete , hosted by Walt Mossberg , in September 2015. [ 49 ] The Verge 's What's Tech podcast was named among iTunes's best of 2015. [ 50 ] The podcast Why'd You Push That Button? , launched in 2017 and co-hosted by Ashley Carman and Kaitlyn Tiffany, [ 51 ] received a Podcast Award in the "This Week in Tech Technology Category" in 2018. [ 52 ] [ 53 ]
Editor-in-chief Nilay Patel hosts a weekly interview podcast called Decoder. [ 54 ] On February 8, 2024, Patel announced Decoder would now do two episodes per week. [ 55 ]
On August 6, 2011, in an interview with the firm Edelman , The Verge co-founder Marty Moe announced it was launching The Verge Show , a web television series. After its launch, the show was named On The Verge . The first episode was recorded on Monday, November 14, 2011, with guest Matias Duarte . [ 56 ] The show is a technology news entertainment show, and its format is similar to that of a late-night talk show , but it is broadcast over the Internet , not on television . The show's first episode was released on November 15, 2011.
Ten episodes of On The Verge were broadcast, with the most recent episode going out on November 10, 2012. [ 57 ] On May 24, 2013, it was announced that the show would return under a new weekly format, alongside a new logo and theme tune. [ 58 ]
On May 8, 2013, editor-in-chief Topolsky announced Verge Video, a website that contains the video backlog from The Verge . [ 59 ]
Circuit Breaker , a gadget blog, launched in 2016, [ 60 ] has amassed nearly one million Facebook followers and debuted a live show on Twitter in October 2017. The blog's videos average more than 465,000 views, and Jake Kastrenakes serves as editor-in-chief, as of 2017. [ 61 ] Also in 2016, USA Network and The Verge partnered on Mr. Robot Digital After Show , a digital aftershow for the television series Mr. Robot . [ 62 ] In December, Twitter and Vox Media announced a live streaming partnership for The Verge 's programs covering the Consumer Electronics Show . [ 63 ]
The series Next Level , hosted and produced by Lauren Goode, debuted in 2017 and was recognized in the "Technology" category at the 47th annual San Francisco / Northern California Emmy Awards (2018). [ 64 ] [ 65 ] In August 2017, The Verge launched the web series Space Craft , hosted by science reporter Loren Grush. [ 66 ]
In 2022, The Verge produced the show The Future Of for Netflix . [ 67 ]
In September 2018, The Verge published the article "How to Build a Custom PC for Editing, Gaming or Coding" with a companion YouTube video entitled "How we Built a $2000 Custom Gaming PC". The video was criticized for containing errors on almost every step presented by its host, Stefan Etienne, [ 68 ] such as applying an unnecessary amount of thermal paste onto the processor as opposed to a small amount. [ 69 ] An online harassment campaign against Etienne ensued. [ 69 ]
In February 2019, lawyers from The Verge 's parent company Vox Media filed a DMCA takedown notice, requesting that YouTube remove videos critical of The Verge ' s video, alleging copyright infringement. YouTube took down two of the videos, uploaded by YouTube channels BitWit and ReviewTechUSA, while applying a copyright "strike" to these two channels. [ 68 ] [ 70 ] YouTube later reinstated the two videos and retracted the copyright "strikes" after a request from Verge editor Nilay Patel, although Patel acknowledged that he agreed with the legal argument that led to their removal. [ 71 ] [ 72 ] Timothy B. Lee of Ars Technica described this controversy as an example of the Streisand effect , saying that while law regarding fair use is unclear regarding this type of situation, "the one legal precedent ... suggests ... that this kind of video is solidly within the bounds of copyright's fair use doctrine." [ 68 ]
Nearly three years after the erroneous build, PC builder and YouTuber Linus Sebastian collaborated with Etienne in a video entitled "Fixing the Verge PC build". In the video, Etienne admits not being an experienced builder when he assembled the PC, having built only four computers at that point, with The Verge build being his first on camera. Etienne said before the video went live, The Verge was unwilling to hear from him to address what he saw were editing issues, insisting that the video be uploaded regardless. [ 69 ] [ 73 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Verge |
The Virtual Library museums pages ( VLmp ) formed an early leading directory of online museums around the world. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ]
The VLmp online directory resource was founded by Jonathan Bowen in 1994, originally at the Oxford University Computing Laboratory in the United Kingdom. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] It has been supported by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) [ 3 ] and Museophile Limited . [ 7 ] [ 8 ] As part of the World Wide Web Virtual Library , initiated by Tim Berners-Lee and later managed by Arthur Secret. [ 9 ] The main VLmp site moved to London South Bank University in the early 2000s and is now hosted on the MuseumsWiki wiki , established in 2006 and hosted by Fandom (previously Wikia ) as a historical record. [ 10 ]
The directory was developed and organised in a distributed manner by country, with around twenty people in different countries maintaining various sections. Canada, through the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN), [ 11 ] was the first country to become involved. The MDA maintained the United Kingdom section of museums, [ 12 ] later the Collections Trust . [ 13 ] The Historisches Centrum Hagen has maintained and hosted pages for Germany . [ 14 ] Other countries actively participating included Romania . [ 15 ] In total, around 20 countries were involved. [ 7 ]
The directory was influential in the museum field during the 1990s and 2000s. [ 16 ] [ 17 ] It was used as a standard starting point to find museums online. [ 18 ] It was useful for monitoring the growth of museums internationally online. [ 19 ] It was also used for online museum surveys. [ 20 ] [ 21 ] It was recommended as an educational resource [ 22 ] [ 23 ] and included a search facility. [ 24 ]
The Virtual Museum of Computing ( VMoC ), part of the Virtual Library museums pages, was created as a virtual museum providing information on the history of computers and computer science . [ 25 ] [ 26 ] [ 27 ] It included virtual "galleries" (e.g., on Alan Turing , curated by Andrew Hodges [ 27 ] ) and links to other computer museums . VMoC was founded in 1995, [ 28 ] initially at the University of Oxford . [ 29 ] As part of VLmp, it was hosted by the International Council of Museums (ICOM). [ 30 ] VMoC was also hosted by the University of Reading [ 3 ] and London South Bank University , with mirror sites internationally within VLmp. Later it was also provided by Museophile Limited. [ 31 ] It then became available in archival form as a wiki on Wikia ). [ 32 ]
VMoC was reviewed by Discovery Channel , Lycos , Anbar Electronic Intelligence, Bookmark Central, Planet Science, RedOrbit, and Science NetLinks during the 1990s. [ 33 ] It has also been referenced in books [ 34 ] [ 35 ] and papers. [ 36 ] [ 37 ] [ 38 ] VMoC has provided computing history event reports. [ 39 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Virtual_Museum_of_Computing |
The W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center (1971–1995) was a non-profit research and education center on 10 Old Barn Road in Lake Placid, New York . The Center was established by a gift of 34 acres (14 ha) of land and $3 million to the Tissue Culture Association from the W. Alton Jones Foundation through efforts of Nettie Marie Jones, widow of W. Alton Jones , who was former chairman of the Board of Cities Service Company (see Citgo ). The original tax-free gift was accompanied by the institutional charter that use of the facility would be restricted forever to non-profit activities related to research and education on the biology of cells. [ citation needed ]
The Cell Center was largely the vision of cell culture pioneer Dr. George Otto Gey , director of the Finney-Howell Cancer Research Laboratory at the Johns Hopkins Hospital , a founder and first President of The Tissue Culture Association (now the Society for In Vitro Biology). Dr. Gey was introduced to Nettie Marie Jones, widow of W. Alton Jones, through her daughter Patricia Jones, an employee or acquaintance at Johns Hopkins. A highlight of the W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center building was the George and Margaret Gey Library. The objective was to provide a center in the peaceful setting of the Adirondack Mountains where experts in the fields of genetics, immunology, virology, insect physiology and other invertebrates unified by common interest in the art and science of culturing cells outside the body could come together, pool their ideas and techniques, and convey them to others.
In the period 1971 to 1980, the Cell Center consisted of research groups oriented around the theme of cell and tissue culture, provided specialty 1- to 3-week courses and hosted international meetings on the theme. The first Director was Dr. Donald Merchant, followed by Dr. Paul Chapple. [ citation needed ]
For the period 1971 through 1979 the W. Alton Jones Foundation contributed annually to the operating expenses and mission of the Cell Center through the influence of Nettie Marie Jones. In 1979, Mrs. Jones was in poor health and nearing age 100. At that time Charlottesville, Virginia -based daughter of Mrs. Jones, Patricia Jones Edgerton, took charge of the W. Alton Jones Foundation and together with longtime family associate William C. Battle , ambassador to Australia under the Kennedy administration, established an independent corporation called the W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center, Inc. Edgerton and Battle and associates maintained concurrent control of the W. Alton Jones Foundation and the W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center, Inc. [ citation needed ]
In the early 1980s, the Tissue Culture Association, subsequently the Society for In Vitro Biology (SIVB), under President Keith R. Porter , was pressured to relinquish deed to the Cell Center property and facility originally donated to them tax-free by the W. Alton Jones Foundation to the newly established W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center, Inc. Without sufficient resources to support legal action to retain ownership of the property and enforce the original non-profit charter and mission, the deed was relinquished. Subsequently the SIVB agreed retroactively to relinquish enforcement of the "non-profit use only" stipulation of the original charter along with the earlier transfer of the deed to the property for a donation of $50,000 from the Adirondack Biomedical Institute, Inc. (Director, Dr. James Stevens). [ citation needed ]
In 1982 the W. Alton Jones Foundation donated $17.5 million to the W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center, Inc. of to support the recruitment and program of Dr. Gordon H. Sato as Director. Dr. Sato's mission was to build a financially independent world-class basic research and teaching institute in the Adirondack Mountains generally oriented around the applications of cell culture technologies to broad problems in human health and disease through translational biotechnology to industry and the clinic. In his own words he envisioned "a self-endowed Rockefeller University-type institution" in the middle of the Adirondack Park , New York's statewide counterpart of New York City 's Central Park . [ citation needed ]
In the period 1983-1993 the research staff of the Center increased by 10 fold. Sato purchased several local properties for staff and student housing. He established an international Ph.D. program in Chemical Biology with nearby Clarkson University , Potsdam (village), New York and a joint program with the University of Vermont , Burlington, Vermont . He established the annual W. Alton Jones International Symposium in Cellular Endocrinology centered on honoring movers and shakers in the field. During his administration the Center acquired program project grants from the National Cancer Institute and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases . Through Sato's efforts, the Cell Center acquired worldwide recognition through contributions of its researchers to basic research and biotechnological applications. Its former researchers and students hold leadership positions in academics and biotechnology worldwide. During this period the Lake Placid center became the headquarters of The Manzanar Project, [ 1 ] a global action project aimed at attacking the planet's most critical problems as poverty, hunger, environmental pollution, and global warming through low tech biotechnological methods in salt water deserts that can be transferred to the indigenous inhabitants
To ensure financial independence, a permanent endowment for the research center, "to give scientists security and remove any temptation they may have felt to modify their research because of monetary support," [ 2 ] Sato founded Upstate Biotechnology, Inc. (UBI) to be solely owned by the W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center, Inc. Startup for UBI was financed by loans from the W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center, Inc. from the $17.5 million gift from the W. Alton Jones Foundation to ensure that ownership and proceeds of UBI flowed solely into support and long term endowment of the Cell Center without interference by private interests. As profitability of UBI increased, private interests and the controlling overlapping members of the Boards of both the for-profit UBI, the non-profit W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center, Inc. and the non-profit W. Alton Jones Foundation and their associates diverted the UBI mission away from the goal of providing permanent support and endowment of the Cell Center in its Lake Placid, New York location in the Adirondack Mountains . This precipitated the resignation of Dr. Sato as Director.
In 1996 Edgerton and Battle and associates recruited venture capitalist Sheridan Snyder to become involved with UBI, later called Upstate USA, Inc., Upstate Group or simply Upstate. In 1996 the not-for-profit W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center, Inc. was dissolved and the assets, which included Upstate Biotechnology, Inc., were transferred to a newly incorporated non-for-profit entity, the Adirondack Biomedical Research Institute (ABRI), Inc. In 1998 the ABRI ceased operations as a non-profit basic research entity and announced the facility would become an "incubator facility" for biotechnology companies in the Adirondack Mountains region with Upstate, Inc. and Argonex (a Snyder startup) as lead companies. [ 3 ]
In 2000, the ABRI corporation was dissolved and the property and facilities purchased by for-profit Upstate, Inc. of which Argonex was a major shareholder for $1 million. [ 4 ] In 2004 Upstate was sold to Serologicals, Inc. for $204 million. [ 5 ] Upstate and Serologicals, Inc. are now a division of Millipore Corporation . [ 6 ] The site was offered for sale on the Lake Placid real estate market by Millipore Corporation for $5.9 million and was reportedly sold in 2007 to a local partnership of Lake Placid real estate and business investors for about $3 million. [ 4 ]
In 2000 the Ivy Foundation chaired by William C. Battle was established with a reported endowment of $7 million from funds from the closure of the Adirondack Biomedical Research Foundation, Inc. (formerly the W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center, Inc.) [ 7 ] that included Upstate Biotechnology, Inc. [ 8 ] Subsequent to the sale of the Upstate Group in 2005 the Ivy Foundation, listing Board of Directors as William C. Battle , Arthur Garson, Jr., William Black, Sheridan Snyder , Patricia J. Edgerton, Aaron Shatkin and Dr. Robert W. Battle, made a gift of $45 million to the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, the largest single gift in the history of the University. [ 9 ]
Just after the establishment of the Ivy Foundation, but prior to the sale of the privately held Upstate Biotechnology, Inc. to Serologicals, Inc., the Charlottesville, Virginia-based 56-year-old W. Alton Jones Foundation suddenly dissolved in 2001. [ 10 ] The $400 million endowment was split into three separate foundations, the Blue Moon Fund [ 11 ] run by Patricia Jones Edgerton (daughter of W. Alton Jones) and her daughter Diane Edgerton Miller, the Oak Hill Foundation run by son William Edgerton, and the Edgerton Foundation run by son Brad Edgerton. [ 12 ] | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_W._Alton_Jones_Cell_Science_Center |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.